down to her toes. She was working so hard to stifle her attraction for Josh and remain professional, but if Vanessa had noticed…Was everyone else aware of it and speculating about them as well?
Hello, you both disappeared at the same time last night. Hardly a shock that people might assume there’s something going on…“We like different things, so it worked out during lunch. That’s all.”
Vanessa’s mm-hmm matched the skepticism in her features. She even propped a fist on her hip. “Okay, well then, how about the vibe between you and Mark?”
In spite of everyone else’s being well out of earshot, Danae kept her voice low. “There’s no vibe. He and I have a history, that’s all. I’m sure you heard that we used to date.”
“Yes, and I noticed the weird tension between you two in the office when I first arrived. But over the last few days, I’ve started to wonder if there’s more to it than history. Something closer to interest.”
Funny how many shared memories had come up on this trip. How well Mark knew her in a lot of ways. Josh might not know her as well, but he challenged her more than any other guy ever had. Whether that was a good or bad thing changed by the day, although after last night, they’d formed a sort of truce that—she crossed her fingers—might prevent future clashes.
Not that there was any reason to compare the two men, or that it was a competition. More like a casual observation that she would tuck in her pocket and ponder later. Possibly add to the list of what she would or would not want once she was in a better position to date.
Which is not right now, remember?
In order to keep herself from obsessing about Josh or Mark or anything else, she raised her voice and asked, “Who’s ready to go see the seals?”
A cluster of seals lounged in the sun-dried sand, snoozing away. Some of them had their bellies up, while others cuddled together. A few still had their back ends in the tide, as if their upper halves had touched the warm sand and they couldn’t make it any farther.
During his corporate days as a desk monkey, Josh would have experienced jealousy over the sea creatures’ carefree lifestyle. Nowadays, he wanted to flash them a thumbs-up and tell them to keep on living the good life.
As they passed near one of the pods, a few of the seals began barking away, warning them that they were nearby, but not going to move. “You’re a little sharp, buddy,” Franco said to the closest seal, and Vanessa laughed. Evidently, the round, blubbery seal was a fan of the attention, because it barked even louder, to the ear-ringing point.
Vanessa flinched and covered the ear closest to the warbling, blubbery sea mammal. “I guess that’s why they chose to have a mermaid sing instead of having Prince Eric fall in love with a seal. Although they did come in handy during that almost-wedding on the boat.”
“Hey, if a crab can sing, who’s to say a seal can’t learn?” Franco joked.
The two of them laughed more, and began creating an entire musical. One of the seals was desperately in love with a killer whale who felt the same, but it was a whole Romeo and Juliet situation where their parents and society would never allow it.
Unable to help himself, Josh looked at Danae to see her reaction. As expected, she was beaming at her coworkers, and it sent pure liquid sunshine through him. The more he learned about Danae, the more he wanted to unearth. If only he could ignore the alarm ringing in the back of his head, warning him that going deeper would only result in drama and future pain.
“Do you see that?” Danae gestured to the duo in front of them. “With Vanessa and Franco weaving their tragic fairytale, every single person on my team has now connected.”
Josh held up his fist. “Rock on.”
Danae blinked at it for several seconds, as if she’d never seen a fist before. “Oh, um, didn’t you hear? Fist bumps are out.”
“Silly me, not keeping up with celebratory gestures.” Slowly he lowered his arm. “So, how do I congratulate you, then?”
Danae frowned, and now he was wondering if her happiness was closer to deliriousness. Despite being the one who’d left him hanging, her expression implied she was upset about it. “Actually, I want a fist bump. I don’t care what the cool kids are doing. I’d