Law #2: Don't Play with a Player: A Sweet Office Romance Story (Laws of Love) by Agnes Canestri (web ebook reader .txt) 📕

good advice, but I’m not much of a love guru, pal,” Pete tells me in a pensive voice. “Heck, I probably know less about women than I’d like to.”

I tap his shoulder. “What do you mean? Your house has more female visitors than the White House.”

Pete flashes me a lopsided grin. “That much is true. But you know as well as I do that I don’t deal with hearts. A bit like Wyatt, though his reason is his ambition, while my excuse is the sheer joy I find in non-commitment. In all cases, I’m not well-equipped to guide you. But”—he lifts his finger—“I do know one thing. If I ever happen to find a woman I fall in love with, I won’t care what has happened in my past. I won’t let any paranoia about having been a womanizer spoil my bliss. I’ll just concentrate on my future with her.”

My eyes dart to Pete. I didn’t expect him to say something this profound.

He winks at me. “I haven’t found my special one, yet, of course. But you get what I mean? You ought to put things right with Laia. Don’t take away her choice about whether you’re good enough for her. Let her decide. I think if she knew the truth, she’d—”

“Here you are, you wacko! Why won’t you pick up when I call?” Ellie storms over to us, panting.

Her bun is in unusual disarray, and her cheeks are flushed as if she’d been running. Her untypically disheveled look makes me think Jimmy’z might not be the first place she so tempestuously searched for my presence.

As if to confirm my suspicion, she says, “I’ve been to your house, in your gym, checked the supermarkets you usually go to…and even went to that horrid Red Heaven club where the hairy bouncer tried to hit on me. Yuck!”

I give her a soothing smile. “Here I am. It’s Friday.”

Ellie taps on her forehead. “Shoot, why didn’t I think of that? I just figured this would be the last place you’d come, considering that last time you were here was with…”

She breaks off and gives me an alarmed glance.

“Laia. You can say her name. Pete’s been chewing my ear about what a dullard I’ve been anyway, so your complaints won’t spoil my evening.”

Ellie shakes her head. “We don’t have time for this, Dev. You need to come with me.”

“Come with you? Where?”

Ellie’s eyes move to the counter, to Pete’s shoes, then back to my face. “Uhm, dinner.”

“I already had a sandwich, but thanks.”

Ellie stares at me. “I don’t care. You’re coming with me,” she says, then grabs my arm. “Sorry, Pete, but we have to bail on you.”

Pete chuckles. “Don’t worry, I’m getting the hang of that lately. I’ll just go upstairs with you and then drop by the Red Heaven. The hairy bouncer definitely won’t hit on me, but the cute redhead who serves the drinks might.”

He stands up and throws a few bills on the bar for our drinks.

Ellie pulls on my arm. “Come on, Dev, we’re going to be late.”

“Late for what?”

“For dinner,” she repeats slowly and articulately as if I have trouble hearing.

“I’ve already told you I’m not hungry. I’d rather stay and listen to Harry play another few tunes.”

Ellie’s grip doesn’t soften on me. “Devon Griffin, stand up right now and walk with me. Or else I’m going to…” She thinks for a moment, then her face illuminates. “…go out and use that lipstick knife you discredited so much on your beloved Audi’s gloss.”

My jaw drops at her blunt threat, but I straighten. A suspicion that wherever we’re going Laia will be there spreads in my chest and my heart rate picks up. “Okay, fine. I’m coming with you. But you’re behaving like a nutcase, you know that, right?”

Ellie grins. “I know. But let’s go now. We’re already way too late.”

Late? So there is indeed an appointment with Laia?

Panic grips my stomach. I don’t want us to miss Laia. As every fiber of my body lights with the desire to see her again, I realize just how big of a lie I’ve been telling myself these past days.

I can never let go of Laia. I love her—more than life itself.

I grab Ellie’s arm. “Then let’s hurry up, sis,”

I pull her to the staircase so fast that Pete struggles to keep pace with us, which is something because his legs are longer than mine.

My gut is lodged in my throat as we mount the stairs and my heart hums with a mix of fear and anticipation.

If Laia agreed to play along with Ellie, then maybe it’s not too late to correct what Pete called the biggest blunder of my life?

Chapter 49

(Laia)

I’m pacing like a hunted animal on the restaurant’s terrace.

Ellie told me to be here at nine, but it’s already nine-thirty.

Why are they late? Maybe she blabbed to Devon about my plan, and he decided not to come?

A waiter with impeccably slicked-back hair comes up to me, for the third time since I’ve arrived. His red-and-black waiter uniform makes him look more like a karate master instead of a server. Or maybe it’s the impassive, I’m-at-peace-with-the-world expression with which he observes me—I can’t quite decide.

“Are you sure you don’t want to come inside and take a table, Miss?” he asks in a polite voice.

I take another peek at my watch. Another five minutes have passed.

Devon isn’t coming…

A bitter tang fills my mouth, but I force myself to plaster on a smirk I don’t feel. It isn’t the waiter’s fault that I single-handedly ruined everything with Devon. I might never be at peace with myself due to my brainless, mistrustful action, but I can at least pretend I know how to answer a stranger in a socially acceptable manner.

“No, I think I’ll just go. It’s a nice restaurant, though. Your sashimi and nigiri look excellent from what I could see through the glass. Lots of tuna. The spicy kind, which is good. I like spicy.”

The man is either trained well,