The Boss (The Boss 1)

I hated to disappoint him, but I didn’t know Valerie. I figured I should at least know someone before I was intimidated by the mention of her. “Oh?”

“Rudy met Valerie when he was doing a semester abroad,” Neil explained. “She offered to set him up with her brother, Stephen.”

Rudy nodded and laughed. “And having never met Stephen, when I arrived at Valerie’s apartment and found Neil there, I just assumed he was my date.”

“I was flattered, of course.” Neil smiled fondly at the memory. “I thought he was a bit out of my league.”

“He was a good sport about it,” Rudy said with a laugh.

“And... Stephen?” I asked, looking between the two of them.

“Stephen is a tragedy best saved for another time,” Rudy said, and Neil raised his glass.

“I’ll drink to that.” Then he did, setting his beer down and pushing back from the table. “Excuse me for a moment. Rudy, be on your best behavior while I’m gone.”

I sipped my wine until Neil was out of earshot then fixed Rudy with wry gaze. “Okay. Did I pass?”

“Pass what?” he asked innocently.

“The test.”

He considered a moment. “Undecided. But I’m leaning toward yes. I’m sorry to be so cold about it, but Neil is my best friend, and he’s made some foolish choices in his dating past.”

“Ah, then you’ll be relieved to know that we’re not dating.” I smiled cheerfully.

“No, I know. I’ve heard all about your arrangement. No-strings-attached sex, right?” He smiled right back. “But I should warn you, Neil is incapable of keeping things casual with anyone. And he has a forceful personality.”

I pointed to myself. “Choir. As in, ‘you are preaching to.’”

“He can’t help it. He’s an Aries.” He laughed, the first time all night he’d responded without suspicion to something I’d said. I would crack him yet. He sighed and took a sip from his beer, then said, “Don’t disappoint him, Sophie. He doesn’t let people in often. I know he projects an air of unflappable confidence, but he’s vulnerable. With you, he’s more vulnerable than I suspect you know.”

I shifted in my seat and cleared my throat, finally withering under Rudy’s intense stare. Damnit.

I wanted to say so much; that I was in love with Neil, that I would never knowingly hurt him. But I was already knowingly hurting him, by keeping my mouth shut about Jake’s cryptic statements.

Actions speak louder than words, Scaife, I reminded myself with a mental sigh. “You were right. About Jake Kirchner? I think he’s still working with Gabriella.”

One perfectly groomed eyebrow rose as Rudy regarded me. “What do you know?”

“Just that he thinks there’s going to be some big takeover.” I looked over my shoulder. No sign of Neil. “I feel like I can’t talk about this stuff with Neil. We’re trying to keep our work life and our personal life as separate as possible.”

“Good luck.” Rudy took a sip of water. “I’ll look into the situation with Kirchner. Then I’ll bring it to Neil, when I know more.”

The waitress arrived with the plates of food we would all share, and moments later, Neil returned, as well.

“Has he threatened you yet?” he asked with a wink as he sat down beside me.

“No. We’re just talking.” I beamed at him. I was relieved at having circumvented the “don’t talk about business” problem, but I still wasn’t sure where Rudy stood on the animal cruelty fiasco. Whether we’d agreed to talk about work or not, I felt like I was going to have to bring that up to Neil.

As we ate from the truly delicious sampling of dishes in front of us, I listened to Neil and Rudy talk about mutual acquaintances, stopping for the occasional aside so that I wouldn’t be left behind in the conversation. It was a bit surreal, seeing this part of Neil that I’d never seen before. We spent most of our time together alone. Viewing the way he interacted with another person in his life, someone who shared a history with him... it reminded me of how Holli and I were together, able to share whole memories with just a few words. We stayed surprisingly late, drinking and talking. After a brief argument over the bill that I did not step into— the after dinner cocktails and the after after dinner cocktails had punched up a pretty substantial tab— we made our way to the sidewalk.

“Sophie,” Rudy said, leaning in to kiss the air beside my cheek. “It was a pleasure.”

“Ditto.” I was surprised at how much I’d begun to like him. “Um, did you want to come back to Neil’s place for drinks?” The words were out of my mouth before I realized it wasn’t really my call to invite him. I looked uncertainly to Neil.

“No, um, another time I think, Rudy?” There wasn’t any awkwardness in his retraction of my invitation.