The words were out of my mouth the moment I realized what I’d said.
Mia’s features clouded. “You’re still living with Heath?”
Oh. Shit. Shiiiiiit. Ugh. Yes, boys and girls, Kat officially sucks at lying.
“I haven’t had the time to move my stuff over to Lucas’s house yet. You know, I’ve got my Twitch streaming set-up and all that equipment. And we’ve been working hard on the expansion. I, ah stop by his condo each night to say hi and grab my stuff for the next day.” Wow… it was like once I opened up the spigot of lies, they just poured out with almost no effort.
She shook her head. “You can’t keep living like that. You do have friends. If we band together, we could have you moved in half a day. I have this weekend off. We’ll get your stuff moved over.”
I wasn’t sure if she could see me pale—since I’d been born pale. Being a ginger from the Great White North only compounded my whitey-whiteness. So she may not have seen me lose my color but I could definitely feel the blood draining from my face.
“Uh—oh you guys are so busy. Don’t worry about me—”
She waved her hand. “Nonsense. It’s not even that big a deal. We’ll get it done for you. You shouldn’t have to live like that. And I want you guys to come over for dinner once you’re settled in and we all have more time. I don’t know Lucas very well and we should get to know him better as soon as possible.”
My jaw dropped. “I’ll have to check with Lucas’s calendar but…”
Mia’s eyes caught on a movement off behind my shoulder and nodded, her smile widening. “Ask him now. Or I can. Lucas are you free sometime next week in the evening?”
I heard footsteps behind me and fought the urge to tense. Max immediately sprung from his dog bed and went to Lucas, tail wagging furiously like a banner in the wind. Lucas reached out to pet the dog absently as he glanced from Mia to me and back again.
“Uh, yeah, nothing big. Just cleaning up on the last of the bug reports. Why?”
“Because you and your wife are invited to have dinner with Adam and me as soon as you can fit it in.”
“Uh,” he blinked and looked at me. “Well…”
I clenched my jaw before darting a handout to grab his and squeeze it—maybe a little too tight. I could feel Mia’s eyes on us, drinking in every single detail of the interaction.
“Honey, wouldn’t it be fun to hang out with another couple? Don’t think of it as dinner with the boss.”
Mia smiled. “It’s all good. I’ll text you with the date and time.” She pushed out of her seat. “I’ve got to go but I’ll be in touch about this weekend, too. Gotta see who I can round up to help with your move.”
“Your move?” Lucas asked as I stood, following Mia’s example. Mia was momentarily distracted by patting Max on the head and I shot Lucas a meaningful look. He frowned, clearly not understanding. Typical male.
“Uh yeah, Mia thought it was weird that all my stuff is still at Heath’s condo. I was explaining that we hardly had the time, what with all the deadlines and productivity marks we had to hit for the expansion.”
Lucas blinked. “Uh yeah, yeah…. That’s… yeah.” He ran a hand through his hair, shoulders stiff again.
“Anyway, I’m off.” She checked the time on her phone. The monstrous rock on her left hand nearly blinded me as the diamond caught the late afternoon sunlight. Which reminded me… we needed to get some sort of rings to wear to keep up appearances now. “Gonna go give the hubby a quick peck and take off. See you guys soon!”
The minute Mia had vanished through the Den door, Lucas’s hand was clamped around my upper arm—and not terribly gently, either. “Can we have a quick chat in private, sugar buns?”
My brow shot up. Despite the ridiculous endearment, his tone was anything but light. In fact, he sounded incredibly pissed off. I supposed I didn’t blame him. That was a lot to dump on him all at once.
Shit. I was certain there was going to be yelling involved with this, too. With a not-so-light tug, he pulled me in the direction of the exit. Max, with a lack of humans to entreat for pets, went back to lounging on his dog bed. As we