Unfortunately, we could only keep those shadows at bay for so long. By the time the second round of coffee had been brewed and consumed, those troubles popped right back up again.
“I came by this morning to check on Madison,” Caleb said suddenly, glancing down self-consciously at his placemat, “but it’s also because I think the three of us should brainstorm and come up with a solution to the Billings situation. The competition is still on, Madison’s job is on the line, and we don’t have to take off work just because the office is closed.”
I nodded in agreement and finished the last of my fifth cup of coffee. If we wanted to crawl out of this hole we’d made, we had to get started right away. The look on Madison’s face, however, told me she didn’t quite agree.
“What do you mean?” she asked in confusion. “Yes, the competition is still on, but we’re not all on the same team. Why the hell would we help you solve Billings?” When he didn’t answer, she kicked him under the table and pressed again. “Caleb, what are you doing here?”
James and I shared a quick glance, then lowered our eyes discreetly to the table, giving the two most resistant people in the world a chance to start things fresh—even if one of them happened to be adorably oblivious.
“I’m here because I don’t want you to lose your job,” Caleb muttered, hoping like hell she’d just let the subject drop. By then, though, having known Madison as long as he had, he should have known better.
“But you’ll lose the trip to the Alps,” Madison insisted, not fathoming a world in which such a sacrifice could possibly be made. “Why the fuck would you do that?”
Caleb shot her a pained grimace before rolling his eyes to the ceiling. “So I’m a masochist, Madi. I’m attracted to things that cause me pain.”
She blinked slowly, then lowered her eyes to the table. For the first time, Madison Montgomery was at a complete loss for words. That melted my heart into a happy little puddle, but I was careful to keep my emotions under wraps, to hide my sheer delight under the guise of a brisk smile.
“Well, at any rate, I agree with Caleb. If we want to recoup the numbers we lost with Billings, it has to be all hands on deck. That means pulling out all stops, leaving no stone unturned. I’m talking Paraguay, Milan...”
The three of us looked up at the same time at the fourth member of our party, a lovely man who had cheerfully tuned out at the mention of work and was now sketching what looked like a perfect re-creation of the Sistine Chapel in his plate of maple syrup.
“James?”
He offered nothing, as completely absorbed in his breakfast as the syrup was in his toast.
A little grin crept up the side of my face, and I leaned forward to try again. “Hey, babe...”
At the sound of a pet name, James’s head snapped up instantaneously. His eyes fixed on mine for a split second before sweeping quickly over the two other people sitting at the table, both of whom were watching him with patient smiles. A flush of color reached his high cheekbones as he pushed back from the table with a gracious smile. “I should let you three get to it. I’ll just go...somewhere else.”
Caleb chuckled quietly as Madison promptly cleared the plates and opened the oven to begin removing her cartons of spare client files.
After watching her for a moment, James turned back to me. “I’m glad you’re all right, and good luck today. If you get need anything, just call. Oh, I forgot to ask. Do you always sleep with knights in bed?” A flash of mischief danced through his eyes as he looked down with a devilish grin. “I would have been in your bed, too, but it seemed the place was already taken.”
“That’s just Madison’s suit of armor. She thought it would be funny to put him in bed with me. His name is Ronald,” I said with a groan. “He’s...a little hard to explain.”
“A little hard, huh? When I gave him a thump, he seemed very hard to me.” James bit his lip to keep from laughing. “If only I knew you have a strange medieval fetish. I would have sought you out much sooner, in an entirely different wardrobe.”
An image of James riding atop a stallion, waving a giant sword, flashed through my head, and it was all I could do to deep from jumping on top of him right then and there. “Well, there’s still time for that,” I teased, stretching up again to breathe my words into his ear. “And if you’re into role-playing...I’m sure I could find a corset, brave knight.”
His eyebrows lifted slightly and a secret smile escaped and was on full display. His hand twitched nervously, yearning to sweep me off the feet and carry me right back up the stairs, but the next second, he was backing swiftly to the door. “Milady, I fear I must now take my leave, before I corrupt the fair maiden incredulously.”
I threw back my head with a laugh and cocked my hips as I stared teasingly after him. “You’re leaving? That isn’t exactly the reaction I was hoping for.”
“Trust me,” he said with a grin. “It’s for the best, unless you wish to remove your garments immediately.”
I was one the verge of taking off my clothes right then and there when a throat cleared sharply in the kitchen. My shoulders wilted, and I lifted my hand to wave him off in regret. “The world of corporate overachievers calls. Sorry.”
James shrugged innocently as he pulled open the door with a little smile. “No worries. I’ll just be out saving babies, strumming my lute, brandishing my sword...”
I snorted with laughter. “Just don’t brandish your sword at any of the ladies, okay?”
He slipped out into the cold with a little wink. “Riding my steed...”
Chapter 18
IN THE HOURS THAT FOLLOWED, I was the one who kept my head down, focusing entirely on my work, and it was James who couldn’t stay away. Blame it on the impromptu family breakfast, our mind-blowing sex the night before, or his fantasies about me in a renaissance-era corset, but by the time lunch rolled around, my new phone was buzzing with a million adorable texts.
Hey.