“Really. I’m guessing he caught her in a compromising position with Steve.”
“No, he didn’t.” He’d caught them sparring, but that was hardly compromising. Not like being caught naked on your boss’s desk with his head between your legs would be compromising. Shit. Why couldn’t she get that image out of her mind?
Jess studied her through narrowed eyes. “Oh my God, she’s blushing.” She turned to Dani. “She’s blushing—it’s not a figment of my imagination, is it?”
“No, she’s definitely a little flushed.”
“Am not.”
“Am.” Jess sipped her drink and studied her some more. “So if it wasn’t about Steve, what was Jake so pissed off about?”
“I wouldn’t say he was pissed off exactly…” Well, he hadn’t been then, but he might be now. After she had stormed off and left him standing in the ladies’. After he’d suggested they get married. She’d done such a good job of convincing herself they could go back to being friends, and then he’d gone and spoiled it.
“So if he wasn’t pissed off, what would you say he was?” Jess broke into her thoughts.
Kim gnawed on her lip. She trusted Jess and Dani, and if she didn’t talk to someone soon, she might implode.
“I slept with Jake.”
There was complete silence at the table.
“Well, actually I didn’t sleep with Jake. We…” She raised her gaze from her drink and looked at the other two.
Speechless.
“What?” she asked, her tone belligerent.
Jess’s mouth fell open. “You slept with Jake?”
“I told you we didn’t actually sleep.”
Dani cleared her throat. “You had sex with Jake?”
Kim nodded.
“When?” Jess fired.
“This afternoon.”
“Where?” Dani blurted.
“On his desk.”
“You had sex with Jake, this afternoon, on his desk?” Dani repeated slowly, as if she couldn’t believe it.
Well, Kim couldn’t believe it either. She nodded morosely.
“The desk in his office?” Jess closed her eyes for a moment. “I will never be able to stand in front of that desk without that image going through my mind.”
“Thank you,” Kim muttered. “That’s very supportive.” Now she was definitely blushing. She grabbed Dani’s cold beer and pressed it to her cheek, waiting for the heat to subside. It didn’t happen. She swallowed the last of her drink. “I need more,” she said.
“I’ll go.” Dani stood. “But don’t say anything else until I get back. I don’t want to miss this.” Kim watched Dani limp across the floor to the bar. Maybe she should have gone, but Dani hated being treated like an invalid.
“She’s getting better,” Jess said softly. “It’s more noticeable in the evenings, and she pushes herself too hard.”
Dani got back to the table, put the drinks down, and they sat in silence for a few moments. Kim waited for them to say something else on the subject of Jake, but was not sure she wanted to hear it.
“I think Jake’s always wanted you,” Jess said eventually. “It’s obvious really.”
“Not to me, it’s not.” Though Jake had said he’d wanted her for a long time. But if that was true, he’d done a great job of hiding it. Or maybe she was just dim. “You must think me very naive.”
“Not naive, no. Blinkered maybe. But I never thought he’d do anything about it,” Jess continued. “You know Jake’s got this protective streak a mile wide. I’d figured he’d told himself he couldn’t risk hurting you and that you needed a friend more than you needed a lover. So what changed?”
“I told him I was planning on having an affair with Steve.”
Dani choked on her beer. “Why did you tell him that?”
“Because he asked and I was—planning on having an affair with Steve.”
“And Jake said…?”
“That Steve was an idiot and that if sex was what I wanted, then I should have gone to him.”
Jess snorted. “Wow, romantic.”
Kim scowled. “I don’t want romance.”
“And I’m guessing Jake knows that.” Jess nodded.
Kim slugged back a large portion of her drink. “This is a purely hormonal thing, and as soon as I have my hormones under control, it will go away and I can forget all about sex. It’s just an itch that needs scratching.”
“And Jake scratched it?” Dani asked. “So has the itch gone?”
“No, I’m definitely still itching.” More than ever.
Jess laughed. “So what was it like?”
“I don’t have a lot to compare it to. Only Michael and that was horrible.”
Jess patted her hand.
“That’s the only reason I told you,” Kim said. “I want to know…need to know…if it was normal.”
“Why? Did he do something kinky?”
“It wasn’t so much what he did, as how I felt.” Oh, God, this was embarrassing.
“So how did you feel?”