“Slacker.”
“Tell me about it.”
“Talk to you tomorrow.” He yawned again before saying good night and ending the call.
If I’d thought I was in trouble when Tami picked me up from the airport, I was in so much more trouble now. And the worst part?
I loved it.
• • •
My phone vibrated and the familiar blue smiley face stared back at me as my heart rate doubled and my thumbs couldn’t press the buttons fast enough to respond. I always found myself racing to open Cal’s text just to see what he had to say. No matter how many messages he sent me, my body reacted as if it were the first.
Dream Lips: Are you home from work yet?
Jules: Not yet. I have about another hour or so. Text you when I’m done?
Dream Lips: Yes, please.
I smiled and put my phone away, then tried to focus again on the paperwork piled on my desk. It was crazy how easily a man could distract me, especially considering I’d never been the type to lose focus so easily before.
Apparently the right guy could throw you all out of whack and make you want to reprioritize everything in your life to make sure they fit into it. At least, that was the effect Cal seemed to have on me.
Shit. I really was in trouble. As the logical side of my brain nagged at me to resist this sort of behavior, to not behave how a typical woman might, my heart begged me to make room for him.
And for once in my life, I was siding with my heart over my brain.
Long Distance
Cal
Ever since Jules had mentioned that we were sort of like a team, I couldn’t get the notion out of my head. When she’d first joked that we should have matching jerseys, my gut reaction had been to shout Team Success into the phone as if it was the most natural thing to do.
I’d never had a teammate before. Sure, I had Lucas, but it wasn’t the same. Before Jules, I’d never met a woman who seemed invested in my success, in me.
Scratch that. I’d definitely met women interested in my success, but only because they wanted to reap the rewards of my hard work. They didn’t want to be part of what it took to get there; they simply wanted to share in the outcome.
Jules couldn’t have been more different. She didn’t care about my money; she had her own. She pushed me to better myself because that was what a good woman did for her man. And that was what a good man did for his woman.
Whoa. Where the hell did that thought come from?
I pressed my desk phone’s intercom button. “Lucas?”
He poked his head in my cubicle a moment later. “You rang? And why am I always coming to you? My desk is right over there, you know. You could come to me.” He rolled his eyes.
“Yeah, but you sit next to that asshole, and I don’t want him eavesdropping.”
Lucas agreed with a grimace.
The guy who sat next to Lucas was related to one of the owners in the company and had a reputation for ratting people out whenever it benefited him. I imagined that he would love the fact that my focus was now split between work and Jules¸ and he wouldn’t hesitate to fill in the managing partners.
“I had an idea, and I wanted your opinion.”
Lucas leaned against my desk. “Is this about Jules?”
I nodded.
“I’m all ears,” he said and leaned in a little closer.