Abby stood at her window, looking down on the courtyard. Well, she was at the corner of her window with her face pressed against the glass. It was the only way she could see down to where the flowerbeds were. When she’d walked back to her building after lunch, she hadn’t seen Nic anywhere. Not that she’d been looking for her. But she’d found herself here, at the window, staring out. Nic and some guy had come from between the buildings, both pushing wheelbarrows loaded with…with something. Dirt or mulch or something. They’d moved to just out of her sight. Well, out of her sight unless she pressed her face against the glass like she was doing now.

She blew out a breath and moved away from the window. “She thought we were going to have sex. Please,” she muttered as she sat down.

Her phone dinged and she glanced at it, seeing a text message. She picked up the phone, her eyes widening as she read.

Looking forward to seeing you in Red River. We have some catching up to do. Yes?

The message was followed by a winking smiley face. She dropped the phone on her desk as if she’d been clutching a hot coal. Still, she stared at it, finally picking it up and reading the message once again.

“Unbelievable. She’s freakin’ unbelievable.”

She leaned her head down, slowly banging it against her desktop.

* * *

Nic was on her knees, spreading mulch between the pansies and snapdragons. She enjoyed planting flowers, but dressing them up with mulch was a little too tedious for her liking. If it had been anywhere else but here, she would have assigned someone else. But when Cody hadn’t made it to work this morning, Jeff needed a partner. She got there right at noon, knowing that was when Abby Carpenter took her lunch break. She didn’t know why, but thoughts of the other woman had crept in all weekend long.

She’d obviously been too presumptuous regarding Abby’s invitation. But really, had Abby expected her to agree to this trip simply because it was a free trip? A free vacation, sure, but it was still taking ten days of her time. She thought she’d be compensated in some way.

She smiled as she dumped out more mulch. Yeah, she’d assumed she’d be compensated in bed. But no. Abby’s eyes had turned fiery hot when she realized that she’d been talking about sex. Well, it was a shame Abby felt that way. She thought they could have had fun together.

“Hey, there’s some chick coming over,” Jeff said from beside her.

Nic sat back on her heels and turned her head, finding a rather flustered-looking Abby Carpenter heading her way. The smile was on her face before she could temper it.

“Wow. To what do I owe the pleasure?”