Free Watching Her by Scarlett Metal Page B

boss
needed, emailing them to him before he got in. I was already on my third cup of
coffee by 9:00 a.m. when my phone buzzed at me. A text from Brett!

 
      Working
too hard, gorgeous? We’re still on for tonight, right?

 
    My face nearly cracked from the huge grin on it.

 
    Sure, unless you’ve changed your mind. Figured it wouldn’t hurt to
give him an out.

 
    Why would I change my mind? Am looking forward to it.

 
    My heart pounded. Me too.

 
    Great. I’ll meet you at six. How about Alfredo’s?

 
    Perfect. See you then.

 
    Can’t wait. Have a good day, gorgeous.

 
    “Wow, haven’t seen you smile like that in a while. What’s
up with that?”

 
    I was surprised to look up to see my friend Jillian
standing in the doorway of my office. She worked in HR at the same company. We
started here on the same day and had been best friends ever since.

 
    I couldn’t help but smile. “Yeah. I have a date.”

 
    “ Ooo …” She sat in the
chair in front of my desk. “Tell me more.”

 
    Butterflies dive-bombed in my stomach as I thought
of Brett. “Well, Dave gave me some stupid reports to do again before he left
last night.”

 
    “Again? Asshole,” she muttered.

 
    “I know, right? Anyway, I decided that I was sick of
this place and went to Starbucks to work on them. I’d been working for a little
while when this guy came in. He was smokin ’ hot -
tall with dark brown hair and a body to die for. He had on a leather jacket and
one of those chains on his wallet. A few piercings.”

 
    “Yummy, my favorite.” Jillian was known for dating
bad boys.

 
    “I was so embarrassed when he caught me checking him
out, but he said hi. He got his coffee and then sat with me.   I was mortified I was just in my jeans
and sweatshirt. I couldn’t even believe he said hi.”

 
    Jillian shook her head. “You so underestimate
yourself. You are gorgeous all the time.”

 
    I rolled my eyes. “Whatever! He slipped off his
jacket as we chatted, and he had all of these tattoos and these ripped arms. He
obviously spends a ton of time at the gym. I seriously thought I was going to
die. To make a long story short, he asked me out for dinner tonight. And I said
yes!” I had to keep from bouncing in my seat.

 
    “For real?” She looked at me wide-eyed.

 
    “What? Do you think I shouldn’t have said yes?” I
was worried now that maybe I had made a mistake.

 
    “God no! I just can’t believe you said yes. I mean,
I am glad you did, but you always date these boring accountant or lawyer guys. He
doesn’t sound like he is your type at all.”

 
    “He’s not. When he asked me out, part of me thought,
‘why not?’ I am 30 and all alone so something obviously isn’t working for me.”

 
    Jillian nodded. “I’ve been trying to tell you
forever that it was time to shake it up in the man department.”

 
    “I know. And maybe you’re right. We’ll see. We’re
meeting at Alfredo’s tonight at six. Let’s hope that Dave lets me out of here
in time.”

 
    Jillian snorted. “Unlikely. You’ll just have to tell
him that you have to be somewhere. You have to have a life outside of this
place. There’s so much more to life than work.”

 
    “I know, Jilly , I know.”

 
    Just then my phone rang. Glancing at the caller ID,
I groaned, “Dave.”

 
    Jill stood up. “That’s my cue to leave. We’ll talk
later. If not, have fun tonight and I expect a full report.” She headed back to
her office.

 
    “Yes, ma’am!” I picked up my phone, “Good morning,
Dave.” I was sure my boss would keep me more than busy for the rest of the day,
which would keep my mind off Brett. Hopefully.

 
    Sure enough, Dave kept me tied up the rest of the
day.   I was finally getting ready to
head out the door around 4:30 p.m. when Dave came sauntering in. “Leaving
already?”

 
    I looked up from my purse, where I had been
searching for my keys. “Yes,