Her Heart's Divide Read Free

a job as the dealership receptionist.”
    “That’s how I remember it, yeah,” he said slowly.
    “But we never dated. You were always kind and friendly, but you never flirted with me.”
    He snorted. “No. I was terrified of being a stereotype. Besides, you never flirted with me.”
    “Well, you were my boss, you know. I wasn’t going to sit on your desk and show you any leg. But I did flirt a little bit back at the beginning.”
    “The only flirting I ever noticed was at the company Christmas party.”
    Blood rushed to my face. “Oh, damn.”
    He stared at me. “What happened at the Christmas party from your point of view?”
    “Other than I acted like an idiot?” I jumped up and went into the kitchen.
    “You did not,” he called after me.
    “Maybe in your world!”
    “Everyone was drinking, Lila, not just you.”
    “You want anything to drink now?”
    “I better stick with water, thanks.”
    I came back with two tumblers, the ice clicking against the sides. “I got a little too festive, and you saved me from myself.” I handed him a glass and took my own over by the sliding glass door. I wanted to look at the river, not Jack. I had considered the incident forgotten, but it turned out every face-burning detail was as fresh as it was the Sunday after the party.
     
    Only six months into the job, I’d felt like I’d been at Jack Stevens Chevrolet for my whole life. The team was small and more like a family than a company. Allison, the woman who handled the office stuff, welcomed me. At first it was because the business had grown too much for her to handle everything from the paperwork, to the phone, to greeting customers, and she needed me. Then it was because we’d become friends.
    She was a little flaky with some far-out ideas, and she and I often argued over whether there was magic in the world, but the Jack I knew wouldn’t have called her a nutcase. He loved her and called her his sunbeam.
    At any rate, it wasn’t just Allison who liked me. The other people at the dealership were all great, from the salespeople to the mechanics. When the Christmas party rolled around, I’d felt at home. I’d been so busy talking to everyone that I’d forgotten to eat. I’d also forgotten to watch how much I’d been drinking.
    I remember starting the carol singing and then running off to use the restroom. The one off the main showroom was occupied, so I headed upstairs to the private one across from Jack’s office. When I came out, he’d been standing there. He was looking out the window at the moon, and he turned when he heard my footsteps.
    “Oh, hey, Lila. We had the same thought at the same time.”
    “We were both admiring your ass?” I had blurted out.
    His eyes widened and I clapped my hand over my mouth.
    I’d long since noticed that my boss was gorgeous. He was tall and he almost always wore a dark blue tie that accentuated his dark blue eyes. He had thick sandy blond hair that was a little long. And at that point in our friendship, I knew he’d played college football. While he still kept himself in shape, he’d said that he’d assessed his chances of going pro, found them minimal, and started a business with his best friend instead.
    I also knew that his best friend was Ryan Crosse, a darkly handsome guy who ran the service department. But at the Christmas party, Ryan wasn’t yet a boyfriend or a lover. He’d been coming by my desk and cracking jokes nearly every day but hadn’t made a serious move.
    So I was single, with a happy buzz on, and apparently my subconscious mind had been thinking of my boss as a handsome man, not an employer.
    And that man smiled at me. “Why, thank you.”
    “Oh, my god, Jack, it just sort of slipped out there. I’m so sorry.” I couldn’t really see his face, with the moonlight at his back shining so brightly.
    “Don’t be.”
    His voice had sounded very strange. We stood there for a moment, and then I took a step forward. My heel caught on the rug,