"No problem," Megan said, shifting the cart so she could continue rolling it westward down the street.
They fell into step together, silent at first, and then Megan cleared her throat. "Listen, I just want you to know that the thing between Reece and me--it wasn't serious."
Jenna stopped. "It wasn't?"
"No. We just--a good time, you know." Her cheeks flushed, but she looked Jenna in the eye as she spoke.
Jenna frowned. "Um, why are you telling me this?"
"Oh. Well. I thought--aren't you and Reece involved?"
Jenna's eyes widened. "Oh, no. No!" She thought of last night's crazy, foolish kiss, felt her entire body flush, and stressed the last part again. "No, no. We're just good friends."
"Oh!" Megan shook her head. "I'm sorry. He'd told me you weren't. But he'd been so distracted by the fact that he hadn't picked you up, and then when I saw the way he looked at you in the bar, I thought--well, never mind."
"What?"
"Well, obviously it was my imagination."
"Totally," Jenna said emphatically. "Absolutely your imagination." Inside, though, something warm and pleasant and a little disturbing began to flow through her veins. "But how funny that you thought so," she added, her voice sounding odd even to her ears.
They'd reached The Fix, and Jenna enjoyed a wash of relief. She was completely out of ideas as to where to take the conversation next. "This is my stop. Have fun on your shoot."
"Thanks. Maybe I'll come by later."
"Great." Jenna's smile was so broad her cheeks ached. "I'll tell Reece you said hi," she added, then waited until Megan had crossed the street before closing her eyes and mentally kicking her own ass. Honestly, what the hell had she been doing? She had no interest whatsoever in seeing Megan and Reece get together.
Which was ridiculously bitchy and selfish of her, because she had no intention of keeping him for herself, either.
Escaping inside the empty bar was a relief, and soon Jenna was settled behind one of the desks in the office with a pad of paper in front of her, a The Fix on Sixth pen in her hand, and her mind whirring with tasks and plans.
And thoughts of Reece.
An hour later, she'd managed to accomplish exactly nothing, despite a billion things that needed to happen to get the calendar contest underway, a hundred phone calls she needed to make if she was going to pull together a solid marketing plan, and on and on and on.
There were proposals to write, vendors to retain, printers to line up, media to contact. So much that had to be done, and yet all she had to show for her efforts was a notepad covered with doodles.
Fuck.
Tears pricked her eyes as she ripped the page of useless scribbles off her notepad. Nothing was working out. Not the calendar contest she was trying to organize. Not her search for a new job. And definitely not this morning's plan to focus on The Fix and get her mind off Reece.
Damn the man. He'd ruined everything.
Okay, maybe not everything. He did rescue her from a dark parking lot in an unfamiliar section of South Austin. But then he'd kissed her, and now there was this thing between them. And the whole situation was an awkward, horrible mess.
Well, maybe not the whole situation. The kiss had been incredible. But the rest of it was horrible. Confusing and uncomfortable. Because she and Reece and Brent had always been a threesome. A perfect platonic triangle.
At least, that's what she'd been telling herself ever since she moved back to Austin.
Telling herself? Try lying to herself.
She should have put a stop to it right away. If she was any kind of woman--any kind of friend--she should have shoved hard against his chest the moment his lips met hers. She should have pushed him firmly away and told him that there was nothing but friendship between them.
But she hadn't.
God help her, she'd kissed him back. And even now, she could feel the echo of that kiss reverberating through her soul, hot and deep and wild and brutal.
It had burned inside her, melting her will and firing her senses. And it had taken all of her strength to finally break that kiss when what she'd really wanted was to beg him to bend her over the hood of the car, yank down her panties, and take her right there under the light of moon.