Chapter 22
Speedos? Seriously?”
Crickitt chuckled at Sadie’s observation. Sadie sipped her margarita. The pool bar was crowded, giving them plenty of people watching to do today.
Crickitt, for one, was relieved for the distraction, even if it was Hairy Speedo Guy. Shane and Murphy were probably arriving in Atlanta right about now, a thought that only made her wonder what she’d missed out on staying in Ohio.
“I love Sundays,” Sadie mused, leaning back in her lounger. “They’re like free days.”
Crickitt tilted her head at her friend. When Sadie called to ask her to go with her for a drink and a dip, Crickitt assumed it was because Sadie wanted to talk about Aiden. So far, she’d brought up everything but him.
“Are we pretending nothing is going on with you and Aiden?” Crickitt rolled to her side and studied Sadie’s profile.
“That would be nice,” she said flatly. Then Sadie turned, her eyes obscured by a giant pair of dark sunglasses. “What do you want to know?”
“What happened?”
She took a breath. “He’s pretending he and Harmony are still married because he thinks keeping his mother worry-free gives her a better chance at beating the cancer.”
Crickitt blinked as if she’d been slapped. That was a lot of information for one sentence.
“What’s going on with you and Hot Boss?” Sadie asked, lifting her drink again.
“You’re not going to elaborate?”
“Nope.” Sadie’s eyebrows rose over the rims of her shades. “So? Hot Boss? Details.”
Crickitt thought for a moment. “He took a guy named Peter to Atlanta with him on a business trip instead of me and put me in charge of his ex-girlfriend while he is away.”
“Yikes.” Then she nodded sagely. “Told you all men were bastards.”
Crickitt recapped Lori’s conversation from last week. “What do you think she meant by ‘he’d be worth it’?”
“That he’s amazing in bed.”
She was afraid of that.
“So, are you going to sleep with him?” Sadie asked.
“What? No! I mean, that’s sort of…off the table.”
“Oh, honey, that’s never off the table.” Sadie slid her glasses into her mane of sun-kissed blond hair and studied her through narrowed eyes. “You’re falling for him, aren’t you?”
Crickitt laughed, the sound born of nerves and the need to stall while she thought of something reasonable to say. “Of course not. I might have a crush on him, but that’s all.” But it wasn’t just a crush. And she knew it. “I never should’ve gone on a date with him.”
“You went on a date with him?” Sadie sat up like someone threw a cold glass of water on her bare midriff. “Where did he take you?”
“John Adams Reserve. He packed a picnic. Baked me cookies. Kissed me within an inch of my life.” She smiled weakly.
“Aww, that’s kind of sweet,” Sadie said.
“It was sweet.” Until she’d overreacted to his suggestion of casual sex, which, she’d admit, was beginning to sound a lot better than no sex. In her defense, her date with Shane was the first date she’d been on in eleven years. It was also the first time in as long since she’d touched her lips to anyone’s other than Ronald’s. No wonder she’d pulled into her shell like a startled turtle.
“So what’s the problem?” Sadie asked.
Me, Crickitt wanted to answer. “We work together. Sleeping together would be a bad idea.” And he’d obviously agreed since then, an idea that made her chest ache. He hadn’t been gone very long at all, and already she missed him.
“Yes, but it’s not like you two can get fired over a fling,” Sadie said. “He’s in charge.”
“Maybe that’s what worries me,” Crickitt muttered. Shane in charge of her heart, her feelings, her future…now that was worrisome.
“You are entitled to be nervous, you know,” Sadie said, her tone softer. “You haven’t been divorced all that long. I’m sure you were expecting to date a few jokers before running across some”—she waved a hand as if searching for the words—“billionaire hottie in a thousand-dollar suit.”
“Right?” Crickitt wholeheartedly agreed. “It’s a big adjustment.”
“Huge.” Sadie’s lips kicked into an irreverent smile. “Well, let’s hope it’s huge. Otherwise, why bother?”