Save the Date (8 page)

Mel waved me over as she chatted with a woman after class. “Kristen, I’d like to introduce you to my sister, Kaitlin.”

“Hi, Kaitlin.” I smiled at the perky red-head, noting that Mel had referred to her as her step-sister when we were alone but as her sister in front of her. Interesting dynamic, and I was curious to learn more. Step relationships tended to be more intricate, and human behavior fascinated me.

Although I’m sure explaining medical benefits to new hires could be interesting as well. Or overseeing that the company adheres to employee safety laws, since carpal tunnel can be very painful. And coordinating vacation schedules might be fun, depending on where the employee was headed. Not that I’d get to go with them or discuss what historical sites they saw as part of my job description.

Huh. No wonder I wasn’t jumping for joy at my new career.

“Guess what?” Mel’s eyes lit up, and she put a hand on my arm as she spoke. “My bad dating streak seems to be over. Brad and I had an amazing time at the River Cats game yesterday, and he’s taking me out for a late dinner tonight. He’s
so
dreamy.”

“That’s great.” It seemed way too early to tell if she’d broken her pattern of dating commitment phobes, but I didn’t want to burst her bubble. If her own behavior’s the same, she’s likely to get the same results as before. “So, you like him a lot?”

“They adore each other.” Kaitlin put in, her hands coming together against her chest as if knowing they were an ideal match after only one date. “I saw them in action earlier, and he just gives off that good-guy vibe. Plus, he’s got a body like Vin Diesel. Yum.”

I threw my head back and laughed. “That cinches it, huh?”

“Speaking of yum, I’m gonna get cleaned up for my date. Wish me luck!” Mel wiggled her fingers at us, then bounced off.

“She has such a zest for life, doesn’t she?” Kaitlin gazed after Mel as if she admired her sister (or step-sister, as the case may be). “It takes major effort for me to exert half that energy.”

“Mel’s definitely got spunk.” I agreed, then checked the clock. “I’m going to hit the treadmill for a few minutes for an extra cool down. It was nice meeting you, Kaitlin.”

She gave a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “You, too.”

When I arrived at the treadmills, I scanned the walkers and runners for a certain tall, dark, and muscular guy I’d rather avoid. Why did Totally Fit have to have the best location and rates in downtown Sac? Sigh.

Luckily, Ethan was nowhere to be seen. The twinge of disappointment I felt annoyed me, and I made myself walk thirty minutes instead of fifteen as punishment. His not being here was a
good
thing and while, okay, there a was massive amount of physical attraction, that didn’t mean anything. It was just chemistry.

It’s not like I was going to act on it. Again, I mean.

So why couldn’t I stop thinking about him? I tapped the button to end my cool down. As long as I kept my head on straight, I was good.

I turned to get off the treadmill and nearly slammed into the man waiting in line. He put his hands out to steady me, and when I looked up to say thanks, my voice caught in my throat.

“Hi,” Ethan said, his deep brown eyes peering down at me.

I swallowed. “Hi.”

He eyed me up and down in a way that made me wish I’d put on more than my fluorescent yellow sports top and tight black shorts which, while comfortable for dance class, made me feel way too naked under Ethan’s gaze.

There was a chill in his tone when he said, “You didn’t return my text.”

Hearing the hurt in his voice melted my defenses. “I’m sorry.”

He stepped aside, so the next person in line could claim my vacated treadmill. “I don’t want you to avoid me. We’re still friends, right?”

Instead of reaffirming I wanted to move to a galaxy far far away from him, I said, “Of course.”

The tension in his face relaxed. “I’m glad. I’d hate to think we couldn’t hang out anymore because of one slip.”

A slip? What was
that
supposed to mean? Not that I thought kissing me should’ve rocked his world, but . . . actually, yes, it should have. It’d sure rocked mine.

I gritted my teeth, and shrugged. “No big deal.”

“Good.” He started toward a treadmill that had just opened up. “I’ll see you soon then.”

“Okay,” I said, as he walked off.

How infuriating. Here I’d been (unwittingly) picturing our future together all afternoon (and most of this evening), and he thought of it as a slip? Whatever.

I started toward the locker room to shower, then spun around, and marched over to where Ethan had just started a slow jog. I tapped him on the arm, which was tantalizingly hard.

