The Dating Experiment (The Experiment, #2)(4)

“Don’t you dare.” I finally stood up, pointing my finger at him. “You’re the one who skipped out on work yesterday, missing a meeting with a new client, and then is late today.”

“Keep your voice down. Ruby is a client,” he said in the same, low voice. “We can talk about this later.”

“A client who wasn’t in your appointment book, unlike Charlotte Porter who was.” I glanced at my diary. “I’m going to get breakfast.” I grabbed my purse and got up, then stalked past him. “Oh, and don’t be too long, because you have an appointment in forty-five minutes,” I added, right before I walked out of the door without looking at Ruby.

I left the door to shut behind me, and as I stopped to take a deep breath, the echo of Dom’s apology to Ruby sounded in the hallway.

“It’s okay,” she replied in that same, sweet tone. “It’s nice that your assistant is looking out for you.”

Assistant? The nerve.

“Yes, well,” Dom said, skipping over it. “Let’s get started, shall we?”

I was going to wring his balls through a blender.

“I won’t take up all your time now. We can always rearrange,” she finished on a flirtatious note.

Dom laughed.

Peyton’s door swung open. “What are you doing?” she whispered.

“Pretending to get breakfast,” I whispered back, cocking my thumb in the direction of my office.

She nodded in understanding and stood aside. “I have donuts.”

I basically ran into her office.

“Chlo, is there a reason you don’t have shoes on?” She stared at my feet.

I looked down. Shit. I’d taken my shoes off when I’d gotten to work this morning, and in my frustration, not put them back on.

“I think Dom knows you aren’t going to get breakfast.” She was trying not to laugh.

“I’m getting breakfast here. I didn’t say I was going out,” I muttered, opening the box of donuts on the table in front of the sofa. “Therefore, I am not lying.”

I snatched a glazed donut out of the box and dropped down onto the comfortable sofa. Crumbs fell onto my lap when I tore a bite off, and Peyton did her best to hide her wince.

With a grin, I chewed and picked up the crumbs one by one, dropping them back into the box.

She exhaled. “You get me.”

I laughed, leaning back on the sofa. “Get you, tolerate you. All is fair in friendship.”

“Well,” she said, picking up a donut with pink sprinkles, “If it makes a difference, I’d help you bury my brother’s body.”

“That went from zero to what-the-fuck really fast, Peyt.”

“I saw him bring that woman into the office,” she said, donut in her mouth.

Right on cue, loud, tinkling laughter came from the direction of my office.

I wrinkled up my face.

“Chloe…” she trailed off.

“I’m mad at him because he bailed on work yesterday,” I reminded her. “Not because he brought a half-price hooker into my office.”

“Sounds like it.”

“I need to sage that office. God knows what she brought in.”

“Well, on the plus side, she brought my brother to work.” Peyton smirked.

“Mmm,” I said, licking my fingers. “Probably only because she thought he was in the database. Or she confused our business with yours.”

Peyton held up two fingers. “Scouts honor, if she comes in here, I’ll match her with a teeny peen.”

I held up a hand for a high five, and she obliged. “How long do you think I have before I have to go back in there?”

“Well, given that you’re not wearing shoes…Although Dom might not have noticed,” Peyton mused. “At least another twenty minutes.”

I sighed.

At least she had donuts.

***

I walked back into my office thirty minutes later, and Ruby was still there.

Hell, she was there. She was perched on the edge of his desk, leaning right over on her hand. She twirled a lock of her dark hair around a finger, and the giggle I’d heard all too many times over the past half an hour now grated on me.

I slipped into my office unnoticed as Ruby leaned down into Dom further. I dumped my purse and put my shoes back on my feet, then headed back to his office, where I stopped and cleared my throat.

Ruby jerked around, while Dom merely glanced over the top of his laptop.

“I’m sorry, did I interrupt?” I asked, taking on my own sweet and innocent tone. “Dom, your next appointment will be here in five minutes. I didn’t want you to forget.”

“Yeah, I got it, Chlo, thanks,” he said stonily.

Ruby giggled, touching his shoulder. “I’m so sorry, Dom. I kept you here longer than I thought I would.”

Dom, almost to his credit, shied away, pulling her hand from him. “Don’t worry about it, Ruby. I’ll make sure to work on you this weekend.”

She stood, her smile as flirtatious as one smile could get. “Oh, I hope you do. I can’t wait.”

Out of sight, I rolled my eyes and walked into the kitchenette. While Peyton had a steady supply of donuts, she’d been seriously lacking on the coffee. I accepted that mixing a sugar high with a donut high wasn’t necessarily the best idea but screw it.