Gretch smiled and shot her an I told you so look at Keira. “Oh. I just assumed she was your significant other.”
“Nope, we’re just great friends. As for the dress, I have no clue. But I’ll ask her for you.”
“Great, thanks. Oh, Keira, after you guys are through, don’t forget to put in the paperwork for that raise you promised me.” Gretch playfully batted her eyes at her boss.
“Yeah, I’ll take care of it.” Gretch left the office and closed the door behind her. While her assistant had cleared up the situation with the hot blonde, it still didn’t shed any light on whether or not Alexander was attached.
“She must be a good assistant if you’re giving her a raise.”
“You have no idea.”
“For such a smart guy, sometimes you can be a complete idiot.”
Alex furrowed his brow as he took off his necktie and looked at Juliette. “What’d I do?”
“You failed to tell her you didn’t have a girlfriend.”
“I just told you I did, or were you acting like a man and not listening? Her assistant asked me about you and I said that you and I are platonic friends.”
Juliette shook her head as she rolled her eyes. “Duh-uh! That still doesn’t tell her you’re available. Just because you aren’t dating me doesn’t mean you aren’t dating one of the other four million women in this city.”
“Oh. Right.”
“Alas, the light bulb goes on.”
“You know how nervous I get around women I’m interested in.”
“Well, luckily you’ll be spending lots of time with her, so you need to clear that up.” Juliette pointed at her mouth. “Read my lips and repeat after me. I’m not dating anyone.”
“I’m not dating anyone.”
“I can’t HEAR you!”
“Okay, okay, I get the point. But how do I do that without being so obvious?”
“Since I cannot trust you to take care of a simple task, why don’t you call your agent and have her do it? She told you she knows the editor very well.”
Gretch folded her arms as she stood in front of Keira’s desk. “I don’t know why you continue to doubt your assistant. You should know by now that my romantic radar is always spot-on.”
Keira leaned back in her chair. “Fine, you were right about the blonde. Thank you for clearing that part up.”
“See, you got all frazzled for nothing. Now aren’t you glad I sent you home to dress up?”
“Yeah, but he still might be attached.”
“I’m betting no.”
“And to what do we owe this bit of intuition?”
Gretch took a seat across from her. “The way he looked at you. I could tell he wants you. I caught him checking out your legs.”
“He could be one of those guys who wants anything in a skirt. If you’d worn your quarter jeans instead of something dowdy we might know the answer to that question.”
“My what?”
“Those lacquered-on jeans you have. If you put a quarter in the back pocket I could tell if it’s heads or tails.”
“Very funny. Fine, I’ll sleaze it up the next time he’s in, stick my boobs in his face and I’ll bet he doesn’t even notice. Perhaps you noticed he didn’t pay much attention to the rest of our staff that was dressed in the Miley Cyrus spring collection.”
“Well, anyway, I can’t exactly ask him out on a date. I mean, how would that look?”
“Oh, I’m sorry, I forgot to look at your calendar and see that it’s 1850. I guess you’ll have to wait for the Sadie Hawkins dance and you can invite him to the hoe-down.”
“Stop it, Gretch.”
“Hey, I’m trying to help things along here. I’ve got it… how about doing it the back-door way? Work late with him and then, you know, sort of invite him to continue things over dinner since you’re on a roll or something. Then it’s not really a date, but you’re in a more casual one-on-one setting than you would be in the office.”
Keira shrugged. “I don’t know…”
“Good God! For such a kick-ass editor you really amaze me.”
“What?”
“You take no prisoners at work and act like one when it comes to real men. Have you forgotten how the women in Rose’s books always took charge romantically? And that’s how the heroine in this new book acts as well?”
Keira said nothing, knowing Gretch was right.
“Trust me, Keira, it’ll work. Get him out of the office and let him see you with your hair down a bit.”
“We already had breakfast out of the office.”
“Big friggin’ deal. No one ever got laid after pancakes. Things are different at night. It might not be an official date but it will have the same effect. Finish up the work over appetizers and then you’ve got the rest of the dinner to get to know each other better.”
“But all this might be a waste of time if he’s already got someone.”
“Well, you’ve gotta eat dinner anyway, may as well do it with Alexander. You need to take a shot either way. Even if he is dating someone else he might like you better. And looking at your face, I can tell you’re a bit smitten with the guy.”
“Fine, I’m smitten. But I’ve never asked a guy out before. Or even tried your ‘back-door’ method.”
“Good God, Keira, you’re not asking him to marry you. You just want to find out if he’s available.”
“So, oh great and wise dating oracle, how do I do it without asking him out? What’s in that dating database you keep in your head?”
“The Book of Gretch suggests the use of a matchmaker.” She pointed at the phone. “Why don’t you let Bella find out for you? She’s not apprehensive about asking anyone anything. She makes me look shy.”
Bella Farentino’s phone buzzed at one minute past nine. “Yes?”
“Two calls,” said Rachel. “Keira Madison on line one, Alex Bauer on two.”
“Tell Alex to hold for a minute and I’ll pick up on Keira.”
“Got it.”
She punched a button that connected the first line. “Hi Keira, how you doin’ this morning?”
“Very good, Bella, you?”
“Not in my body yet. Ask me around noon. So how’d your day with Alex… Alexander go?”
“Gave him the nickle tour and went over some notes for the author about my suggested edits, along with a few ideas. He’ll be back this afternoon and we’re going to get started.”
“Think you’ll be okay working with him?”
“Sure, Bella. Speaking of which… I was wondering if you might do me a favor.”
Her phone buzzed, the automatic reminder she had another person on hold. “Hang on a minute, Keira.”
“Sure.”