Page 75 of Not Safe For Work

“Yes, Teagan. You got me.” I draped my jacket over the back of my chair. “I spent fourteen blissful hours tangled up in the sheets with a couple of hookers named Sleep and Rest.”

“Yeah, I’m sure,” she said. “Come on, fess up. Your woman stayed over, didn’t she? I know she did because you have that smile on your face you only get when you’ve been getting laid.”

I laughed and shrugged. “Okay, so maybe I did.”

“Bastard.” She rolled her eyes. “Well, good for you. And all of us. You’re a much more tolerable human being when you—”

“Gee, thanks.”

She shrugged. “Just saying. And hey, if she’s willing to put up with you after you’ve been working like this, then either you are one hell of a lay, or there’s more to it than just bumping uglies.”

I raised an eyebrow. No one in the Zone was as crude as Teagan when she hadn’t slept in a while. “I’ll take that as a compliment to my sexual prowess, then.”

“You would.”

“What? Are you implying I’m not good in bed? As if you’d have any possible way of knowing that?”

“No, I just think there’s more going on than you’re willing to admit, which is just adorably Jon McNeill.”

“What are you talking about?” I laughed in spite of the sudden rush of heat to my cheeks.

“Even when I’ve asked about her, you haven’t said two words about her.” She shot me a pointed look. “And the only time I’ve ever known you to not kiss and tell at all is when you’ve got feelings for someone.”

Or when it might make things awkward at work. “It’s nothing like that.”

“Bullshit,” she said.

“If it was, I would tell you.”

She opened her mouth to speak, but just then, the door opened and Marie came in with two towering Starbucks cups.

“Figured you two could use some coffee,” she said.

“Oh, Marie, I could kiss you right now,” Teagan said. They looked at each other, both blinking in surprise. Teagan cleared her throat. “Sorry. Sleep deprivation. Makes my mouth move before my brain does.”

Marie laughed quietly but said nothing.

Teagan took her coffee. “Anyway, thanks for the coffee. Now I just need to find a rubber tube and a syringe—”

“Teagan.” I clicked my tongue and shook my head. “You’re supposed to drink it, not shoot up with it.”

“Hey, desperate times, desperate measures.” She gestured at me with her coffee cup. “I don’t tell you how to stay awake, you don’t tell me.”

Marie laughed, then gestured at my model. “How are you coming along?”

“So far, so good. I’ll let you know if the ETA changes.”

“Okay, perf—” She grimaced in Teagan’s direction. “Teagan, must you put that so close to the model?”

“What? Here?” Teagan looked at her coffee cup, which was right beside the front steps of the nearly completed building, and shrugged. “It’s fine. I haven’t knocked one over yet.”

Marie pursed her lips, and for a moment, I thought she was going to order her to move the coffee cup. Instead, she simply said, “Just be careful.”

Marie was oddly calm and relaxed this morning, especially with so many projects going right now. I already knew Rick had been behind our day off, and he must have also adamantly reassured her and Mitchell that the Horizon Developing projects weren’t as urgent as they’d thought. As long as Rick wasn’t in a huge rush, then Marie wasn’t either, probably because the other partners weren’t breathing fire down her neck. He said jump, we said how high. He said chill out, we could all relax.

Rick, I owe you so big.

She gestured at my model. “Anyway, looks good. How much more time do you think you need?”