Page 16 of The Work Wife

“No wonder you don’t want to come back to New York to work with me.” Ben was laughing when they walked into the office and a brunette looked up with a gorgeous smile.

“Jamie, this is my brother, Benji.” Wes gestured toward him and then back to the woman. “This is my partner, Jamie.”

“This is Jamie? I didn’t know Jamie was a female.” He had been joking about the assistant with the cookies, but this . . . He didn’t realize there was really someone keeping him from wanting to come home.

“Don’t I ever say she when I talk about her?”

“No. You always say we.”

“Huh.” Wes shrugged and nodded toward female Jamie. “She’s my partner.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” she said.

“It’s nice to meet you.” More than nice. Unless she and Wes were an item. But were they? Wes wasn’t giving off any romantic clues, and she didn’t look at Wes with a love-struck gaze.

Despite the lack of romantic sparks, there was definitely a familiarity between them as they joked and told Ben what they were working on.

By lunchtime, Ben was thoroughly confused by the situation between the partners.

“Do you want to go grab something to eat before you have to go to your next meeting?” Wes asked.

“Sure.” Ben turned to Jamie. “Will you be joining us, madam?” He bowed and she laughed.

“I don’t want to intrude on your male bonding,” she answered.

“Please. I’ll see enough of him on my next visit. Which will probably be soon, now that I know he has such a beautiful partner.”

Jamie’s cheeks turned pink, but her smile told him she was flattered.

“Well, then in that case, I’ll go to lunch with you the next time and leave you boys alone this time.” She winked and went back to what she was drawing.

“I’ll bring you something back,” Wes offered.

“Thanks,” she called as they left the office.

“What is that?” Ben asked as soon as they were in the parking lot.

Wes looked around. “What was what?”

“Jamie.” Ben pointed back at the building.

“She’s great, isn’t she?”

“Yeah. So you’re together?” The smile on Wes’s face looked like a man who was interested in the woman he was speaking about.

“No. Not like you mean. But that doesn’t mean you should mess with her. She dates a lot of assholes. She needs a nice guy.”

“I can be a nice guy.”

“Yes, I know. You just aren’t.”

“So it would be okay if I asked her out?” Ben confirmed, watching his brother as they got in the car.

“If you promise to treat her nice. Yeah. You’re better than most of the guys she dates.” Wes paused before starting his SUV. “Wait. You don’t have any kind of Cupid fetish, do you?”

* * * *

“Did you have a nice lunch?” Jamie asked Wes as soon as he got back in the office. He’d left Ben in the parking lot so he could go to his meeting.