Free Cold Feet in Hot Sand by Lauren Gallagher

would have cheated on her or you would have done him after he’d married Kristina. But I have known you both for a long time, and quite honestly, I’m not surprised you guys wound up together as soon as you were both single for five minutes.”
     
    “Still…”
     
    “Well, good luck sorting it all out.” Jennifer shot her a sympathetic grimace. Then she glanced at her watch and started to get up. “Damn it, I should get back to work before the boss comes looking for me. Just, you know, think about what I said.”
     
    “I will,” Deanna said. “Thanks.”
     
    Jennifer offered a sympathetic smile, then left the office.
     
    As soon as she was alone, Deanna rubbed her eyes. So the whole damned staff thought she and Nick had some sort of latent chemistry? That what happened on the beach had been inevitable all this time?
     
    Shaking her head, she blew out a breath. Maybe there was a spark of something between them, but that ship sailed the day Deanna introduced him to her sister. The ship fucking sank the night they slept together. Whatever might have existed between them couldn’t exist now, not if Deanna had any hope of salvaging her relationship with her sister. Or, for that matter, concentrating at work.
     
    Speaking of which…
     
    Come on, Deanna. Focus.
     
    She faced her computer screen, and couldn’t comprehend a single word on the screen. Jesus Christ, she wasn’t going to be able to concentrate today.
     
    And when Nick came back a week later, it only got worse.
     
    Fortunately, their departments didn’t often interact. Nick was part of the marketing department and Deanna worked in IT. As long as his computer didn’t crap out on him this week — oh please, God, don’t — they’d have no reason to be in the same room unless they wanted to be.
     
    And in spite of how much she tried to avoid him, she wanted to see him. Desperately. They needed to talk, and no matter how much she told herself differently, she needed to be around him. Near him. He was so far off limits it wasn’t even funny, but the only time she was more off-kilter than she was around him was when she wasn’t around him.
     
    She certainly had plenty of opportunities, that was for sure. Before today, she’d never realized how much they passed each other in the halls during working hours. Nick was constantly going back and forth to meetings, offices, and conference rooms. Deanna had her fair share of meetings, plus she was forever on her way to fix someone’s computer or get a printer back online.
     
    And every time — every damned time — she saw him, she could barely breathe. His presence made the guilt burn hotter, but it did something else to her blood pressure. Something she didn’t want to admit but couldn’t ignore.
     
    She’d seen him in a different light on that beach, and it was impossible not to look at him the same way under the office fluorescents. It was impossible not to hear Jennifer’s voice in the back of her mind, telling her what they’d done had been inevitable. That there was something between them that Deanna hadn’t seen — though everyone else apparently saw it — until that night on the beach. She wanted to see it again. She didn’t want to see him again. She wanted to be as close to him as she could get. She couldn’t get far enough away. The man was going to drive her insane just by being in this building, simultaneously too close and not close enough.
     
    And on her way back from fixing the VP’s computer, she couldn’t avoid him. He was on his way down the same hallway, walking straight toward her, and there was nowhere to turn, nowhere to go. Except maybe that conference room. She could grab him, drag him in there —
     
    Stop it, Deanna. Stop it now.
     
    She tried to avoid his eyes as they passed each other, and she succeeded, but she didn’t see his hand coming until it had already gently grasped her arm.
     
    She halted in her tracks and looked him in the eye. “What —