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me.” She let the invitation into her tone, practically purring into the phone.
    “I want that too, you sexy redhead. You know how long I’ve liked you. I enjoy your company and I miss you. I’ve always thought we could be more…if I could, I’d come, promise.”
    Her frown turned into a smile. Perhaps the seduction idea from yesterday should be revisited. There was something about the idea of desk sex…”Miss you, too.” She didn’t miss him, not really, but maybe she would if they spent more time together. So it wasn’t exactly a lie.
    That it bugged her right after she said it left her gnawing her lip in frustration. She could date, like a normal person, and it would be fine. She didn’t need entanglements, she needed casual and comfortable. Jim could be that.
    “Well, talk to you soon.”
    Hanging up, Chloe grinned at her reflection. “Sooner than you think, big boy.”
    She totally had time for an office quickie before heading over to Wilkerson’s pond to meet the gang for a picnic. Grabbing her car keys, she felt energized. If the taste of Jack lingered on her lips, the feel of his hands still ghosted on her flesh, it was only because she missed sex. She was a normal, red blooded woman. She had needs and she owned that…so she could fulfill her drive and move on with her day. No biggie. The Sex in the City gals did it all the time—why not her?
    This late, Jim would be alone at his office. And, in a small town, no one locked the doors…she’d even visited Jim at work once, back before she and Jim hooked up on their failed relationship attempt. Sneaking into his building, she was exhilarated. She hadn’t pulled shenanigans like this in years and she couldn’t remember why she’d stopped and started being adult, logical, sensible…Right then, she felt sexy, young and unstoppable.
    Opening the door, she closed it behind her, breathing deeply before turning…
    And saw his ass pumping with fervor into what appeared to be a very young, very blond, very naked woman. The woman shrieked, Jim stopped humping like a rabbit and, since he held her hips, he took the blonde bimbo with him when he spun towards the door. Her torso slid from the desk, apparently much to her surprise because he thumped her head into the chair intended for clients before he dropped her.
    If the situation wasn’t so horrible and clichéd, Chloe would have burst into laughter.
    But it was awful.
    Covering her mouth with one hand, as if to hold in the wrenching pain in her stomach, Chloe spun back to the door and pinched her eyes closed. She was an idiot, a complete and total fool. Not that she could un-see what she saw. There were some things that burned themselves on the backs of your eyelids and the spectacle in the office definitely ranked on that list.
    Yet more proof, if I needed it, that I’m not enough for a man . Any man.
     “Chloe, what are you doing here?”
    Not, I can explain, or it isn’t what it looks like . Instead, the defensive.
    “I told you I had work.”
    “I saw.”
    She didn’t turn. She couldn’t.
    “Look, we agreed that we didn’t want commitment. That we wanted to have fun. An open relationship allows—”
    Holding one hand up, she silenced him. “I may not have wanted commitment, but I wanted more than this. I don’t know anyone who would want this.”
    With that, she turned the knob and, with as much dignity as she could muster, walked out.
    All of it happened so fast that she was halfway to the pond before reaction really set in.
    Younger. Blonder. A newer model.
    It was so damn trite. It didn’t seem real.
    But it happened.
    Swallowing, she took the hit to her ego and accepted the bitter pill. If nothing else, the situation proved that men weren’t made for monogamous relationships. She’d been right about that. She wasn’t going to cry. Another man—choosing someone other than her. Story of her life.
    When Gary left her, Jack’d been there.
    Pulling over, she allowed herself a moment to