The Bedroom Business

“I didn’t forget. I just...” Emily swallowed. “I can’t go with you.”

“Why not?”

“I—I just don’t think it’s a good idea.”

“Perhaps I should remind you that you have an obliga­tion—”

“You already did. And I’ll continue to fulfill that obliga­tion, each and every day.”

Jake’s eyes narrowed. “If that’s a polite way of telling me that your nights are your own, I’d suggest you keep in mind that your days belong to me. You can carouse—”

“Carouse?”

“Exactly. You can carouse from dusk to dawn. You can light up the night, if that’s your preference.” He strode to­wards her, his expression chill, his hands on his hips. “Just don’t expect to waltz into this office late.”

“I told you, I am not late.”

“My coffee is usually on my desk by nine.” “Only because I usually come in early.” “Well, then.”

“Well, then, what?”

Well, then, Jake thought grimly, he was making a colossal ass of himself again. So what if she’d gone out with Jennett? So what if she didn’t want to go out with him tonight? Go out? No. He’d intended to have her accompany him to a business function, that was all, and maybe she was right. Maybe it wasn’t a good idea...

He clamped his lips together, marched into his office, shut his door and buried his nose in his work.

Ten minutes later, he shoved aside what he was doing, pushed back his chair, went to the door and flung it open. Emily was typing away at her computer.

“You’re right,” he said.

She looked up. “Excuse me?”

“Your life is your own, to do with as you see fit.”

“Am I supposed to say thank you?”

Jake’s eyes glittered. “I’m trying to apologize, dammit.”

Emily sighed. “I know. It’s just... I’m not in the best of moods this morning.”

“Yeah.” He nodded, ran his hand through his hair. “Well, that makes two of us.” He hesitated. Her life was her own, but there was nothing wrong in asking. After all, he was the one who’d introduced her to Jennett. “So, how’d things go?”

“Things?” she said brightly.

Too brightly, Jake thought, and cocked his head.

“Your date with Jennett. It, uh, it went well?”

She looked at him for a long moment. “Fine,” she said, and smiled, but she wasn’t fooling him. The smile was as phony as the perky voice.

“Emily?”

She shook her head, swiveled her chair so that her back was to him. “I have a lot to do, Jake. Those memos you left me yesterday...”

“Emily,” he said again, and went to her. He put his hands on the back of the chair, turned it towards him. She dropped her head so he couldn’t see her face and he squatted down beside her, gently cupped her chin in his hand and brought her eyes level with his. “Emily, what is it?”

Her shoulders lifted and fell. “Nothing. I told you, I’m just not in the best of moods this morning.”

Jake sighed. “My fault. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have chewed your head off. Of course you weren’t late. You never are.”

“Yesterday,” she said, and sniffed. “I was late yester­day—”

“Yeah, well, so was half the city.”

Was that a hint of dampness in her eyes?

“That cold I mentioned,” she said, as if she’d read his thoughts. Jake nodded, dug in his trouser pocket, took out a folded white handkerchief and gave it to her.

“Blow,” he said. He waited while she did, then cleared his throat. “It’s just, well, when you didn’t show up early, the way you usually do, I began to worry.”

“About me?”

“Sure. I mean, I sort of feel like I’m responsible for in­troducing you to Jennett.” He waited for her to say some­thing. When she didn’t, he cleared his throat again. “How’d it go? I mean, no octopus last night?”

Emily smiled. “Thad was a perfect gentleman.”

Jake let out his breath. “Good. That’s, ah, that’s a relief to hear.”

“But the date was a disaster.”

“A disaster?” Jake frowned and rose to his feet. “How come?”

“It just was,” she said, in a small voice. “You didn’t have a good time?”

“I was too nervous to have a good time.”

“Nervous? About what?”

Emily sighed. “About everything. What to say. What to do. What to order, from the menu...”

“Where’d he take you for supper?”