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"Oh, you don’t kno to do that yourself?"

Our salads arrive I takelike that"

She stabs her fork into a cherry toht myself It’s really fun Last week I created one forcompany," she says, and this surprisesour bodies even closer together "Are we role-playing?"

She breathes a breathy sigh "No, I’m serious"

Now I’ deal I designed an app for clients to download so they can create their drea Most of the time clients have no idea what they want, so the app helps me understand the about for a moment "So you knohat your clients want before they do?"

A huge s brilliant"

She shrugs "It was easy"

"Maybe I should hire you, then?"

"I’azine"

I nearly spit a piece of lettuce out of s into the social media arena"

"Oh, I could show Aerie"

A devilish sht of the outburst that would co to be responsible for Rattling her can be so h on her plate"

S’belle sets her fork down "You get along with her?"

I nod "Yes, ell together"

"Have you er?"

"I actually met him when I lived in New York City Small world that we’re both here now"

"He’s my cousin"

"I know" I smile

"You do?"

"Yeah, he told me He stops by the office once in a while to have lunch with Aerie, so we’ve kind of reconnected"

"How did you meet? In New York City, I mean"

At this point I’m not sure how much to tell her but decide to just tell the truth "He was dating the sister of a girl I was so back then"

"Oh" Her face drops Then her phone vibrates on the table and she glances at the screen "ExcuseI’d love to knohat that assle’s probleets up and walks over toward the bar I watch her body tense, but she quickly ends the call When she comes back to the table, she doesn’ther salad quietly and I do the same She squeezes more leued by her I can’t resist staring

"What?" she asks

"It’s nothing"

She sips the glass of sparkling water and her head tips back slightly to expose the seductive lines of her throat and chest I think for awithmy eyes back to hers "So, you’re pretty busy at work?"

"Busy isn’t even the right word It’s crazy right now Soet round"

"Do you have a nahs "Believe it or not, no I’ it a na it somehow seems more like a failure I have one more event planned for the rest of the year and it’s Ivy’s release party And I got that job because she’s ot the job with Tate because he knows ?"

"It’s what ood at"

"What about you? What do you think?"

She shrugs "Some direction is better than none"

At that I want to take her into my arms, to reassure her that she should do what she wants She’s strong, confident, and has what it takes to succeed in anything But just as I reach across the table, two stea plates of peppered beef skewers and island rice are placed in front of us We both push our salads to the side

"Sood," she says, and frory for o," I point out "I hope you aren’t going to be sick of them"

"Oh, I never eat the food I cater in"