He looked down at me, and frowned. “Did you forget something?”

Yeah, I forgot to make my kiss memorable, apparently. My brows came together. “No, but, as a friend, I think it’s unfair that you’ve been dangling this secret over me all week. You need to tell me what it is.”

The corner of his mouth turned up. “No.”

Argh! When had Ethan become so irritating? “Why not?”

He shrugged. “I’ll show you. But only when you finally admit you’re dying to see it.”

I inhaled deeply. Ethan Harrison was the most infuriating friend ever. But I could play his game. “Not only am I
dying
to see it, but I would strip down to my underwear and run naked through this gym to see it.”

Heat sizzled in his eyes, telling me our kisses
had
affected him, and he must’ve swallowed his tongue because he only made a choking noise in response.

Ha. “Great. I’ll meet you in the lobby after your workout.”

Satisfied, because he was gaping after me, I went to the locker room to take a shower.

A cold one.

****

After my shower in the locker room, I dressed, and was just about to zip out to the lobby when I heard a soft, mewing sound behind me. A row of lockers down, I found a slender red-head, sitting on a bench with her head in her hands. “Kaitlin?”

Her head snapped up, and she swiped her cheeks. “Sorry. I didn’t know anyone else was in here.”

Uh, yeah. There were several showers going right now and women lined up at the mirror grooming. “What’s wrong?”

She shrugged helplessly. “Nothing. I’m fine.”

Yeah, I’d said that plenty of times myself. “You can talk to me.”

Her eyes watered. “I got laid off. I’ve been trying to find work, but there is absolutely nobody in this entire city who’s hiring in H.R. right now.”

My entire body froze. “H.R.?”

She nodded. “Human Resources. I was the H.R. Manager at my old office. I loved my job, but the company combined the position with the executive assistant’s in order to save costs.”

A boulder formed in my stomach, and I dropped down on the bench next to her. “You loved it, huh?”

“Passionately.” She sniffed. “I’d been with the company for four years, knew the job inside and out, then when they didn’t need me anymore, they let me go.”

I felt my forehead wrinkle. “That’s awful.”

“Well, they did give me two weeks severance, but that’s long gone. Unfortunately, I don’t have much in savings so I’ll have to move back in with my parents until I can find a job . . . I don’t know, scrubbing toilets or something.”

Listening to this girl pour her heart out to me, and hearing how much she loved human resources (ick), a calmness settled over me. I knew what I had to do.

Putting a hand on Kaitlin’s arm, I said, “I know of an H.R. position that’s available.”

And just like that, I was drowning again.

Chapter Six

“You’re sure I can’t help?” I sat on a barstool at Ethan’s house, peering over the island countertop as he diced green peppers and onions for dinner.

I know I’d decided not to hang around Ethan, but why should I miss out on knowing this scintillating secret because of a few (delicious) kisses? I’m a grown woman, and I can resist temptation. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be a size four when my roommate stocks our kitchen with things like cheese puffs, donuts, cream cheese, apple fritters, and a freezer full of cookie-dough ice cream.

Thank goodness Ethan was a health nut like me. It’ll be nice to eat a well-balanced meal without having to watch Gina chow on chips with nacho cheese sauce.

“I’ve got the kitchen under control. But thanks.” Ethan chopped with precision, then dropped the veggies into a pan. “Finish telling me about the job you got, then gave away.”

“I’d rather hear you dish about this top secret whatever-it-is, and why you never show anyone.” I sipped the ice-cold sparkling mineral water he’d poured me. “At least tell me if it’s an animal, vegetable, or mineral?”

He tilted his head to the side as he moved the spatula around the pan. “Technically, it could be considered two of the three. Now I’ve answered a question. Your turn.”

“How could it be two of them?” I protested, then sighed when he gave me a look, reminding me it was my turn. Fine. “The H.R. Manager position was a really great offer, but I wasn’t excited about it. Kaitlin has more experience and loves human resources, so she’s better matched for it.”

He tossed a tortilla on another pan. “What about you?”

“Nice try.” I raised an eyebrow at him. “My turn.”

The corners of his mouth tipped up. “Go.”

I watched him pull two plates out of the cupboard, and cursed myself for checking out his (mighty fine) backside. “Why do you keep your secret all hush-hush?”

