Just Good Friends by Rosalind James Read Free Book Online

Sorry you were disturbed
on your Sunday, though.”
    She pressed the End button. Looked down at her phone.
She had to stop jumping every time she heard it ring, the chime of a text.
    Can’t wait to watch you die.
    She was here. She was safe. That was over. Deliberately, she
put the phone away. Got a fashion magazine from the rack. Sat with her coffee
and her muffin and looked at clothes she couldn’t afford. She’d had a great
swim, it was a beautiful day, and she was on her own. Nobody to look out for.
No company at all. Frightening, annoying, or otherwise.
    She put the incident out of her mind over the next few days.
There was so much to learn in the new job, she didn’t have time or energy to
waste in obsessing about some prima donna with a deficient sense of time. Even
her fears were receding as she became more and more engrossed in her work. She
was at her desk on Tuesday afternoon, immersed in tracking a particularly
knotty publicity expense trail, when she was annoyed to be interrupted by the
sound of a male voice.
    “Uh, Kate. Can I talk to you a second?”
    She looked up with a frown. Set down the paperwork she had been
studying and cast a disillusioned eye over Koti. His hoodie today was navy
blue. He really did have a limited wardrobe.
    “Oh. You,” she said without enthusiasm. “I’m pretty busy
here. If you came to tell me you lost the bet, I already figured that out.”
    “I tried to get in touch with you,” he said with
exasperation. “Sorry I was late. But I did try to ring. Didn’t have your mobile
number though, and Hannah wouldn’t give it to me. Didn’t she give you the
message? I expected you to ring me back. To text me, at least.”
    “Oh, she gave me the message. But I wasn’t interested. I’d
already had my swim, and my coffee too. Let’s just say you were surplus to
requirements by the time I heard from her.”
    “You should have given me the chance to explain, though,” he
protested.
    “OK. Explain now. Somehow, I’m guessing you weren’t in a car
accident, or held hostage by terrorists. But let’s hear it.”
    “I was tied up,” he began, a bit shamefaced. “Lost track of
the time. Forgot, if you want to know the truth, until ten or so. But as soon
as I remembered, I tried to get in touch.”
    “Tied up,” she mused. “Let me guess. You were . . . busy. Getting busy. Which seemed, hmm, just a bit more inviting at the time than a
swim date with some bitchy girl who doesn’t even like you.”
    “Could be.” He tried his best charming grin. “But now that I’ve
seen you again, I’m wondering what I was thinking. Especially since it was a
swim date. Sweet as, with you. What d’you reckon? Want to try again, this
weekend?”
    “Wow, that’s enticing. Let me think about it. Mmm . . . no. You
lose.” She picked up her pencil, tapped it impatiently against the desk.
“Tomorrow work for you, pink hoodie-wise?”
    He flushed angrily. “Why are you being so snotty about this?
I’ve apologized. What more do you want?”
    “An apology doesn’t make bad behavior go away. Didn’t
anybody ever explain that to you? How hard is that, to say you’re sorry? You
think you can flash that smile, give me a come-hither look out of those big bedroom
eyes, and that’s it? All’s forgiven, and you get a free pass?”
    Koti turned at the sound of Corinne’s half-muffled laugh at
the next desk. “Didn’t realize this was public.”
    “Sorry,” Corinne said with a grin. “But I’d say that’s spot
on. Does my heart good to hear it, too. Good on ya, Kate.”
    Koti set his jaw. “I’m not ready to chuck it in. Let’s start
over. We’ll make it two months. Starting next weekend. And if I stuff up once
more like this, you win, no arguments. That do you?”
    “All right,” Kate agreed reluctantly. “But only because I’m
critically short of entertainment right now. And I like the idea of raking you
over the coals again next time.”
     
    “Oh, for heaven’s sake,”