Chapter 2

 

“So his entire family will be here in less than a month?” Amanda took a sip of coffee and stared at Lucy over the paper cup.

“Pretty much. His parents put in an offer on a condo this weekend and it was accepted. His sister found a house she liked and put an offer in on it but they’re still in the negotiating stage,” Lucy said.

It was Monday at lunch and earlier this morning she had texted her best friend to see if she could meet for a quick coffee. Amanda was a hairstylist and rarely worked Mondays, and she had been more than willing to meet Lucy downtown.

“How do you feel about it?” Amanda asked.

“Fine,” Lucy said. “Jason is close to his family and I know he’s excited that they’ll all be living in the same city.”

Amanda paused before grinning at her. “So, they really heard you having sex, huh?”

Lucy blushed. “Yeah, they really did.”

“I can think of worse ways to meet your boyfriend’s parents,” Amanda said.

“Name one.”

“I’ll get back to you,” Amanda said.

Lucy took a sip of her coffee. “Enough about me. I’ve been a terrible best friend the last little while, I know.”

Amanda shrugged. “Hey, you’re in a new relationship and up to your ears in handcuffs and whips. I get it.”

“No whips,” Lucy said with an impish grin.

“Yet,” Amanda replied.

“How is Phil?”

“God, I broke up with him like two weeks ago, Luce.”

“What?” Lucy stared at her in shock. “Why? And why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because it was no big deal. We both knew it was coming and we ended things amicably.”

“But why? I thought Phil was perfect for you. I know you’d only been dating for a month or so but you seemed to really connect.”

“Eh, he was a bit too controlling for me. You know I like my freedom.”

Lucy studied her carefully for a moment. “Is it that or is it Jamie?”

“Jamie has nothing to do with it.”

“Honey, I know you still love Jamie but he wasn’t good for you and he isn’t coming back. You can’t let what happen with him affect your new relationships. Not every guy is going to do what he did,” Lucy said gently.

“I know,” Amanda said before glancing at her cell phone. “Your lunch is over in ten minutes. Come on, I’ll walk you to the office.

 

* * *

 

“Excuse me, Ms. Reid?”

Lucy swung her office chair around and stared blankly at the giant standing in her office doorway.

“Can I help you?” She asked.

“I’m Max Westman – the new accountant in the office?” The man hesitated before ducking into her office and holding out his hand.

She continued to stare at him. There was no way the guy was an accountant. He was unbelievably tall with short blond hair and a slightly darker beard. His shoulders were massive – he filled the entire doorway – and his hands were the size of hams. Accountants were supposed to be thin and nerdy.

“You are Ms. Reid, right?” He craned back to stare at the nameplate outside of her door.

“Yes, sorry! It’s nice to meet you. Jerry mentioned you were starting today.” She hurried forward and shook his hand.

“I thought it would be best to walk around the office and introduce myself,” he said. “Mr. Young was planning on calling a staff meeting to introduce me, but apparently there was some sort of crisis with the server this morning and he and Jerry are holed up in his office.”

Two weeks ago they had upgraded to a new server. It had been crashing on and off since then and she would have to remind Jason later tonight not to take it out on Carlos. As the only IT person in the office, he had been working around the clock for the last two weeks to try and solve the problems with the new server. Jason, usually so quick to acknowledge his staff’s hard work, didn’t have the best attitude toward the poor guy. At one point, Carlos had made it clear he was interested in Lucy and despite the fact that he had been dating their admin person, Penny, for the last five months, his previous crush had automatically landed him a prime spot on Jason’s shit list. Lucy sighed inwardly. Jason was a good man - the best man she knew - but he had a jealous streak a mile wide.

“Ms. Reid?”

She realized that Max was speaking to her and she smiled apologetically at him. “I’m sorry?”

“I asked what you did for the company.”

“I’m a copy editor,” Lucy replied. “You know, you look nothing like an accountant.”

He laughed loudly. “I get that a lot. Accountants are skinny little guys, right?”

