Alex hid his frustration. “So, don’t tell her you’re moving out then. Just call her every night to tell her you’re staying over again. You’re staying tonight right?”

“Yeah.”

He smiled and couldn’t resist kissing her. “I rearranged the schedule at the restaurant, so, I’ll get out of there early tomorrow. You think you can take half the day off?”

“Yeah, as long as I go in for a few hours in the morning, I can spare an afternoon off.”

Alex frowned remembering she’d be in the same office with Luke. He’d have to think of a way to change that. He wasn’t going to be able to deal with that for very long. That one would require more thought. In the meantime, he’d settle one thing at a time. “Good, so, I’ll drop you off tomorrow, and when I pick you up, we can go see about getting a restraining order against that guy, then pick up your things in my truck.”

Valerie unwrapped her arms from his waist and went back to the table. She grabbed her empty bowl and walked it back to the sink “Alex, I told you I have to talk to Isabel first, and I’m not going anywhere near a courthouse on a Monday.”

Alex pulled her too him as soon as she was close enough. “We can still pick up some of your stuff like more clothes and all your shoes. You can model them all for me tomorrow night.”

She tried to resist. “Let me wash these dishes.”

“I’ll get that later.” He picked her up, and she screeched. The visual of her prancing around in her high heels for him and nothing else had done it. “I’m done talking.” Instantly, she wrapped her legs around him, her breathing already labored by the time he reached the bedroom door.

*

The next morning Alex dropped her off at her office bright and early. He made sure he got out of the truck and gave her a very public goodbye kiss—a kiss no one would mistake for a friendly goodbye.

He was just loosening his hold on her when the black jaguar drove in the parking lot. Valerie went tense the second she saw it.

Luke glanced at them as he drove by.

Alex couldn’t leave now. He had to check the guy out. The night at the club he’d barely glanced at him before taking off. He watched as Luke opened up the backdoor of his car and pulled out his suit jacket. He was a good size guy, but he had nothing on Alex. The irritation of Valerie having to be in the same office with him all day rubbed Alex like a cheese grater.

Valerie finished gathering the things Alex hadn’t given her a chance to grab earlier. He’d been around to her side as soon as he stopped the truck.

“Alright, Alex. I’ll see you around one?”

Alex looked away from Luke long enough to address her. “Yeah, maybe earlier. I’ll call you.”

He kissed her one last time just as Luke walked by. He got in his truck and watched as Luke waited and held the door open for her then walked in after her. Oh, this would definitely have to change.

CHAPTER 17

Valerie sat at her desk still trying to shake the incredible discomfort she’d felt when she walked into the office with Luke. He immediately asked if Alex was back in her life, and she had no choice but to say yes. She knew Alex would lay it on thick, but she hadn’t anticipated Luke driving up at such an opportune moment. The way Alex stared him down didn’t help either.

She gathered her things and walked to the conference room with everyone else. She tried concentrating on what Luke was talking about during the meeting. It seemed Luke was avoiding looking her way at all, but she didn’t mind. The last thing she wanted was to get locked into one of his stares. He began wrapping it up.

“I made a few changes to the uptime schedules. Check your e-mails.”

That caught Valerie’s attention she was supposed to have uptime that afternoon. It was odd. Luke had always made her uncomfortable from the moment she met him with his excessive eye contact. Then later with his locked stares. Today it seemed he’d gone out of his way to avoid looking her way during the meeting.

She checked her email first thing when she logged onto her computer. She typically had a ton of email to sift through Monday mornings. Especially if she hadn’t looked at it over the weekend, and this weekend she hadn’t touched her laptop. His email was the very first one, which meant he’d sent it that morning.

There were only a couple of changes, but he’d changed her uptime to Wednesday afternoon. Valerie felt her face heat. Was he kidding? It was bad enough he’d changed it already from Monday mornings to Monday afternoon. Wednesday was their slowest day, especially for calls.

Valerie marched straight to his office. He looked up when she walked in without knocking. “I’ve had uptime on Mondays for as long as I can remember.”

“Yeah,” Luke didn’t miss a beat. “And it’s time someone else got a chance at a Monday.”

“And when did you decide this, Luke? This morning?”

Luke sat back in his seat. “You really think I’d be that petty?”

“I don’t know. You tell me. Why today?”

“Because others have requested to have Mondays, so, I changed it. It’s not permanent, Val. I’m going to rotate it.”

She glared at him, unable to believe he’d be this way.

“So is Mr. Wonderful back for good this time, or is it a temp thing again?”

Valerie ignored his question. “When are you rotating it again? Wednesday’s pure shit. I’d rather not have uptime.”