Free Something About You (Just Me & You) by Lelaina Landis

dispatched
Moira on office errands, and then she sat at her desk and stared at a printed
copy of the budget. Certainly there had to be a way to get Violetta back. When
her vision finally blurred, Sabrina wandered back into the reception area,
where Carlton was disgustedly dropping a swathe of Jillian’s dried lotus pods
into the recycling bin for paper.
    “If I’m going to be desk-locked all day, I refuse to be
surrounded by dead flora,” he said. Then he shot her a steamy look with his
knock-out green eyes and sing-songed under his breath, “Fitz and Giggles.”
    “Carlton,” Sabrina said with an edge of warning in her
voice.
    “Can’t say that I blame you for succumbing to his charm,” he
went on, nonchalant. “Jackson Sprinkle fades to invisible compared to the
infamous Gage Fitzgerald.”
    “You know who he is?” she asked.
    Carlton’s expression registered mild surprise. “You really
need to get out more. His face is only plastered on KCAP billboards all over
Austin. He definitely has that life-after-hockey thing going for him. He’s
totally not your type, Sabrina.”
    Of course he wasn’t. That’s what she’d been telling herself
all along. Carlton’s validation only proved her point.
    “What did I say earlier, Carlton? No more stupid. Only smart.”
She tapped her brow.
    “Not that it’s any of my business, but smart’s been your
problem.” Carlton firmly closed the door to a filing cabinet. “Hell, Sabrina,
we’ve known each other since you were banging on doors trying to get the
neighbors to sign a petition for a new teen rec center. You’ve been smart all
of your life. You got a smart job. You dated smart men, like your recently
dismissed ex-husband. When you got back from that hellish cruise to Iceland,
you finally seemed happy — not just smart. Don’t you think you deserve to
do something stupid, like, oh, I dunno, get drunk and neck on the front lawn of
Green Pastures with one of the bad boys?”
    Just brilliant , Sabrina thought, appalled. While lost
in a gibbering rage earlier that morning, she had apparently missed a critical
part of “Fitz’s” on-air revelations.
    “Again, not that it’s any of my business,” Carlton added
smoothly with an innocent smile.
    She had been sixteen when Carlton Hayes and his twin sister,
Evangeline, first moved to the Corners. But the two had never been tight
friends until Sabrina, impressed with his tireless volunteer work at the very
neighborhood rec center she had petitioned for, had taken a chance and hired
him as Theo’s communications director. Carlton slipped into his new role with
ease, and Sabrina hadn’t regretted the decision.
    She wasn’t fond of including men among her very best buds.
Someone always ended up with a misplaced crush. However, Carlton had discreetly
made his interest in the same gender clear after they’d worked together for a
year. This alone made him nonthreatening. And Carlton could always be relied on
for a good pep talk and noggin rubbing.
    Sabrina also knew she could trust him to deliver the
occasional reality check. 
    “Was I really that different when I was engaged, Carlton?”
she wanted to know.
    “Sabrina, please.” He looked exasperated. “Might I remind
you of the engagement party I threw for you? You blithered on about your bridal
registry, nonstop — at the San Jacinto Dinner Club . It’s not like
we were having high tea.” Carlton shook his head sadly. “Any woman who obsesses
over crockery and soft furnishings is definitely not in love with her
man. Even Eva said—” He clamped his lips shut quickly.
    “What did Eva say?” Sabrina pressed.
    “It’s nothing,” Carlton muttered. “It’s stupid, really. It’s
just my sister reading too much into things again.”
    “You’re supposed to have my back, Carlton, not protect the
people who stab me in it.” Sabrina gave him a piteous et tu, Brute? look.
    “Okay, okay,” he sighed, tossing his hands up in
capitulation. “She said,