Free Running the Numbers by Roxanne Smith Page A

definitely don’t have to let you treat me like crap for hanging out with him.”
    The silence told her Kennedy had hung up. Wonderful. She ended the call and immediately dialed Wes.
    “Hello?” He answered on the first ring, deep and slow as usual.
    The one and only thing she would ever admit—and to herself alone—was the attractiveness of Wes’s disembodied voice. “If you memorized my number, you wouldn’t have to spaz and call every other person in the office to get in touch with me.”
    “Yes, but if I did that, you’d probably change it just to be difficult.”
    She almost laughed, then recalled Kennedy’s accusation. She wasn’t flirting , she simply forgot and slipped into old habits occasionally. Such as laughing at his lame jokes, which she vowed to never do again. “What’s the big story?”
    “Duncan sent out a company-wide e-mail this morning. When I didn’t hear from you, I had to wonder if you’ve seen it. I’m not sure if you’re still refusing to check your office e-mail on the weekends.”
    Sadie pulled up behind Blake’s rental—when was he going to get his own car?—and set the parking brake. “Yeah, well, I have a life, unlike the rest of you.”
    “He announced his exit from Avery & Thorp. He and Zoey are going back to Salt Lake City in the spring. She’s pregnant, so there’s no way they can pull off the move before winter hits.”
    So, Nina had gotten it right. Duncan was leaving behind the coveted chief accountant position. And Sadie’s number one obstacle was on the other end of the line.
    He seemed to know it, too. “I guess this means no more games, huh? I know you’re going after the promotion. As am I.”
    At that moment, Sadie caught sight of Blake, and something in her chest squealed with delight.
    He crouched barefoot on the ground, pine cones and rocks scattered across the dirt and grass. In lieu of his usual starched slacks, or even the new-looking Levi’s he’d worn last weekend that still had their store creases, he wore a faded pair of jeans she’d bet anything he never wore in public. They rode low on his hips, which dipped into hollows she hadn’t imagined he might have. Shirtless, a fine sprinkling of blond chest hair glinted from the dappled morning sun shining through the pines. Sunbeams fell over his hair, reflecting like a halo. Sitting back on his heels, Sadie had a swift urge to climb right onto to those steady thighs.
    Oh, damn. I’m in so much trouble. It’d be easy to put a swift end to a crush, given Blake’s horrid relationships of yore. But if she dipped too low into the vat of physical attraction, there’d be no digging herself out of that hole.
    He stretched out a hand toward one of the trees. A black snout rimmed with red fur cautiously peeked out.
    “Wes, I have to go. We’ll have to talk later.”
    “Lunch on Monday to discuss this new development?”
    The snout emerged another inch, and the black spread into bright orange. Blake was squatted on his heels, about to feed a wild fox something from his bare hand. The idiot was going to get rabies. “Fine. That’s fine. Gotta go.” She hung up and dashed from the truck.
    Blake jumped at the sound of Sadie’s truck door slamming closed.
    By the time she reached him, the little red snout had disappeared, and Blake stood shirtless and sullen, looking at her like she’d broken his favorite toy. “What the hell was that? Didn’t you see how close I was?”
    She swallowed and forced her gaze to meet Blake’s dead on and not wander over his collarbones. God, his bone structure was ridiculous. “Did you forget what Dale said about approaching wild animals? This isn’t L.A. There’s more to worry about than stray dogs around here.”
    He blinked against a streak of sunlight that fell through the trees in a line across his face. “We have mountain lions in Los Angeles. Don’t treat me like I’m ignorant.”
    “Don’t do ignorant stuff,” she shot back, frustration from several