Page 24

This is a business arrangement, not a bona fide date.

10

Florence

The place is busy tonight, and by the time we sit down fifteen minutes later, I'm past ready to eat.

"Can I get a salad while we wait for the pizza?" I ask the waitress.

She looks at Josie. "Salad for you, too?"

Josie shakes her head. "I ordered our pizza thirty minutes ago through the app. It should be ready for us. Pietra," she adds with a smile.

"It should be ready, then." The waitress looks at me. "Do you still want your salad if the pizza is ready, ma'am?"

I blink. "No. If the pizza is ready, I'll skip the salad."

"That'll just save room for dessert." Josie grins, taking my hand and lacing her fingers with mine. Her hand is soft and warm.

After the waitress leaves, she turns my hand over, tracing her thumb across the sensitive skin inside my wrist. "You said youwere hungry," she says softly, her voice sultry. "I want to take care of your needs." Her eyes drop to my lips.

I raise an eyebrow. "Are you trying to impress me, Doctor?"

She grins mischievously. "Is it working?" She leans forward and presses a kiss to my palm—soft enough that I feel her breath against my skin.

"Ms. Pietra?" A woman in whitewashed jeans with a long blonde ponytail stands by our table.

"Yes? I'm Florence Pietra." I don't recognize her.

She breaks into a smile. "I'm Fiona. Bakker. My husband Jason works for you." She gestures with her chin toward a table on the other side of the room.

"Oh, sure." I glance over at him and smile. He's surrounded by their four kids—the oldest looks to be in middle school. "How did Finley's gymnastics meet go last week?"

Fiona laughs. "She fell off the beam—I think having her dad there for the first time made her nervous. But otherwise she did okay."

"She better get used to it." I chuckle. "He plans to be at every meet if we can manage it."

She nods. "I just want to say thank you, for being flexible with his schedule. He likes working with you. He loves his job."

"I'm glad we could work things out so he could be there. I can't promise every meet, but we'll do our best to try. I know how important family is to him."

Josie grins. "She is pretty awesome, isn't she?" she says to Fiona, bringing my palm up to her lips again. Not sensual this time, but an unmistakable sign that we're together.

"I'll leave you two alone." Fiona smiles. "I just wanted to thank you for being a great boss."

After she returns to her table, Josie turns to look at me. "Somehow, I didn't expect to hear that tonight."

I meet her gaze. "What, that I can be nice sometimes?"

The side of her mouth quirks up. "There might be hope for you yet." She traces her tongue along her bottom lip. "You'd better be careful, or those ice queen walls will start melting."

I tear my eyes away from her, forcing my heart to stop racing.

I smirk. "I wasn't given much choice. Being flexible was the preferable option," I say honestly.

She breaks into a grin. "I knew there was at least one nice bone in your body." She glances up, scooting back a little. "Lifesaving pizza to the rescue." She nods toward the waitress coming with our pizza.

The smell of melted cheese and greasy pepperoni hits me. I haven't eaten since lunch, and I'm famished. "This is so sinful." I grin, pulling a piece onto my own plate.