Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
ZOE
“Oh my God, you’re being ridiculous,” Jana said with a shake of her head.
I rolled my eyes. “I’m not. Ethan is way out of my league.”
Jana finished chewing the bite of omelet she’d just taken and brushed her hair off her shoulder—her hair was naturally brown with streaks of purple and burgundy.
With her typically eye catching hair colors, wide blue eyes, porcelain skin and hourglass figure, she tended to draw attention no matter where we were.
At the moment, we were having breakfast at a nondescript diner before heading into the office.
The man seated at the booth across from us had spent the last half hour eyeing Jana while she was entirely oblivious.
The diner in question was aptly named West Coast Diner.
The simple name was befitting its simple location in a square building with silver flashing and a neon sign.
It wasn’t fancy, but the food was sublime.
We met here once or twice a week before going into the office.
Jana set her fork down and rested her elbows on the table, her eyes narrowing as she considered me.
“Trust me, Ethan Walsh has the hots for you. He could barely stop staring at you when I came in because you were making your next appointment wait too long, and I couldn’t miss the fact you two looked like you’d been making out,” she said with a sly grin.
My cheeks flamed. I bought some time by taking a gulp of coffee and waving for our waitress to get me a refill.
I’d been beyond flustered by the time Ethan left my office the other day.
That had been a full four days ago, and not an hour had passed since that I wasn’t replaying those heated moments.
Just now, my mind flashed to the teasing feel of his fingers dragging across the wet silk of my panties.
Oh hell. Just thinking about it elicited a throb of need between my thighs.
I’d managed to avoid Jana’s prying questions at the time because I had an impatient client waiting.
I let that appointment run late because I knew she had to leave for her exercise class.
She’d been gone when I finally emerged from my office.
I’d been waiting for her to say something for days and had almost, not quite but almost, convinced myself she must not have noticed that my clothes had been hastily put back in place and my hair wasn’t as tidy as usual. I should’ve known she was letting me fret and waiting to pounce.
I sighed and glared at her. “I don’t know what you mean,” I finally hedged.
Jana threw a glare right back at me. “Hon, I’ve had way more experience with men than you. I know how I look after I make out with someone in the office.”
“You make out with guys at the office? When do you have time for that?”
That earned me a slow eye roll. “Not since I’ve been working for you, but you do remember why I left my last job, right?”
“Oh right. I forgot.”
Jana had a hot and heavy relationship with her last boss who’d lied to her about the tiny detail of his marriage.
When she discovered the truth, she promptly quit, but not before her reputation took a hit.
She’d been a paralegal at a major law firm in Seattle.
She should’ve been an attorney, but she only made it halfway through law school when her younger sister was diagnosed with breast cancer and died.
Between that and the sordid details that leaked out about her alleged affair, well, to say her career had been derailed was an understatement.
She’d been a friend in law school, so I’d reached out and offered her a job.
We’d gone from being sort of friends to the best of friends since then.
I finally looked over at her and sighed. “Right. Okay. Maybe he kissed me.” The second I said it, I wanted to take it back. Jana was on a stupid mission to get me to say goodbye to my virginity. I kept telling her I was too busy.
On its face, that was true. I worked all the time.
I’d known from the start of my legal career that I didn’t want to try to do the big firm thing.
Women had it twice as hard as men, if not more so, trying to climb the ladders of prestige and recognition.
I’d done as I set out to do and started my own legal practice, which meant if I wanted decent pay and clients I had to work my ass off to make it happen.
It wasn’t hard for me to keep focused on work.
I mostly focused on defense cases, but I did a bit of everything.
I’d had a few lucky breaks with high profile clients who recommended me to others.
The impatient client who met with me after I made out with Ethan in my office was the no-nonsense father of a son who got good and drunk one night and got lucky enough to get stopped by a police officer before he made it out of the parking lot at a bar.
His son was friendly and typically short on judgment for a barely legal college kid.
Anyway, he gave my name to the Seattle Stars when they were scouting for an attorney for a player a year ago.
Since then, the team called on me whenever they had a player who needed help.
Circling back to Jana’s mission—well, I didn’t know when I’d find time to have sex.
Ethan had rebounded quickly and was so ridiculously suave he managed to tease me, but I’d seen the shock in his eyes when I blurted out I was a virgin.
At twenty-nine, I knew I was bordering on ancient to somehow have managed this accidental feat.
In my defense, I did date in college. I wasn’t a prude, and I certainly wasn’t saving myself.
But when I’d found time to date, most of the guys just didn’t do it for me.
I’d made it to all the bases but home. I sighed internally.
At my age, the situation was a nuisance.
It annoyed the hell out of me that part of me hoped my thoughtless announcement of my virgin state to Ethan would chase him off, while another part of me was let down that would probably be the case. Ugh.
Jana cleared her throat. I hadn’t noticed I was staring at the table while I obsessed over how ridiculous I was being. I looked back up to her to find her piercing blue eyes on me.
“Oh hon, Ethan is the kind of guy that ties most women in knots. No need to beat yourself up over that. He’s the perfect candidate for your little project,” she said with a hint of a grin.
“It’s not my project,” I grumbled. “It’s yours and it’s stupid.”
Our waitress hurried past and filled our coffees before whirling away.
Jana took a sip of hers and leaned back.
“Okay fine. I’ll agree it’s not exactly your thing.
But I’m only on a mission because you’re headed toward serious spinsterhood if you don’t get over it and lose your virginity.
It’s turning into a thing. You’re gorgeous and brilliant, and you need to relax and have some fun.
Hell, at least half of the women in Seattle are panting after Ethan, and he likes you.
Have fun and then you can stop worrying about your virginity being an issue. ”
“Geez, Jana. You make it sound like I worry about this. I don’t…”
She cut right in. “Oh sure, you don’t think about sex much, but that’s because you keep saying this gets in the way.”
I glared at her and wished maybe I hadn’t been so honest about everything.
I leaned my chin in my hand and sighed. “Fine. Yes, it gets in the way, but I don’t really have time to date.
” Aside from my career focused life getting in the way, I’d heard from enough men I was too intimidating.
I knew it didn’t help to be as tall as most men and not give a damn about stroking their egos.
In the world of attorneys, plenty of men went around with their chests puffed out.
I enjoyed beating them at their own game, which seemed to have given me a rep as a ball-buster.
“Well, it doesn’t sound like you need time if you were making out in the office with Ethan,” Jana said with a wink.
“I can’t believe you’re supporting office sex,” I muttered.
“Hey, it was fun until I discovered he was married. Don’t knock office sex, hon. It’s totally hot.”
I was saved from further mortification when our waitress raced by and our check fluttered out of her hand onto the table. Jana’s phone conveniently jingled at the same time.
“Have to take this, it’s my mom,” she said quickly before answering.
I took care of the check, and we walked to the office a few blocks away. Jana chatted on the phone with her mom, while I wondered when I might see Ethan again and utterly failed at shushing my naughty thoughts.