She blushed and his grin widened. “Some of us accountants like to break the mold.”

“Well, you certainly have,” she laughed. “How tall are you, anyway?”

He hesitated and she gave him an apologetic look. “Sorry, that was rude. You probably get asked that all the time.”

“It is a popular question,” he acknowledged. “I’m 6’7”.

“Holy crap,” Lucy breathed.

He laughed again. “And that’s the popular reaction.”

She took a few steps back so she wouldn’t have to crane her neck quite so much to meet his gaze. “Have you met everyone yet?”

“Almost. I spent most of the morning going over the notes that the previous accountant left for me – Maureen was her name, I think?”

Lucy nodded and he continued, “Anyway, I decided it was time to take a small break from the exciting world of numbers and meet my coworkers.”

“Are you from here?” Lucy asked curiously.

Max shook his head. “No, I moved here for the job. I’ve been here two weeks and I’m still living out of boxes and trying to remember which one has my frying pan in it. I might be the only single guy I know who would rather cook a meal than go out to eat.”

He glanced at his watch. “Anyway, it’s almost lunch so I’d better go. You don’t happen to know a good sushi place near the office, do you?”

“There’s a place over on Third Avenue. It has all-you-can-eat sushi on Thursdays and a bunch of us from the office usually go there once a month. In fact, I think Penny is organizing something for tomorrow. I’ll tell her to add you to the invite list.”

“Thanks, Ms. Reid.” He held his hand out and she shook it again.

“Call me Lucy.”

“Lucy.”

He smiled warmly and continued to hold her hand. “Say, you wouldn’t like to have lunch with me, would you?”

Shit, Lucy thought. His light blue eyes had glided down her body and there was no mistaking the appreciative look in them.

“Oh, that’s really nice of you to offer but – “

“Lucy?” Jason stuck his head into her office. “I’m sorry but I need to bail on lunch today. The server has crashed again and – “

He stopped, his eyes narrowing when he saw the way Max held her hand, and walked into her office. Lucy tugged her hand free as Jason stood beside her and eyed Max thoughtfully.

“What are you doing in here, Max?”

“Just introducing myself to Lucy,” he said.

Jason studied him a moment longer before turning to Lucy. “I have to cancel our lunch. I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine,” she said. “I’ll grab something from the café downstairs. Do you want a sandwich?”

He shook his head. “No, I’ll eat later.”

“I’ll join you at the café, if you don’t mind?” Max said.

“Oh, uh…” Lucy hesitated, “I was just going to grab a sandwich to eat at my desk so…”

Jason was almost glaring at the larger man as Max said, “I’ll walk downstairs with you and grab something too.”

“Alright,” Lucy said.

She twitched in surprise when Jason put his arm around her and tugged her toward him. He pressed a brief but thorough kiss on her mouth before smiling at her. “I’ll see you tonight at home, Lucy.”

He squeezed her waist and smiled smugly at Max before leaving her office. Lucy cleared her throat. “I’ll just grab my purse.”

“Sure,” Max said.

He followed her out of the office and down the hallway to the elevator. She pushed the button and as they waited for it to arrive, Max said, “So, I guess I don’t have to ask if you’re single.”

She flushed lightly. “Jason and I have been dating for a few months.”

“No policy on interoffice dating then?”

“Not really. HR had us sign a document that stated we wouldn’t let our personal relationship affect our working one,” Lucy said. “We keep things professional at the office.”

A small grin crossed Max’s face as they entered the elevator. “Yes, it looked professional.”

Lucy blushed. “Honestly, he’s not normally like that. He’s just, uh…”

“The jealous type?” Max asked.

She nodded and he grinned cheerfully at her. “Well, tell Mr. Young he has nothing to worry about. I don’t go after women who are in relationships.”

“I’ll let him know,” Lucy laughed.

“Do you get flack from the others for dating the boss?” He asked.

When she didn’t reply he gave her an apologetic look. “Sorry, I’m pretty blunt and nosy – not a great combination.”

