“I’m a straightforward type. Pepperoni all the way,” he shared.
“Too spicy for me. I think I’ll grab these.” She helped herself to a cheese and a veggie slice.
“Sorry,” Regina said as she scooted in front of Belinda to grab a packet of dried red pepper.
“No problem,” Belinda answered, automatically taking a step back to give her more room. She lost her balance as she bumped into the handsome man behind her. “Oops!”
“Careful,” Pedro warned, wrapping his free arm around her waist to steady Belinda as she leaned against his hard frame.
“Good heavens. I’m usually not so clumsy,” Belinda apologized as she stepped away as quickly as possible. The feel of his body against hers imprinted on her brain.
Stop it!, she scolded herself mentally. What was happening?
“I’m glad to help. Need any more pizza?” Pedro asked.
“No, I’m good. Shall we join that group? You haven’t met everyone there,” she suggested, noting that Sharon and Knox had moved to the larger gathering as well. There were two separate places to sit. She’d have some time to pull herself together.
“Sounds good.”
He followed her to the large cluster of chairs and couches pushed together. A Little returned to take her seat, ruining Belinda’s plan.
“There’s room here!” Alan suggested, patting an open space next to him.
“Thanks!” Belinda said.
There was just enough room left in the last spot for her and Pedro to squeeze in together. Her thigh pressed against his hard muscles. Don’t think about it.
Belinda took a bite of her pizza and chewed slowly, trying to look like she was following the conversation on the other side.
“Mmm! This is good,” Pedro hummed his appreciation.
She closed her eyes to memorize that sound. Could he be any more appealing?
Thank goodness, the fun discussions around them kept her mind from wandering too much. Pedro was a skilled conversationalist and seemed to have a broad range of interests and knowledge. Following the pattern of the surrounding group, he stayed away from bringing up work-related questions or comments. Belinda liked that he had figured out that pizza night was for fun—not for talking about Edgewater Industries.
“Daddy had something fun happen to him today,” Alan announced, after passing out bottled water to several people, including Belinda and Pedro.
Belinda crossed her fingers, hoping that Pedro had missed Alan’s use of Daddy. From the corner of her eye, she caught his quick glance toward her. Maybe he won’t ask or know? She forced herself to tune back into the conversation.
“What?” Cynthia asked, leaning forward to hear.
“We see a lot of interesting things at the gate. Today had to be my favorite,” Pete shared. “A lady came for a job interview in the legal department. I asked for her ID when I didn’t have her on the schedule. She didn’t have one,” he stated.
“She didn’t have a driver’s license?” Knox asked. His eyebrows pulled together in concern.
“No type of ID. No credit cards. Not even a phone.”
“That’s weird. So she was driving illegally,” Alan pointed out.
“It gets stranger. She had a dummy in the seat next to her. Like one of those things at a store—a plastic mannequin. She’d dressed it like a man in a suit. As we waited for legal to get back to me and vouch that we should admit her for an interview, I asked her about it. It was her copilot so she could drive in the carpool lane,” Pete explained.
“But she didn’t have a license to drive?” Sharon asked.
“That didn’t seem to stop her,” Alan observed.
“No license, no ID of any kind, scamming the carpool lane, and here to apply for a job in the legal department?” Knox ticked the negatives off on his fingers.
“Turned out the legal department had turned down her request for a job interview after doing a background check on her. She had a fugitive warrant out for her. She’d escaped from a minimum-security prison two months ago.”