Oh, yeah. If she came over this early, looking rumpled and sexy, he’d never be able to resist. “Very.”

“You going to work?”

“Yeah.” Work was, and always had been, his only salvation.

Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Joe skipped his run that morning and made a stop at McDonald’s for breakfast on his way to work, making his fall off the diet wagon complete. It was going to be a hell of a day, facing the implications of their new evidence on the Creative Interiors fires, and he needed all the fortification he could get.

He parked and headed toward his office, not happy to see his light on, which meant someone was already waiting for him.

Indeed, Cindy sat perched on his desk in a light blue suit snug to her curves, eyeing a box in the corner that hadn’t been there the night before.

“Hi,” she said happily, as if she hadn’t tearfully dumped him in a restaurant two weeks ago.

“Hi,” he said, playing along. He pointed to the box. “What’s that?”

“Don’t know. Kenny just said to make sure it didn’t go anywhere, that he’d explain it to you later.” Cutting him off before he could escape behind his desk, she moved close to take his hand and press it against her heart. “Did you miss me?” she asked softly.

He opened his mouth but she put a finger against it. “Wait.” She shot him a little smile. “I should go first.” She drew a slow breath. “There’s no smooth way to say this so I’m just going to spit it out. I shouldn’t have let you go, Joe.” She arched a little, making sure to press all her good parts, of which there were many, against him. “I missed you.”

He waited for the usual zap of arousal to sing through his body, but nothing happened. He looked at her and felt warmth and affection for the time they’d spent together, but no heat. “Cindy—”

“Mm-hmm?” She slipped her arms around him, glided them up his back, and then down to cup his ass. “Let’s go to my place.”

Reaching back, he took her hands in his, brought them between their bodies.

“Uh oh.” Smile fading, she pushed back so they weren’t touching. “What’s going on?”

“We stopped seeing each other, remember?”

“Oh, that. Just a little tiff really.”

“Cindy. We both know my work isn’t conducive to a relationship—”

“Don’t be ridiculous, we can work through that.”

“You didn’t think so when you left me over that very thing.”

She studied him closely. “Is there someone else already?”

That it was even possible shook him deep, but there was. Beautiful, lazy-smiling, easygoing, come-what-may, churn-him-up Summer. “This is about you and me,” he said.

“You enjoyed what we had. I know you did.”

“I did,” he agreed. “But—”

“I really hate buts, Joe.”