Anyone But Nick (Anyone But... #3) - Penelope Bloom Page 0,85
that she had heard Iris as she got up and left with Harper.
I laughed once they were gone. “Do you seriously talk to her like that?”
Iris shrugged. “Only when she’s being vile. I treat her like a kid. She gets a fresh start every day. If she’s being a raging bitch, she gets it just as hard as she gives it. If she’s nice, then I’m nice.”
“I just avoid her,” Kira said.
As she suddenly straightened in her seat, I realized that Kira had appeared to shrink a few inches while Edna had been here.
“Were you going to hide under the table?” I asked.
“Maybe,” Kira said.
A couple I recognized from high school passed by our table and then stopped to turn around when they saw me. The woman was Beth Stevenson, who had always been a bit of an academic rival of mine. She wound up working for Crawford around the same time as me but never saw the frequent promotions I did.
“Beth, hey,” I said, smiling.
She gave me a tight, unfriendly smile. “Just wanted to say I always knew you were sleeping your way to the top at Crawford. I guess you’re fine with everybody knowing you’re still doing it now that you’re at Bark Bites, huh?”
Iris stood up and reached for her nightstick.
“It’s called freedom of speech, Iris,” Beth said snootily. “And if you hadn’t slept through history class every day, you might know a thing or two about it.”
“Oh,” Iris said, “I know all about freedom of speech. Just like I know all about my freedom to kick your ass and deal with the consequences later. But if you ask me, you were looking at us with some crazy eyes, and I thought the only reasonable thing to do was nightstick you in the throat.”
Beth made an appalled face and touched her throat with her fingertips.
“Iris,” I said. “Thank you, but it’s fine. And, Beth, I really don’t give a shit what you think or how you think I got promoted over you. But if you’re really curious, you could start with the fact that you were always too busy flirting with the delivery guy.”
The guy I assumed was her boyfriend looked over at her as she started dragging him away from our table. “What delivery guy?” he asked.
“Kira,” Iris said. “Have some self-respect and get out from under the table.”
Kira popped up with a napkin a second later. “Found it,” she said meekly.
Iris and I shared a grin.
“You okay?” Kira asked.
“Surprisingly, yes,” I said. “I might actually survive if Beth Stevenson doesn’t think I’m perfect.”
“And what about Robbie? Do you really think that was his big plan? Set up Nick and make it look like he was two-timing you?” She blew an unimpressed raspberry. “Like you would’ve fallen for that.”
I smiled a little nervously. “Yeah, totally wouldn’t have worked.” I wasn’t as confident as I made myself sound, though. The truth was I didn’t like the idea of Robbie scheming to split Nick and me up one bit. And after the stunt we pulled last night, I had a sinking feeling that Robbie wasn’t going to give up anytime soon.
I opened the door to Nick’s office after knocking twice. “Mr. King?” I asked with a mischievous grin.
He stood and approached me without saying anything. “You know how I feel about being interrupted,” he growled.
I finally cracked a smile, which he returned. Nick gave me a quick kiss, which turned into several kisses and then a light mauling, which probably would’ve turned into sex in the middle of his office if I hadn’t told him to wait.
“What is it?” he asked.
“I was hoping to pick your brain on something.”
“Is it about the permitting? Because I was actually going to tell you we got that all sorted out last night. There’s a spot about ten minutes out from West Valley with over a hundred acres we can use. It’ll be the perfect site for Bark Bites Resort.”
“Oh, that’s amazing.” I took a seat behind Nick’s desk, just because I liked seeing the hint of danger in his eyes when I stole his spot. He leaned against the bookshelf, crossing his arms in a way that made his rolled-up sleeves and forearms the perfect eye candy. “But that wasn’t what was on my mind.”
He frowned. “What is it?”
“It’s about everything, I guess?”
He pulled a chair out and sat down, eyes growing even heavier. “You’re not going to break up with me, are you?”