A Summer To Remember (Seasons of Love & Lust Book 1) by Selene Chardou

far from Paul as possible.
    Unfortunately, circumstances conspired against me. As I walked down the metal staircase, the man himself was standing there speaking to the receptionist. She busily paged through the appointment registrar and told him he didn’t have an appointment and I was booked all afternoon.
    “Paul, what are you doing here?” I said, trying to keep the bite out of my voice. “I’m busy all day today and I don’t have any time for small talk I’m afraid.”
    He looked up at me and smiled, his bright crystal blue eyes shining with happiness. “Can I at least take you out to a quick lunch? I really need to talk to you.”
    I would have said no but there was something in his eyes that implied whatever he needed to tell me was serious. I looked toward Claudia, my diligent receptionist, and grinned at her conspiratorially.
    “Sure, but it has to be a quick one. I have another client coming in an hour.”
    “Don’t worry, I promise not to keep you for too long.”
    “If you stay a little bit past the hour, is it okay for me to hand over Doctor Winters to Ms. Adams?” Claudia asked.
    Andrea Adams, my assistant, was competent, however, her cold demeanor and her knowledge of art sometimes put certain clients off. Unfortunately for me, Dr. Winters was one such client. He was a neurosurgeon and liked to believe he knew everything about everything. He was a client I definitely handled with kid gloves, because not only was he an arrogant bastard, but he was cheap too.
    “No, I will be back in time for our appointment,” I replied.
    I glared at Paul and he finally met my gaze, albeit reluctantly. “Look…I just wanted to apologize about this past weekend and—”
    “I do believe this a conversation best had on the go because you’re on the clock and I don’t have a lot of time,” I interrupted brusquely.
    “Of course.”
    Men, they could be so completely and utterly clueless sometimes. Did he really think I wanted Claudia to know about what was going on in my personal life? I was her employer and no way did I want her to have that kind of gossip in her arsenal that I had made a complete and utter fool of myself in the Hamptons the previous weekend. I might as well have taken out an ad in The New York Post and saved myself, and my family, the embarrassment.
    We walked out together side by side, though I was more than satisfied when he didn’t attempt to grab my hand.
    “Sorry, I didn’t mean to be such a bitch back there but Claudia is a walking gossip columnist in the making and I don’t want her to know anything about my personal life.”
    Paul looked at me briefly as we continued to walk at a New Yorker’s pace. “No, it’s my fault. I was in such a hurry to apologize I forgot how much art galleries can be gossip mills.”
    “No problem. You didn’t do any damage. Besides, she spends half her time on the phone with her friends when she isn’t greeting customers or making appointments. I only put up with her because she is competent, shows up to work on time, and doesn’t take an exorbitant amount of sick days.”
    “Well, we don’t have a lot of time so I was thinking we could go to Athanasios. It’s a Greek café and restaurant up the street and they make the best lamb gyros. How about it?”
    “As long as they are quick.”
    “We can sit at the bar. The service is faster that way.”
    Paul and I walked to the small hole-in-the-wall Greek place that had obviously acquired their little piece of property before the West Side’s prime real estate blew up. He ordered us both a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon and two gyros with yogurt sauce.
    Swigging from my wine for courage, I turned toward him on the narrow barstool. “Thanks for taking me out to lunch. I needed this, if only to get out of the office for a while.”
    His blue eyes were so pale, the green striations around the pupils stood out. “You’re welcome. Although lunch isn’t over yet.”
    I laughed when the wine began to take