Just Good Friends Read Free Page A

grin and a word to the
clearly enthusiastic staff members he passed.
    He brought the dazzle to a stop in front of Hannah. “I heard
you were in, thought I’d pop by and say hello.” He smiled, white teeth flashing
and dimples creasing in his bronzed face, and gave her a quick kiss on the
cheek. “You’re looking as gorgeous as ever. Want to run away with me?”
    Hannah laughed. “Flatterer.” She turned to Kate. “I’d better
introduce you. This is Koti James, centre and first-class flirt. So watch
yourself. And Koti, this is my friend Kate Lamonica. She’s just joined the
staff here as an accountant, but we used to work together, back in California.”
    “What an intro,” Koti complained. “Good thing you aren’t in
the matchmaking business, Hannah. You’d be sacked straight away.”
    “How ya goin’, Kate.” He turned his brilliant smile on her. Pretty,
he thought, even though she looked a bit small. Nice hair, beautiful skin. She
had a good figure, too, what he could see of it. He reached across the desk to
shake hands—and get a closer look—as Kate murmured a response.
    “Welcome to the Blues. What brought you all the way down
here, besides Hannah?” He might as well take the opportunity to chat her up
before she met the rest of the boys. “Had you been before, on holiday? Or did
you just hear that the scenery was beautiful and the men were good-looking?”
    “No, I’d never visited, but I needed a change,” Kate
answered, dropping his hand quickly. “And Hannah and Drew were good enough to
help me find a spot here.”
    “Because Kate’s the best,” Hannah assured Koti. “The team’s
lucky to have her.”
    “And we’re always happy to have another pretty girl around
the place, eh,” Koti confirmed with another dazzling smile. He was surprised to
see Kate draw herself up stiffly and take a step back.
    “I think—” Hannah started to say.
    “Sorry I’m late.” Drew came up from behind them, slid an arm
around Hannah, and bent down to kiss her cheek. “Been in a meeting that’s dragging
on a bit. I need to get back to it for a few minutes more, I’m afraid. But I
wanted to come out to let you know.”
    “Good to see you, Kate,” he told her. “Settling in all
right?”
    “Yes, fine. Thanks for all your help.”
    “No worries. That was mostly Hannah.”
    “And why are you here?” the captain asked Koti with a frown.
“Need something?”
    Koti put up a protesting hand. “Just saying hello. Can I
help it if you married my dream girl?”
    “Your dream girl’s six months pregnant, is she?” Hannah asked.
“You have interesting tastes.”
    “You’re pushing it,” Drew warned Koti. “And if you ever do
find your own dream girl, you won’t be holding onto her long if you don’t pay
more attention to what she needs. You’ll have to take better care of her than
this. Can’t you see Hannah needs to sit down?”
    He reached over to lift a chair across from an empty desk
and set it down next to his wife. “You’ve got your hand on your lower back
again,” he told her. “You haven’t been resting enough, I can tell. Sit.”
    “Woof,” Hannah laughed as she sank into the chair. “You’re
right, though. That is better.”
    “Are you all right for another twenty minutes or so?” Drew
asked. “I’ll wrap up as fast as I can.”
    “I’m fine,” Hannah assured him. “Go on back and do what you
need to do. It’ll give me a chance to catch up with Kate.”
    Drew nodded and left, throwing one last warning look at Koti
as he went.
    Kate watched him go, then turned back to Hannah with a frown.
“Doesn’t it bother you when he tells you what to do?”
    “What, that he tries to take care of her?” Koti asked before
Hannah could answer. “What could possibly be wrong with that?”
    “Sorry, by the way,” he apologized to Hannah. “Should have
seen that myself, got you a chair.”
    “Surely Hannah knows if she needs to sit down or not,” Kate
countered. “She