It Happened in L.A.: Ms Match / Shockingly Sensual / Playmates

Wrapped in her blanket, he tugged her close and kissed her. Not a peck, either, but a long, hot kiss that made them both moan. When he broke away, it was with real regret, but also hope. Oh, yeah. Friends with kissing was a great start. He just prayed he could stand it while he waited for her to see the wisdom of a comprehensive benefit package.

IT WAS FOUR DAYS until he saw her again. Monday night trivia, and of course, he arrived only minutes before the game. She had saved him a seat, and there was a game player waiting, but what he mostly wanted was a beer.

He sat down, pleased to be in the hubbub and chatter of the now-familiar gang from her work. He knew everyone at the table tonight, which was cool.

First thing, he turned on his machine. Second, he leaned over and kissed Gwen a proper hello, although it wasn’t nearly the kiss he could have planted on her. Then he went to type in his nickname. When he looked up, no one at the table was talking. In fact, they were all staring at him. With a thunk, he realized that he’d just done a very stupid thing.

He cleared his throat and looked desperately for a waitress as he cast about for some way to fix this. She worked with these people. She clearly didn’t want them to know they were kissing friends, and here he’d been so pleased that he’d shown such restraint.

“It’s good to see you, too,” Gwen said, her voice pleasant, her glare not so much.

His whole face got hot, but when he dared look at her, there was no real anger in her eyes. Braver, he looked at his tablemates. They were obviously bewildered, but no one shot him furious glares or threw anything at him. The last test would be Holly.

She was all shock, but pissed off, too. Not at him, though. At Gwen. Holly leaned over his back, forcing his head down to the table.

He heard Gwen say, “Ouch,” and figured Holly had given her a shot in the arm.

“What was that for?” Gwen said.

Holly grunted, but in a feminine way. “You know perfectly well.”

“Okay, okay. I’m sorry. We’ll talk later, I promise. But the game’s starting now, and I think you’re killing Paul.”

Holly eased up but gave him a shriveling glare. “Some nerve.” She gave him a pop, too, and it hurt quite a bit. “She’s my best friend. I should have been in the loop.”

“Sorry,” he said, wishing the beer would get there, wishing he didn’t want to rub his arm like a little girl. Glad it was out in the open, and that he could touch Gwen tonight. He’d missed her, even through a ridiculously busy few days. There’d been no reading, no movies, not even any baseball games. Just work, a phone call here and there and some nice memories to put him to sleep.

After the first question came up on the board, Gwen leaned over so her mouth was close to his ear. “Smoothly done, Casanova.”

“I’m sorry,” he whispered back. “I didn’t think.”

“I forgive you.”

He turned fully to her, the whisper be damned. “Do you now? How magnanimous.”

She nodded, pleased with herself.

He leaned toward her, shifting his glance between her eyes and the big board while he moved his hand to his game machine. He made sure she was looking at him, though, when the next question popped. That’s when he kissed her again. A long one. If there’d been any doubts before from any of her coworkers, they were dispelled by the smoldering lip-lock. Of course, he answered the trivia question at the same time, and when the answer period was over, he let her go. He couldn’t suppress his grin, knowing he’d won on two counts.

She looked up at the board. Then at him. Then she socked him in the other arm. It hurt a lot worse than Holly’s punch.

GWEN KEPT HERSELF as calm as possible as the game continued. It wasn’t his fault, that kiss, not really. They hadn’t discussed the public face of their relationship. Friendship. Besides, it had been a spontaneous gesture that had been not only sweet but a little breathtaking, so she couldn’t be mad at him. She’d learned long ago to defuse tricky situations by acting as if they weren’t tricky at all. But now that they were pressing buttons, trying to win, drinking beer, in essence back to normal, the gravity of what he’d done hit her.

These were the people she worked with. To most of them, she was the boss, although in her office there wasn’t much of a caste system. There was a great deal of camaraderie, but when things got dicey they all knew her word was final. No one objected and the atmosphere at work was mostly jovial, if task oriented.

She’d only brought one man into the fold at all, and that had been on two occasions. Alex had been nice, but mostly a rebound guy, and their dalliance hadn’t lasted long.

Paul, on the other hand, had been allowed in on the basis of being her friend. No hint had been given that there was more. Well, Holly had wanted it to be a love affair, but that was Holly. No wonder she was cranky. Gwen wasn’t even sure why she’d kept things so quiet.

Although she hadn’t seen Paul since that night on the couch, they’d spoken every day. Poor guy, he’d been slammed with work and clients and entertaining, but he still managed to sneak in his daily call.

While it had been nice to speak to him, she hadn’t been prepared for dreaming about him. Not just any dreams, either. Vivid, sexy, naked dreams.

Naturally, she didn’t tell him. Not when she was so confused about what this thing was between them. At least she still had a grasp on the fact that sexual attraction was not enough. Although it sure felt as if it would be. No, there were issues to be dealt with. Big ones.

For example, the incongruity of the two of them together. Even now Kenny kept sneaking stares, his expression perplexed, although he tried to hide it. And there was Steph, shaking her head with what looked to be disbelief.

Gwen shifted her attention to the game, her drink, anything rather than see the reactions around her. It wasn’t a surprise. Come on. She might have a lot of good qualities, but beauty wasn’t one of them. It wasn’t something she could hide or disguise. What pissed her off was that it had never been a part of her relationships at work. Never.

She pressed the button on her machine, realizing too late it was the wrong name. She swore, not just at her bad answer, but at her concern over what her friends thought. Ridiculous. She had nothing to apologize for. Nothing to feel weird about.

“What is going on with you?”

She jumped at the sound of his voice, so near to her.

“You’re going to win,” she whispered. “I hate that.”

“Get used to it, darlin’. I rock at this.”

She gave him a glare, then said, “Cheater” semidisguised as a cough. “You’re going to pay for that.”

“Oooh, how?” He looked entirely too excited.

“I don’t know yet. It won’t be the fun kind of revenge, mark my words.”

He laughed, which got everyone looking at them. Gwen kissed him, which he really didn’t deserve. But what the hell, right? He made her laugh, and he made her happy. If anyone didn’t like it, they could just screw off.

FINALLY, PAUL WAS UP TO BAT for the first time.

Gwen stood in the bleachers right next to Holly. She wanted him to knock it out of the ballpark, but barring that, to not strike out. He’d been touted as a ringer. He certainly looked like one. Terribly buff in his T-shirt and jeans, he even managed to make the batting helmet look sexy.

“Go, Paul!” Holly was shouting so loud Gwen had to cover her ears.

“I don’t think they heard you in St. Louis.”

“I’m just being an excellent teammate,” Holly said. “You should be shouting, too.”

“I’m encouraging him in my own way.”

Holly bumped her shoulder. “He can’t see you crossing your fingers.”

The pitcher lobbed the ball and it was a swing and a miss.

“That’s okay, Paul.” Holly shouted again. “Good eye, good eye.”

Gwen saw that while his timing was off by a hair, he had real power. As soon as he did connect, the ball would fly out of the park. She crossed the fingers of her other hand.

Another strike.