Page 14 of Fun and Games

"I better go chase down the dogs," I said. "Thanks for helping me walk them."

I turned on my heel and took off, not waiting for Mason's answer. I knew I'd ended our conversation abruptly, but I couldn't stand to look into his eyes anymore.

The guilt rising in my chest was too great.

Five

"Are you feeling all right?"Samantha asked.

I looked up from the computer screen to find my coworker looking at me with a concerned look on her face.

"You've been staring at that screen without blinking for the last five minutes," she continued.

I shifted my gaze to the screen where I had an empty blog post open and ready for me to start typing.

"Just got some stuff on my mind, that's all," I told her.

A familiar look crossed her face, the kind that told me she has scented a juicy tale and was ready to pounce on it to extract every detail from me.

I dreaded the questions that might come out of her mouth. Although I had only worked at the office for a month or so, I knew Samantha was not only prone to gossip but prone to asking probing questions. I supposed that was how she got all of her info. Why anybody told her anything escaped me, because she shared every tidbit she uncovered.

I was glad I'd never told her about what happened with me and Mason that night or I no doubt would have gotten a reputation around the office as the girl who took home the hot bartender.

Not that it really mattered. I didn't much care about what people thought. I just preferred to keep the details of my personal life private.

That was getting difficult to do the longer I worked with Samantha. Thank god my contract was only temporary. I'd be off and on to a new place soon. I was already researching apartments I could sublet for a few months in another city already.

Luckily, before a single question could leave Samantha's lips, the phone on her desk rang. A disgruntled look crossed her face as she answered it. Despite the annoyed twist of her lips, her voice was polite and cheerful. We each had our own "phone voice."

I was thankful for the phone call because it meant I wouldn't have to deal with her prying questions.

I turned my attention back to my blog. I was trying to write up a post about an interesting cafe I'd been to a few weeks ago. I had to do it on the down low because we weren't supposed to use the company computers for personal use. But aside from answering phones, I didn't have much to do.

Samantha hung up the phone and pounced on me again.

"Could it be you're distracted by thoughts of a certain tall, blond and handsome?" she asked.

I kept my face blank and didn't lift my eyes from the screen.

"I think the phrase is tall, dark, and handsome," I replied.

"That cute bartender didn't have dark hair," she pointed out. "It was more of a dark blond or light brown."

"What bartender?" I asked innocently.

She narrowed her eyes at me as a sly smile crossed her face.

"I've got an idea," she said, "Why don't we go get some drinks and blow off steam after work?"

I knew exactly what bar she was going to drag me to.

My heart thumped a quick beat at the thought of seeing Mason again. He'd been on my mind ever since that morning at the dog park.

Who was I kidding? He'd been on my mind ever since that night we'd spent together.

I didn't know why he had invaded my thoughts so thoroughly. Maybe it was simply because that one mindblowing night had been the first real good sex I'd had since…

My stomach quivered. I reached into one of the desk drawers and pulled out another folded piece of paper, holding it between two fingers. Grief and determination warred in my chest.