“No problem.”

Drew paused. “You know, you always say you’re not good with the details and the analysis shit.”

Jake grimaced and forked his fingers into his hair.

“But you are,” Drew said. “You bail me out like this all the time.” He shook his head.

Jake stared at him. Yeah, actually, he did help Drew out sometimes like that. It wasn’t something that came naturally to him, but maybe over the years he’d learned to be more logical and analytical, more detail-oriented. He grinned as he returned to his own office. No one would ever call him organized and anal if they saw his messy condo.

At his desk, he tried to get his head around work, but he kept thinking about the conversation with Drew about not wasting his life there if he was unhappy.

Was that what he was doing?

He minimized the spreadsheet he was working on and hovered the cursor over the folder in his USB drive labeled “Consultant”. He stared at the screen for a few seconds then clicked to open the folder, found the spreadsheet titled Contacts and opened it. The long list of names, titles, companies and addresses came up on his screen. Slowly he scrolled down, eyes moving over the list, all the names familiar to him, all people he’d done business with and kept in touch with. All people he knew would still be interested in working with him. Yeah, there were some names there Andrew had contributed, but the majority of the list they’d put together of potential clients had come from Jake. He was the one who liked to network, the one who remembered people’s names and whether they were married and where they’d gone on vacation, whereas Andrew liked to sit in the office and crunch numbers.

He sighed and closed the document, rubbed his forehead. He needed to finish that report and not waste time daydreaming about what might have been.

Only instead, his mind turned to Shelby.

“So I went to Davis and I told him that I’d be looking at the intake process. Then while he was all smug and happy and ‘see, I told you’ about that, I brought up how he’d gone to Andrew behind my back.”

Having dinner with Myra and Riley later that week, Shelby dipped her chopsticks and picked up some chicken lo mein. Kiara was at home with Adam. Worry still gnawed inside Shelby about that.

“How did that go over?” Riley asked.

“It was okay. I asked him what his intention was by doing that. And he was all apologetic and just said he wasn’t trying to get me in trouble, yadda yadda. So I told him that if he has questions or concerns about the project, he should come to me, and I’m sure he wouldn’t appreciate someone going to his boss without telling him, and he agreed.”

“What about the other guy? Bram?”

“He was even more apologetic. He seemed really shocked that I was even bringing it up and he stuttered and stammered all over the place.”

“Some organizations just have that kind of culture,” Riley said, poking her kung pao chicken. “They might be surprised at someone who confronts them head on.”

“I wasn’t confronting him, exactly,” Shelby said. She picked up her wine and took a sip. “I was being assertive.”

“Yeah. That’s good. Good for you, Shelby. You’re really toughening up.”

Shelby pursed her lips. “I’m going to take that as a compliment.”

“You know it is! You always say you want to be tougher.”

Shelby nodded. It was true. Her dislike of conflict had too often gotten her into trouble, in her personal life and her professional life. “I was pretty tough,” she said with a small smile and a toss of her head.

“But you did it without pissing them off,” Riley added. “That takes skill. That is good conflict resolution.”

Shelby blinked at Riley. “I guess I’m learning,” she replied slowly.

“So enough about work crap,” Myra said. “Tell us more about Jake.”

Shelby laughed. She was surprised they hadn’t brought this up earlier. “It’s really nothing,” she said. “Neither of us is into relationships and I kind of need someone to keep Andrew at a distance and he’s willing to help out.”

Myra and Riley exchanged glances. “Really?”

“Plus the sex is hot,” she added with another grin.

“Okay. So you’re telling us this is just about sex.”

“Pretty much.”

“Uh, Shelby.” Riley leaned forward. “I hate to remind you of this, but…”

“I know, I know.” Shelby waved a hand, though a small knot had formed in her stomach. “It’s okay, don’t worry. I know what I’m doing.”

Once again her friends divided a look between them. Shelby’s smile faded. What were they thinking? That she was going to do something stupid like fall in love with yet another guy who they thought was going to take what he could get and then break her heart? The knot in her stomach started to hurt.

“Really, guys,” she said. “It’s just a fun thing and it serves a purpose. And Jake’s a good guy.”

“Well, that’s good then,” Riley said. But she wasn’t smiling and Shelby knew Riley was concerned.

She firmed her lips and tipped her head to one side. “Seriously, Riley.”

But Riley just shook her head. “I know you better than that, Shel.”

“I know myself better now too,” Shelby said. “I’m busy rebuilding my career right now. I know in the past I may have gotten involved with guys I shouldn’t have, but this isn’t like that. This is helping me keep my job.”

Riley nodded, her eyes still shadowed with doubt.

Shelby sighed. “Are you trying to talk me out of doing this?”

One corner of Riley’s mouth kicked up. “I don’t know, hon. I’m glad you and Jake are having fun together, but I’m worried about you.”

Shelby sat back in her chair, her insides twisted into knots. “You don’t need to worry about me. I know what I’m doing. This time I’m not being used. I’m using him.” She smiled brightly at her friends. “Right?” Actually, that sounded really crappy, too. She didn’t like the idea of using someone. Oh hell. Was this a big mistake?

“If you say so.” Myra grinned. “I’m assuming he has a big cock?”

Shelby choked on her mouthful of wine, almost spewing it over her food. She grabbed for her napkin and raised it to her mouth, looking reproachfully at Myra through watery eyes. “Myra!” Trust Myra to break through the building tension.

“Yes or no?” Myra’s eyes twinkled.

Shelby shook her head, lowered her eyes and smiled. “Yes.”

“I knew it!”

“You just never mind about his cock,” Shelby said, lowering her voice and leaning across the table. “It’s mine.”

“Oh honey, I know.”

Shelby shook her head, her cheeks scorching. “And I’m not going into details about the sex, so you can just forget about that.”

“Damn.”

“I talked to Kiara,” Shelby said, changing the subject. She poked at her food, her smile disappearing. “Adam’s not doing so well.”

“Oh hell.” They all went quiet.

Shelby’s throat constricted. “They didn’t want him to go home but he insisted. It might be any time now.”

“Fuck.”

“It’s so not fair.”

“I know.” Shelby sighed. “We’ll be there for her. Whatever she needs.”

“Of course.”

“That won’t make a damn bit of difference,” Riley said with a touch of bitterness. “Her life is still going to be devastated.”

“D’you think any of us will ever experience a love like that? Like Kiara and Adam?” Myra asked.

Shelby looked at Myra with surprise, Myra the tough, cynical one of the bunch, who at that moment looked wistful and sad. Shelby’s throat ached and she looked down at her plate. “I don’t know. I guess we can only hope.”

Every time she talked to Jake that week, Shelby wondered if she should be putting an end to whatever it was they were doing together. Friday when he invited her out for lunch, she almost said no—until Andrew walked past her cubicle, effectively reminding her of why they were doing it. So she agreed to meet Jake at a nearby restaurant.