Read Online Cancelled by Elizabeth Ann West - Free Book Online

with actions. He didn't care if they were at work; it was his office. All he needed to do was take two steps and lock the door.
    “Johnathan. Johnathan.” Alex tried to stymie his kisses along her exposed décolletage with her arms. The man was an octopus, with at least two appendages to her one. “Johnathan!”
    He pulled back and ran his thumb around the outside of his mouth.
    “Yes?”
    “You're supposed to go meet Eric. We do have work to do you know.”
    “Have dinner with me.”
    “Tonight?”
    “Yes tonight. Are you going to act like you're previously engaged? No more games, remember?”
    Alex pushed by Johnathan on her way to the door.
    “Email me a time and restaurant. Oh, and I'd wait a few minutes before rushing off to the Cave. Unless you want the guys making fun of you.”
    Johnathan made a mimicking giggle as she closed his office door. Why did women think men needed a reminder they were aroused? If any of them ever walked around with a hard on, they'd realize by its very nature, it wasn't a bodily reaction designed to go unnoticed. By anyone.
    Recollecting his drawings and himself, Johnathan took a slow walk towards the back of the office. He grabbed a cup of coffee at the break station, and pushed through the heavy steel door that separated the office and work areas. He couldn't bring his focus on work. All he could do was mentally run down the list of restaurants in Georgetown he could take Alex and encourage her to crash at his place. It wasn't a great plan, but it was all he had.
     
     
    “Would you like another glass?” the bartender asked, holding up a bottle of wine.
    Johnathan handed his empty wine glass to the impatient bartender at the hottest new wine bar in Georgetown. He shook his head and checked his cell phone once more for a text from Alex. Only five minutes until their reservation, and still no sign of her. He pushed the number 6 for her speed dial.
    “I'm almost there, I'm walking from the Metro now.”
    “You didn't drive?” His careful plan of drinking and co-ed sleepover at his apartment two blocks away evaporated.
    “Isn't this a wine bar?”
    He grinned. He could hear her excitement. Alexis wasn't a wine snob, but she loved to imbibe new fermentations.
    “How long?”
    "Walking through the door.” Alexis entered and shed her coat to reveal a cobalt blue cocktail dress with a plunging neckline and deep angles. Johnathan developed a new appreciation for the triangle as a design aesthetic. He pushed his way through a group of people milling around and kissed his date. Their fingers kept a trailing touch for the short game of follow-the-leader to their table.
    The menu offered a perfect blend of his favorite French cuisine and enough wines listed to make him completely lost. Wine wasn't really his thing, but he was making an effort for Alexis.
    Alex sipped from her water glass and stared at the over-sized painting on the wall paper behind Johnathan. “I love that. You know the name?”
    Johnathan reluctantly turned his head away from gazing at Alex and glanced at the impressionist rendering behind him. A popular scene of Parisians in the rain, he recognized it at once.
    Johnathan smirked and took a drink of his own water. “Caillebotte. Paris Street in Rainy Weather.” Anna's personal interest in his art history education paid off.
    “Hmmm. Pretty obvious, huh?” Alex wrinkled up her nose at the title. A waiter appeared with the bottle of wine she ordered for them and began to fill her wine glass.
    Johnathan held his hand over his glass. “I'd like to wait for my meal, please.” The waiter nodded and placed the bottle on the table.
    “Making me the lush?”
    “I'm ahead of you. I waited at the bar while you rode the train.”
    “I wasn't late.” Alexis swirled the red wine in her glass.
    “You know what's funny? Caillebotte tried to donate his paintings and personal collection to the Louvre. They turned him down.” Johnathan leaned back slightly as their dinners