Free Cold Feet in Hot Sand by Lauren Gallagher Page A

”
     
    “Can we talk?” he asked softly.
     
    Deanna chewed her lip. “I don’t think we should.” I don’t think I should be alone with you.
     
    “I think we need to.”
     
    Oh, we do. We definitely do. But here?
     
    Was there a safer place? A place they were less likely to exercise some restraint and discretion? Work was probably the best place for them to do this without digging themselves deeper into this mess.
     
    “I…” She exhaled. “I have a meeting with the IT group at four thirty. I can swing by your office afterward if you want to stick around for a while.”
     
    He nodded. “I’ll be there.”
     
    Nick released her arm, and they both kept walking in their respective directions.
     
    And Deanna’s heart had never pounded quite so hard.
     

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Eight
     
     
     
    From the moment he’d walked through the door that morning, Nick had wanted nothing more than to hole up in his office and hide from the world. He didn’t have to ask if word had gotten around, though he was a wee bit curious just what Deanna had said.
     
    “Welcome back, Nick,” the receptionist had said, offering a tightlipped smile.
     
    The girls in accounting casually kept their backs to him as he walked through their department. Customer service was a minefield of icy looks. Carla, a co-worker he interacted with on almost an hourly basis, glared at him over her coffee cup before stalking off to her office.
     
    Welcome back, indeed.
     
    And now he waited for Deanna so they could — maybe — settle a few things before he went out of his damned mind.
     
    He glanced at his computer monitor to check the time. It was just about five o’clock, so her meeting would be over any time. Any minute, she’d come walking through that door.
     
    Assuming of course she didn’t bail and run like hell. He was tempted himself; awkward conversations were his Achilles heel. His aversion to them was part of why he was in this mess to begin with, so he didn’t have much choice but to face the music or make things worse.
     
    He couldn’t sit still. It was close enough to five, he could safely quit working without taxing his conscience any further. No point in chaining himself to his computer, then. He pushed the chair back, got up, and went around to the front of his desk so he could
     
    pace away some of this nervous energy.
     
    He’d very nearly come back to work last week. Wednesday, he’d considered it. Thursday, he’d been dressed and had his briefcase in hand before he’d decided to take another day. Friday, he didn’t even bother.
     
    He’d been going stir crazy at Carlos’s place in between quick, surreptitious trips to the house to get more of his things. Work would have been a welcome distraction, a welcome return to his normal life, but he couldn’t bring himself to walk into this building and face Deanna until today.
     
    No more putting it off. They had to. Now. Especially after he’d almost tripped over his own feet every time they’d crossed paths today. How had he never noticed how gorgeous she was?
     
    Five days a week for the last several years, he’d seen her just like he had all day today: slacks and a blouse, neat and put together from her hair to her clothes. She was attractive, of course. He’d had his moments thinking about her when he was alone, but he’d had moments like that with plenty of other women without giving it a second thought.
     
    Outside of work, he’d never had an issue hanging out with her. Well, aside from that creature she’d been married to. God, Nick hated that man. But Jason aside, Deanna and Nick could spend time together away from work without any problems. She was beer and football jerseys on game day, laughing until waiters gave them dirty looks in restaurants, and swearing at other drivers on the road. She was “that girl was an idiot for breaking up with you” and she was “oh for fuck’s sake, Nick, get your head out of your