Page 59 of What If You & Me (Say Everything 2)

Andi’s phone screen lit silently with a text. She paused her recording and grabbed her phone.

Hill:Hey there. I know you’ve been swamped, but on the off chance that you still require food, want to get together for dinner tonight? I can make dragon noodles and bring them over.

Andi smiled at the invitation. She and Hill chatted or texted daily now but hadn’t had a chance to get together since their movie night almost two weeks ago because she’d been so busy. Hanging out with Hill would be a welcome respite from what she’d been doing, but then she glanced at the notes and papers in front of her and sighed.

Andi:Ooh, dragon noodles sound intriguing. But I’m still at WorkAround and have two hours left on my rental time for the podcast room. It’s booked solid tomorrow so I’m stuck here for a while.

Hill:Bummer on the late night. Maybe tomorrow then.

She started to type back that tomorrow sounded good, but then another idea hit her.

Andi:How would you feel about coming here? I’ll order some delivery and we could have dinner. I could give you that tour, too.

Hill:Yeah?

Andi:If you’re willing to come out this way. Dinner with you would be a nice carrot at the end of this stick. This podcast episode is wringing me out. Really sad story.

Hill::( I’m sorry. And yes, I can come to you. What time?

Andi:7:30? I’ll send you the address.

Hill:Great. See you then.

Andi texted him the address and set her phone down. She still had hours of work ahead of her and the most gruesome part of Gina’s story to get through, but suddenly, she felt ten times lighter than she had a few minutes ago.

Not only was Hill going to come out here and have dinner with her, but this also told her something she’d been wondering about in the back of her mind. He was coming here simply to hang out with her. She’d been worried after movie night that now that they’d taken semi-naked steps, it would become an expected part of their get-togethers—which may have been one reason why she’d used her busyness to turn down the last few invites—but Hill was proving that her fears were unfounded. Because they certainly weren’t going to be getting naked at WorkAround.

Andi glanced over at the spongy acoustic tiles on the soundproof walls, and unbidden images flooded her brain. Hill pushing her up against the soft wall, his mouth on her neck, his hands sliding beneath her dress, his fingers finding the edge of her panties.

A full-body flush cascaded through her, and she leaned back in her chair, her body liking the images too much.

Nope. Down, girl. Not happening.

She closed her eyes and shoved the dirty movie from her mind. She needed to keep her head together. Starved libido or not, she couldn’t afford to let her hormones fog her brain when it came to Hill. “Blinded by lust” was a saying for a reason.

They were friends.

They were going to have dinner.

That was it.

Back to work.