Page 42 of Tempt

I snorted and looked down at my phone so I could reply to Theo. My honest answer was that yes, I did in fact have plans. Him. On top of me. But considering the way we left things and how much we needed to say I decided to be serious.

At a pub down the street from work with friends right now. I hope we can talk tonight.

Simple and to the point.

Dexters? Text me when you’re done. I’ll pick you up.

I cleared the texts, suddenly feeling less tired than I had before… and totally ready to see Theo.

“Dirty messages...” Luis drummed his fingers on the table. He was like a kid in a dirty candy store. So I pulled up my secret file of screenshots and handed my phone over. “Sweet Jesus he’s a smooth talker.”

I grinned. Yes, yes he was. Those dirty messages were one unending love letter filled with romantic dirty talk.

Luis’s mouth fell open. “Did you have sex with him in the office?”

What?I grabbed the phone wondering what the hell had prompted that question, but grinned the moment I saw the message in question. “Nope. But we did act that out on his dinner table that night.”

“Mother Mary…” he swallowed and passed the phone to Ava.

She giggled and winked at me. “Does he have a brother? Or a best friend?”

“What about me? I can sweet talk you, honey girl,” James said as he leaned in to whisper in her ear.

Ava pushed him away. “Ew. If you ever send me a message like that I’ll chop your balls off.”

Then things took an unexpected turn.

Margaretwalked into the bar.

“What the hell is she doing here?” James whisper-yelled.

Seeing Margaret outside of the office was unsettling. Like seeing your teacher at the grocery store. They weren’t supposed to exist in the outside world.

“I didn’t think bosses were allowed to get drinks after work like normal people. Don’t they work all night?” Luis joked.

“Apparently not. Any chance she won’t notice us?” I asked as I slid down in the booth. I was constantly worried she’d be able to tell I was sleeping with Theo. Like I had his invisible cooties on me somewhere and she had special goggles for detecting them. It made no sense whatsoever, but that didn’t stop me from worrying.

“You think she won’t notice you if you do that?” Ava laughed at me.

I shrugged. “It was worth a shot…”

“Not really. Sit up.” She yanked on my arm until I was upright again. And then I watched as James sauntered up to the bar and offered to buy Margaret a drink. She declined, of course, shot us a half-hearted wave, and joined another woman at a booth near the window. “Well, she looks about as thrilled to see us as we are to see her.”

“We’ll abide by the code,” Luis said, placing his hand over his heart. “This never happened.”

We all laughed at his playful seriousness and returned to our drinks… with a little less enthusiasm than we had before. It was just sostrangeto see her sitting there, laughing and acting so… sonormal.

I’d had bosses in the past who were awesome to hang out with. They bought drinks on Friday afternoons, had parties at their houses, and told embarrassing stories in the break room.

Margaret was not that type of person. She was the boss, and as such, didn’t associate with us outside of barking orders. So to say it was weird to see her as a human being instead of the overbearing super lord I usually pictured her as, was throwing my world out of whack.

And my world was already seriously out of whack.

“I didn’t know she could laugh…” James frowned.

“I didn’t either,” I said.

Luis rolled his eyes. “You two are idiots.”