Leanna looked at her funny but made her way over to her desk and sat down. The three of them shared the massive office space and normally she loved it. Today, she would kill for a little privacy so she could continue to berate herself without any interruptions.
“That’s ridiculous. I’ve never noticed that about you. Who did you have this bad conversation with?”
Before she could answer, Skye asked, “Where’s Josie?”
“She pretty much ran screaming from the building after the Buchanans left. I’m surprised you didn’t run into her outside. She left about fifteen minutes ago.”
“I just got back less than five.”
“Oh.” Pausing, Leanna gave her a curious look. “You had lunch with Elliott, right?”
“Yup.”
“And that was the bad casual conversation?”
“Yup.”
“Hmm…and what were you talking about?”
“Sex.”
Leanna gasped with surprise before her smile grew from ear to ear. “Really? Oh, my goodness, I love it! Finally!”
“What? No! Not finally!” Then she paused. “Wait…what do you mean finally?”
“I just take it you mean you and Elliott are finally going to…you know…get together. Hook up.” When Skye didn’t respond, Leanna let out a long sigh. “Sleep together! Have sex! Sheesh! Stop making me talk about it!”
“See? Talking about sex makes things incredibly bad and awkward!”
“It depends on who you’re talking about it with, I guess. But now I have to ask how you and Elliott got on that subject.”
Skye explained the conversation and how she was the one to initially bring it up. “Honestly, we were just sort of in this zone where my psychology brain kicked in and it seemed like a perfectly harmless question to ask. Then I realized how inappropriate it was and after the kiss it seemed even more inappropriate…”
“Wait, wait, wait…kiss? What kiss? When?” Leanna asked excitedly.
Ugh…me and my big mouth…
“You cannot tell Josie about this.”
Leanna made a zipping motion over her lips before doing a giant X over her heart.
With a weary sigh, Skye told her about the night she had gone to Elliott’s for dinner and why she agreed to go and what eventually happened. When she was done, she rested her head on her desk. “This is bad, Lea. Really, really, bad.”
“No, it’s not,” she countered. “This is great! Really, really great!”
Lifting her head, she looked at Leanna like she was crazy. “How can you even say that? He’s on a dating embargo!”
“Actually, he’s on an engagement one, but…” She waved that off. “Skye, this is what you’ve always wanted! Elliott’s totally into you! Why aren’t you with him right now?”
Standing, she began to pace. “Oh, let’s see…how about the fact that he’s not supposed to be involved with a woman for another nine or ten months? Or maybe because he’s Josie’s brother? And finally–and this is a big one–maybe because he only feels this way because I’m convenient?”
“What?! That’s crazy! Why would you even think such a thing?”
“Think about it,” Skye went on, now pacing in front of Leanna’s desk. “We all know that Elliott loves being involved with someone. Always has, always will, no matter what he says.”
“O-kay…”
“Now his family tells him he can’t do that for a year. Then I’m there and probably the only female companionship he’s had in a while and, Elliott being Elliott, he’s drawn to me.” She stopped. “But not me, Skylar, just me as a woman. I bet it wouldn’t matter who the woman was; if she were hanging out with him, he’d be attracted to her too.”
“Now you really are crazy,” Leanna said with a small head shake. “And shame on you.”
“On me? Why?”
“Think about who you were dating when you were eighteen.”
“Billy Slater.”
“Are you telling me that you didn’t think you were going to marry him at the time?”
She thought about it for a minute. “Well…yeah. We talked about it, but he never proposed.”
Nodding, Leanna stood and walked around to the front of her desk. “The two of you broke up when he went away to school. Now, college. Who were you serious with in college?”
“I don’t see what this has to do with…”
“Humor me.”
“Fine. I dated Patrick Davies throughout my sophomore and junior years.”
“Did you picture yourself marrying him?”
Rather than say anything, she just nodded.
“Any other guys you envisioned yourself marrying?”
“It’s still not the same, Lea!”
“Yes, it is! Elliott was eighteen when he proposed to that first girl! They were both too young and immature. We’ve all been there.” She paced a few feet and then turned. “The college girlfriend was a more stable relationship, he was older, and felt like he was ready to settle down.”
“We all know this…”
“When that crashed and burned, he did something impulsive in Vegas! Tons of people do the same thing, but he was fortunate and escaped before they took the walk down the aisle.”
“Lea…”
Stopping in front of Skye, Leanna gave her a weak smile. “He’s not impulsive, and he’s not a serial dater. There have been plenty of times over the years when he was single and not doing anything over the top about it. He’s just a man who loves with his whole heart. It’s not a crime.”
“So…what are you saying?”
“I’m saying that if Elliott is attracted to you, it’s because of you and not just because you’re a woman. I strongly disagree with the premise that any female would do. And if I were you, I’d go and talk to him and see where this could go.”
“That’s just it! It can’t go anywhere! His family would have a fit, and I certainly don’t want to be the reason he gets any grief from them.”
Leanna seemed to consider that for a long moment. Crossing her arms, she sighed. “I still think you need to talk to him. You may not be able to do anything right now, but…he’s not going to be off-limits forever. Think about it.”
Skye was about to comment when the business phone rang. Leanna went and answered it, leaving Skye alone with her thoughts.
And there were enough of them to make her head feel like it was ready to explode.
The timing was all wrong; that was a given. But then again, how could she possibly have known Elliott would return her feelings?
Whoa…don’t get ahead of yourself. He’s attracted to you. He could just be…you know…horny.
Ugh…that would be her luck.
Then something occurred to her; was that really such a bad thing? After all, this could be a very simple and sexy solution to getting over him.
And why do I want to get over him? After all these years?
For starters, after knowing each other for so damn long, if he hadn’t been interested in dating her before–or even in getting to know her better–why would he suddenly want that now? She’s been right there under his nose for almost twenty years.