good start.
I didn’t want him to think I’d blindsided him or already done the deal.
“A personal recommendation, then.” There he went again, rearranging his damn pens. It was worse than a nervous twitch. “Want to tell me any more?”
“I…what? Oh, sorry.” I’d been so mesmerized by his constant fidgeting that I’d lost track of our conversation. I leaned back in my chair, and the leather squeaked a protest beneath my ass. “I’ve got a friend who works for another law firm. He’s good, but they don’t seem to appreciate him. As long as he’s worked there, they’ve pretty much had him hanging on the hook for a promotion. And a couple of times it’s looked like they might do it, but they always leave him dangling.”
“Are you sure he’s good?” Saint narrowed his eyes, his expression curious, and I caught a flash of Jamie for a moment.
My resolve to convince him strengthened. “Yeah. I think it’s a classic case of him being too good in the position he’s in. He deserves a promotion—really deserves one. But they wouldn’t be able to replace him, so they just leave him there picking up all the slack and promote lesser people above him. Because if their system isn’t broken, why would they fix it?”
Saint nodded. “Valid point.” He thought for a moment as he tweaked one of his pens to the left. “Okay. Have him send over his resumé and we can take a closer look.”
I blew out a sigh of relief. I’d expected Saint to be harder to convince.
He stood. “Now, if you’ve finished work for the day, can I get you a drink?”
I wasn’t due to see Jamie until the weekend, but I couldn’t wait. The urge to see him prevented me from concentrating on anything else, so I made the trip out to his place after work.
Only, when I drew up outside the house, I could see straight through the windows to the back yard where Jamie sat by the pool. He wasn’t alone. His friend from Hot Toddy’s—had Jamie called him Tori?—sat beside him, and they both had a bottle of beer in their hand.
A small ripple of jealousy brushed across my skin, but I pushed it away. Jamie meant too much to me for me to ruin it with an irrational reaction to his friend. And I’d come this far, I could spare the time to say hi to both of them. Besides, the idea of leaving without actually talking to him was far worse than not having seen him in the first place.
I walked around the corner and Tori noticed me first.
“Well, hello there,” he drawled.
Jamie looked up at his friend’s words, and he flushed as he caught sight of me. Satisfaction rose in me at his reaction. His smile gave away his pleasure.
“Can’t stay away from each other, I see.” Tori slipped his shades on and leaned back in his sun lounger. “Or has your boss come to drag you back to work, Jamie?”
Jamie laughed awkwardly. “Sorry,” he mouthed.
I smiled at him. It didn’t matter what his friend thought, really. I’d just wanted to see Jamie, and this was enough.
He nudged Tori with his foot. “Tori has been feeling a bit neglected with all of my long hours at the office, haven’t you, Tor?”
“Yeah… and even longer ones in some guy’s bed, amiright?” Tori grinned as he tilted his bottle to his lips for a long swallow.
Jamie blushed, but a strange sense of pride uncoiled within me. I wasn’t about to apologize for monopolizing him. I understood that Jamie wanted to spend some time with his friends, though, and—again—the anticipated feeling of jealousy didn’t feature in my mind. I felt strangely secure with Jamie’s and my relationship. It was an unusual new status, but I enjoyed it, and I grinned at Jamie as I stepped close to him.
I crouched at his side and rested my hand on his thigh just to touch him. “Don’t let me interrupt you both. I just wanted to stop by and see you because I…” I glanced at Tori, who was clearly listening, although his gaze was hidden behind the black shades, and faltered. I lowered my voice. “I kind of missed you at work.”
Jamie laughed then sighed. He lifted his shoulders in a shrug and used the same low tone as I had when he replied. “I was starting to feel like I might be getting a bit too clingy, because I’ve missed you, too,” he admitted.
“I can actually hear