She laughed again. “Actually, I find it refreshing. And no, surprisingly not. I was worried about it at first – we kept our relationship a secret for a while – but after the initial shock, most people don’t seem to care.”

“That’s good,” he replied. “Who else is single in the office?”

“I take it you’re not looking to be a bachelor anymore?”

“Is it that obvious?”

“Maybe a little,” she teased. “There are a few single ladies in the office. Oh and Paul is single – if you’re into men?”

“Strictly girls for me, I’m afraid,” he replied.

“Well, you’ve got options if you’re looking for an office romance.”

The elevator doors opened and they stepped into the lobby. He followed her to the café, ducking to get through the doorway and she gave him a thoughtful look. “It must be a pain in the ass to be that tall.”

He shrugged. “I’m used to it. I was this height by the time I was eighteen. I was skinny as hell though. My nickname was beanpole through most of high school and university. I started to fill out by about twenty-two and I was doing some serious weight-training halfway through university. By the time I graduated, the ‘beanpole’ nickname was forgotten.”

“Do you still do a lot of weight training?” She asked curiously as they stood in line.

“Yeah, my last girlfriend said I was addicted to it but I like being in good physical shape. Plus I might be slightly scarred by the beanpole teasing. Does that make me sound less manly?”

She patted his wide forearm. “Not in the least. Childhood teasing can be pretty damaging.”

They were at the front of the counter now and she grinned to herself as Max placed his order. He was handsome enough and seemed like a good guy and she wondered how long it would be before Alex was organizing another office bet to see who would bed him first.

 

* * *

 

“That,” Jason put his arms around her waist and kissed the side of her neck, “smells delicious.”

“Thanks.” She kissed his cheek before finishing chopping the peppers and added them to the pan to sauté with the rest of the vegetables. “How’s it going with the server?”

Jason sat down at the small table, loosening his tie and petting Lenny when the cat jumped into his lap.

“It crashed again at three,” he said irritably.

“I know. I left at just after four when it was apparent I wasn’t going to be able to access any of my files for the rest of the day. Did Carlos get it up and running again?”

He grimaced as she handed him a bottle of water. “Finally. It took nearly three hours. I’m starting to seriously question the guy’s IT credentials.”

“Carlos is good at what he does, Jason. Don’t let your personal feelings for him influence what you think of his work.”

“I’m not,” he protested.

She picked up a raw baby carrot, tossing it at him and clapping when he caught it in his mouth. “You are.”

“He has a crush on you,” Jason muttered around a mouthful of carrot.

“He’s been dating Penny for months. His crush is long over,” she pointed out before stirring the sizzling vegetables.

“How was your lunch with Max?” He asked suddenly.

“We didn’t have lunch together,” she said. “We walked down to the café together and then had lunch in the staff room with everyone else.”

“Is he single?”

“Yes.”

Jason didn’t reply and she turned around to see the familiar look on his face. “He’s not interested in me, Jason. I love you but the jealousy thing needs to go down a notch.”

The scowl on his face turned into an impish grin. “Hey, can I help it if my girlfriend is so hot that every man who meets her wants to date her?”

She sighed. “I know, right? It’s a burden that I bear remarkably well, I think.” She slapped her own ass and grinned at him over her shoulder. “You just need to get used to the fact that I’m incredibly attractive but also used to beating away the men with a stick and don’t need you slipping me the tongue in front of my coworkers to keep them at bay.”

“There was absolutely no tongue involved in today’s kiss. It was a very professional tongue-free kiss. Totally appropriate for the office.”

“Yes, well, Max got the message loud and clear so well done,” Lucy said before rolling her eyes. “And get that smug look off of your face.”

Jason stood and stripped off his suit jacket, draping it over his arm before kissing her. “You like my smugness.”

He slapped her firmly on the ass and she squealed loudly before giving him a mock scowl. “Spanking in the bedroom only, Mr. Young.”

“Whatever you say, Ms. Reid,” he said sweetly.