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"I didn’t have anything better to do"
"You never have anything better to do, Jerehed
"It is nice, Mike, and you can do it too" Jeremy thumbed his fist at the doorway "And that Lydia is one fine lady in red"
"No, I can’t" He frowned "And if you're thinking what I think about Lydia, I don't think she'syou know" How she spoke so freely about MFM and ht away for later, he told hiu none of it "Fine I can, orically reject the premise"
"Why?" Jeremy had made it no secret that he wished that Mike would be his traveling buddy, his companion on world adventures And that he wanted to find another Dana for the his caretaker and voet hiot himself into On three different occasions he had had to take a plane across thirteen time zones in order to rescue Jeremy from some mess
Only once had it involved law enforcement, but that one had been a doozy, when Jeremy had attempted to procure the services of three different prostitutes at once, two of ere underage and one of as an Interpol agent He suspected that h, than what he was facing right now
"Letcold "She’s off limits"
The last response Mike expected was for Jeremy to peer, intently, at the pocket of his tux jacket "Nice pocket silk" Poke "What is that? You don't norht! "It's just soers deftly pinched the top corner and pulled, Lydia's panties unfolding out of the pocket, lace and frills dangling frorowled, snatching it back Laughter poured out of Jereht would be a fun secret for himself had just turned into a huhtly, his face slack with concentration Mike hadn’t seen that look in nearly a decade "Are those Diane's or Lydia's"
Mike refused to answer, trying to stare hi that he had to look up to answer, his eyes burned into Jeremy's, which exuded a humanity, an approval, that Mike didn't expect Co for anyone I have a television show that needs to be successful so that I can get the buet the payoff that I want I don’t want you, or anyone else, to jeopardize that"
Jere did it take you to memorize that?" He hadn’t had this kind of conversation with Jereo With no aze, and walked to the car where he knew Dohtclub was absolutely packed Part of a three story entertaine dance club and bar on the top floor, a bowling alley and arcade on the second floor, and an enorroup of friends from work, which thankfully did not include Dave, had decided to convene for drinks, discussion, and of course – office gossip
Lydia needed this soout often with her co-workers and Krysta, though technically one, worked five stories down in purchasing and receiving, processing paperwork and like Lydia, a Bachelor’s-degreed woman as vastly underutilized Lydia was ree, but she didn’t like to think about that Especially with a few drinks in her
In that crazy, territorial way that corporations had, the fact that Lydia invited Krysta meant that she had included someone from another tribe Too bad Over the past two years, people had just accepted it Both she and Krysta noticed that very few of Lydia’s co-workers ever spoke to Krysta beyond the requisite "Hi" By the tih, no one cared It was all bacchanalian, alcohol-infused fun and for a few hours she could pound, stole, shimmy and shake her worries away
She was on her third Cosmo (and by the looks of it these were three or four ounces of alcohol per) when a fareen eyes practically glowed She ducked her head, leaning in toward Krysta, as sitting with her, trapped in the giant, semi-circular booth hat felt like a hundred people on either side of them
"He’s here!" she told Krysta
"Who?" Krysta’s head twisted wildly around the packed nightclub "There are lots of ‘he’ types here"
"Him Matt Jones," Lydia whispered and then realized she didn’t need to In fact, she could have screa of dancers, aryrating, separated hiroup at work Until Krysta turned traitor, raised her arm in the air, stood up and let out a histle, the kind you hear at baseball games, except this one was a come hither
She cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted, "Hey, Matt! We’re over here!"
Lydia had two choices She could die on the spot or she could kill Krysta Instead, she froze, then grabbed the fresh Cos slurp
"You’re supposed to sip those" Krysta’s eyes ide, calculating what Lydia had just done and the aftereffects of it
"You’re not supposed to invite the enery and enant that her brain couldn’t asseht now
"What?" Krysta played innocent "Just including a guy froht"
"So one minute you let him slip your panties off you, the next he's the eneic' isn't the word for it 'Bullshit,' on the other hand" Krysta just shook her head and took another sip of her arita
Matt’s eyes locked on Lydia’s Suddenly, no one else existed in the rooreen eyes, that sandy brown hair, those broad shoulders that, even in business casual clothes, , tight – that those biceps underneath could lift her easily if they wanted to She knew that his ribs tapered down to a narroaist and that beneath that –
"Hey, how's it going?" he asked, se to make it here so fast? she wondered Tis popped up and she ju out to be a very, very uncomfortable situation