Executive Decision (Bright Lights, Big City 1)

The minute Seth shut his door I assumed Dale would have at me. He didn’t. That was worse than getting one of his lectures. We walked silently down the hall. Each step made my stomach tighter and the tension in my shoulders worse.


When I got to my door, I turned to him and slid my hand into his pocket. Pulling my keys out, I carefully avoided looking at Dale as I unlocked the door. Pushing my door open, the smell of cinnamon and spice hit me. I had a thing for scented bags of potpourri. I tucked them away in various places so no one could see them but they still let off a pleasant scent.


As I dropped my keys into the tiny black wire basket on the antique table nearest the door, warm arms wrapped around me. Instinctively, I wanted to knock the person’s arms away, but I tended to react a bit differently than most women.


Anger issues? Who me? Nah.


“Dale, are you going to yell? You normally wouldn’t take news like that this well.”


“I didn’t want to embarrass you. I thought I’d say this in private.”


This was not going to be good.


“I’m sorry I lied about Charles. I just don’t want everyone to know who I decide to share my bed with or his bed in this case.”


“Funny, everyone else seemed to know. Why is it that I didn’t? I was kind of under the impression we were friends, best friends, Liz. Yet, you can’t even tell me that you’re sleeping with our boss. Guess we aren’t as close as I thought. You couldn’t find it....”


“I didn’t want you to know.”


“But it’s fine if everyone else does?”


“It’s not like that.” I shook my head and tried to relax. “I don’t really care what they think about me, Dale. I care about what you think. More than I should.”


That shut him up for a minute anyway.


“Does Charles know we’re friends, outside of work?”


You had to go there, didn’t you?


I thought about lying, but that would only add to the problem at this point. “He ... umm ... well yes, sort of.”


“He doesn’t. Does he?” Dale’s voice was a mixture of hurt, shock, and a whole lot of anger. “If we are really just friends, Elizabeth, why keep that a secret from him? And why keep him a secret from me? That’s something someone holds back from their significant other, not their best friend.”


Does everyone have significant other on the mind today?


The answering machine on the birch pedestal desk I picked up at a flea market for next to nothing blinked rapidly. I didn’t really care who called but it seemed like the perfect excuse to put distance between Dale and I.


“I should probably check my—“


‘No. You should turn your stubborn butt around and face me.”


Twisting around, I faced him. I’d never seen Dale look so serious, so determined before. “Charles has never been married and has never kept a woman more than a few months. Even then, he’s dragging who knows how many other women around town at the same time. He spends endless amounts of money on them, parades them around his high society friends as a showpiece, then finds new models when he tires of the old ones. Is that what you are, Elizabeth? Are you one of Charlie’s showpieces? Are you a new or an old model?”


Folding my arms over my chest, I glared at Dale. Did he even need to ask? “Do you honestly think I’d allow him to do that to me?”


“I never thought you’d sleep with him to begin with. Shows what I know.” He narrowed his gaze on me. “How long has this been going on?”


Captain, she can’t take much more. She’ll rip apart. Pull back on the thrusters and lie to the boy if you have to.


Shaking the bad television parodies out of my head, I focused on Dale. There was no way I was about to offer up the exact amount of time I’d been seeing Charles. “For a while now.”


“Let me guess, every night you had to stay ‘extra late’ at work, you were there with him. And each dinner date you’ve had lately has been with him too. Was he the one who was going to your reunion with you? He was, wasn’t he? You were going to spend your vacation with him, and take him home to meet your family when I haven’t even gotten to meet them yet?” His gaze darted to the side table and stopped on a picture of the two of us in Italy. Dale had his arms wrapped around me and I was looking up at him. He’d had it converted to black and white and framed in an antique iron frame for me. “God, were you two together while we were in Italy on business? Is that why you seemed to have a rather selective flu bug? Fine one minute, too tired to leave your room or have company the next. Aww, I was in the room next door, Liz!”


“Tell me how this is any of your business.”


“It’s my business because you are one of my closest friends. No. You are my closest friend. And before you start on that spiel you feed Paige whenever my name comes up, we are more than two people who get along like family and you damn well know it. I practically live with you and at no point have I ever considered you to be like a sister!”


I grunted. Trust Dale to suck the joy out of my denial. “I like the bubble I live in. Leave me be. In fact, the view’s damn nice from this side. You should try it sometime. We could make popcorn and laugh at all the outsiders.” I stuck my bottom lip out and pouted, just enough to ease his mood. He was a sucker for that.


He smiled. He might be an expert at pushing my buttons, but I was just as much of an expert when it came to him. “Promise you’ll at least tread lightly if you’re not going to break it off with him.”


“Deal. And to make you feel better, I already told him that we need draw it to a close soon. It’s getting to be a bit more than I want. I’m beginning to the get the feeling that he’s looking for more from me than I’m willing to give.” I winked and flashed him a tiny smile. “Now, what are you wearing tonight?”


That a girl. Get him talking clothes. He’ll forget all about Charles.


“Not sure. What do you suggest? I’m not thinking we’re going anywhere fancy so I’m guessing I can get away with jeans. Plus, I know I have a few pairs over at Paige’s.”


“You’ve got some here too. You really should get the apartment next door to me. You practically live in this building anyways. We could put a door between them so you wouldn’t even have to brave the hallway.”


“I know but do you know how long it took me to find a place I liked?”


“Yeah, I do. But why are you spending close to four-thousand dollars a month when you spend at least five nights a week here with me? Hell, if it’s about a doorman, I can take you back down to the front door and teach you how to open it yourself.”


“I can open a door just fine.”


“Then let’s just pack and we’ll move into your apartment. It’s bigger.”


Dale stared at me and tipped his head slightly. “You would move in with me? You’d leave everyone here?”


I rolled my eyes. “I was going to make a joke about weaning you off us but I guess if you really wanted that, then yes. Besides, I’m not sure I can wean myself off you and I love being around everyone here. They kind of feel like our family, don’t you think?”


‘Our family?”


“I get that Paige is actually your sister but no one here is a blood relative to me, yet I can’t picture my life without them.”


He ran his hand over his pants and nodded slowly. “It’s good that they feel like your family.”


It hit me that he thought I was excluding him from the group. In a way I was. “I can’t picture you out of my life either but it’s different with you. I guess I was speaking for us, not me when I said family.”


“Different how?”
I shrugged and tried to think of how best to explain how I felt about him. ‘Okay, don’t take this the wrong way but do you ever feel like we’ve been playing house for eight years?”


Dale laughed softly but didn’t sound quite so happy. “Interesting way to look at it. Seems to trivialize it a bit, don’t you think?”