“There could be a question of ownership.” He scooped the tortillas onto the plates, then did the same with the sautéed veggies. “If word got out, it might get taken away from me, and I’m not going to risk that happening.”

My eyes bulged. “It’s stolen?”

“It was a gift, and now I get two questions in a row.” He carried our plates to the dining table, and called back to me. “Could you grab some silverware out of the drawer to the left of the sink?”

“Sure.” I hopped off the barstool, and opened the drawer to the left of the sink. No silverware, only a messy pile of receipts, papers, and who knew what else. Even though Ethan might possibly be hiding something, it felt wrong invading his privacy. Instead of taking the opportunity to snoop, I forced myself my eyes away and opened the next drawer. “Got them.”

When I turned around, I caught him watching me. “What?”

He paused, as if trying to decide something. Then he said, “You stopped when you had the wrong drawer. Why?”

My stomach clenched, but I walked toward him, and took a seat anyway. “I thought about rifling through it.”
His brows quirked, in that cute way they did when I’d confused him. “What for?”

I gave him a
duh
look. “To see what you’re hiding.”

The muscles on his jaw tightened. “Are you going to check my phone next?”

Hearing my words thrown back in my face was like a slap. “You asked what I was thinking, and I was just being honest. It’s not like I actually did it.”

“Here.” He reached into his pants pocket, pulled out his phone, and handed it to me. “Knock yourself out.”

Holding his smart phone felt like owning his world. The pathway to anything I’d want to know about Ethan had to be in this phone. Photos, documents, text messages . . . my mouth was practically watering. Then I thought of Ellen, as she’d touched her stomach, and told me she trusted Henry with her heart.

Then I thought of Jake.

I tapped into Ethan’s photos first. “Hmm. Looks like someone went hiking last weekend.”

“We did a ten-mile hike at Point Reyes.” He lifted his fajita, as if to take a bite. “Gorgeous views.”

“I can see that,” I said, freezing on a picture of Ethan shirtless at the top of a cliff—the California coastline below him wasn’t bad either. The way the blue-gray water reached for the shore with white foamy fingers, appeared ethereal. “I want to go there.”

He didn’t hesitate. “Name the date.”

“You mean go together?” My insides glowed at the thought, and I considered it. “We’d have to coordinate calendars.”

“You’re holding my calendar,” he said, then popped the last bite of his fajita into his mouth.

My lashes lifted. “So, I should just write myself in?”

“Any day you want.” His eyes met mine with a sizzling look that shot zings through me.

I gulped, wanting him to save every date for me. Tempting. Way too tempting. Instead of answering, I slid my finger across the screen, switching to a photo of some guy (not half as hot as Ethan) giving Ethan’s camera the finger. “Charming.”

He laughed. “That’s James. We had a bet on who’d reach the peak first. He lost.”

I smiled. Men.

Thinking that James could be on his knee proposing as we sat here, my heart rate kicked up as I considered what a relationship with Ethan would be like. It’d be different than with Jake. For one, Ethan and I had the same interests. We also laughed together, which Jake and I rarely did. And Ethan had told me to pick any date, unlike Jake who used to tell
me
when he was available.

Was Ethan trustworthy? Like Henry (hopefully) was? Ethan had handed me his phone/world, after all. My heart zipped from a trot to a gallop as I decided to go hiking with him. I opened my mouth to suggest Sunday when, suddenly, Ethan’s cell phone vibrated in my hand. A local number displayed on the screen. “I’m guessing it’s for you.”

Ethan gave me a look I couldn’t read, like he didn’t want the call, then finally took the phone. “This is Ethan. Who? Oh, right. Hi, Amanda.”

With that one name, my heart stopped, and I remembered the girl from Ethan’s office who’d hung on every word he said. She was calling him now? After eight o’clock? How’d she get his number?

Alarms went off in my head, and I couldn’t hear Ethan’s conversation through the mental sirens. I picked at what was left of my dinner, which felt like coming back up my throat.

Finally, Ethan hung up, and set his phone down. “That was Tiffany’s friend. She’s having some legal problems she wants to talk to me about.”

I stared at him, my heart steeling over. “You keep late office hours.”

Ignoring my snarky comment, his forehead wrinkled. “She wants to meet me after work tomorrow. At a bar.”