come to that. He’d never been a huge fan of playing Monday morning quarterback, but perhaps this game hadn’t been his smartest move.
“I can keep my trap shut.” Chris removed his glasses and cleaned them with the tail of his button-down, which had come untucked during their hasty exit.
“Lexie thinks you’re the guy she’s been texting while she’s pretending to be her boss.”
“Why would her boss text me?”
He slowed to make a left turn. “Her boss is Sylvia Swann.”
“Oh.” That one word showed Chris wasn’t totally shut off from the world of women.
“She knows the guy’s a trainer at the firm and that he’s a Brit Lit professor here.”
His friend looked him in the eye. “That’s you. Oh… Gotcha. Now I’m putting it all together.”
Matthew focused on the road again, navigating the next few blocks and debating the possible ramifications of telling Lexie the truth.
He’d parked the Jeep across from the deli when Chis broke the silence. “You can’t do this.”
“What?”
“She’s a nice woman. It’s obvious she likes you. You can’t play head games like this with her. It’s not healthy for either of you.”
“I’m not playing. Not since that day I almost kissed her in the street.”
Chris threaded a hand through his mop of black hair. “We talked about that approach. It’s not going to fly with a woman like that—at least, not until she trusts you.”
“I know. I asked for your opinion because I think she’s special. I don’t want to mess it up, but I’d committed to the texting situation by the time I realized how I felt.” He opened his door. “C’mon, let’s get some sandwiches so you’re not late.”
Ten minutes later, they were back in his Jeep and stopped at an intersection on their way back when Chris brought up the subject again.
“You had the perfect opportunity to tell her the truth,” his colleague pointed out. “You can still lay it all out. Maybe she’s there and you can show her your office.”
Matthew swallowed the bite of ham and cheese in his mouth. “If I told her, how do I know she’d give me a chance to make it up to her?” He rolled the Jeep forward, waiting for pedestrians to cross before crawling to the next intersection. “Like I told you, she seems to have a pretty jaded view toward relationships.”
“I wonder why.”
The light turned green, and he stepped on the gas. “Kind of deserve that, I guess, but in my defense, I was trying to find a way to help everyone involved. I’ve zero interest in hooking up with her boss, but I don’t want to hurt Sylvia either.” He threaded a hand through his hair, Chris’ silence freaking him out to no end. The guy was like some Jiminy Cricket, making him uneasy. “Okay, so maybe it’s a fucking no-win situation. I play along, and I’m lying to them both. But if I own up to it, Lexie probably won’t forgive me. In fact, I can just about guarantee she wouldn’t, based on the little I know about her so far.”
“Let me get this straight. You agreed to date her boss, but you want to date her?” Chris shook his head.
“Yup.”
“You can’t hook up with the girl’s boss, then tell her you did it for her.”
“At least I got that part figured out. I agreed to the date, but I’ll never go on it.”
“How’s that, Romeo?”
“Sylvia Swann’s going to get a special assignment that causes her to cancel our little rendezvous.”
Comprehension dawned on Chris’s face. “Your Uncle Neil?”
“My godfather’s always looking for his new partners to prove themselves. I asked him if he’d give Sylvia a project the same night she planned to meet me.”
“The game’s going to end sooner or later.”
Matthew nodded, refusing to think negative. “Yeah, and when it does, I’m counting on Lexie caring enough at that point to at least hear me out. I’m already in kind of deep where she’s concerned.” He pulled into the parking garage. Scary deep.
Chris gave him a thoughtful look. “One last question before I go. Which guy will she fall for? You, or the guy she thinks she’s texting? The guy, by the way, that she now erroneously believes is yours truly.”
“Both of us.”
Chris rubbed the side of his temple. “You and me?”
He laughed. “Nah, me the trainer, and me the professor.”
“You’re twisted. I really should charge you.”
“I’m romantic.” Matthew grinned.
“You’re still going to go through with those other ideas we talked about, even after today?”
“Yup.”
“Good luck.” Chris climbed out of the