Forever Too Far

of water so he just had a quick delivery.
         I opened the kitchen door and stepped inside. Several of the cooks called out greetings and I waved to them and tried to remember as many names as I could.
         “Please tell me you’re back in Rosemary for good now. No more running around the world. I’ve missed you,” Jimmy whined , pulling me into a hug.
         “No plans to go anywhere anytime soon,” I assured him.
         “God, Blaire your stomach is huge. When is this baby coming out?” Jimmy asked and started rubbing my stomach. “You can’t stay in there forever, little guy. It’s time you come on out. Your momma isn’t that big; she can’t take much more.”
         The kitchen door swung open and I lifted my eyes to see a new face. She had dark brown hair and excellent bone structure. She was watching Jimmy talk to my stomach with a curious smile.
         “Hello ,” I said and her eyes flicked from my stomach to meet my eyes. She had gorgeous eyes as well. Where had Woods found this one and had he hired her because of her looks? Because knowing Woods he had noticed.
         “Hello,” she replied with a thick southern drawl that surprised me. The girl wasn’t from Rosemary.
         Jimmy stood back up and beamed at the girl. He liked her. That was a good sign. “Glad you’re back, girl. Yesterday went to shit without you,” he told her then glanced back at me. “Della, this is Blaire. She’s my BFF who ran off and left me for another man. One I can’t blame her for because he is one hot piece of ass. Blaire, this is Della. She may or may not be boinking the boss.”
         I couldn’t keep the grin off my face. Yep, Woods had noticed her.
         “Jimmy!” I said when her face turned beet red and realized she’d been scolding him too. I liked this girl. I just might have new friend material here.
         “Woods right? That boss ?” I asked, grinning because I knew there was no way she was messing around with Woods’ dad.
         “Of course, Woods. The girl has taste. Sh e ain’t gonna boink the old man,” Jimmy replied with a roll of his eyes.
         “Would you stop saying ‘ boink’?” she asked, still blushing. I needed to ease her embarrassment because Jimmy was only making it worse.
         “Jimmy shouldn’t have told me that but since he did, can I say, Woods is a great guy. If you are in fact… um… boinking him then you picked a good one.”
         “Thanks,” she said, biting back a smile. I really hoped Woods had a thing for her. I had a feeling Bethy would love her too.
          “If I don’t have this baby this week maybe we can get together and have lunch,” I suggested. I would call Bethy and have her come too. She glanced down at my stomach and I could see that she thought it was highly unlikely that I was going to make it out the door without having this baby, much less until next week. She was probably right.
         “Okay. That sounds good,” she replied.
         I couldn’t wait to tell Rush. Maybe we should invite her and Woods over for dinner one night. That would be fun.
         “Della Sloane.” An angry growl broke into my thoughts and I jerked my gaze from her to the police officer standing in the doorway.
         “Yes, sir,” she replied. I watched as her face went white and I glanced around for any sign of Woods. Where was he when you needed him? He had always been barging in at the wrong time when I worked here. Now would be a good time to barge in.
         “You need to come with me, Miss Sloane,” the officer barked as he held open the door waiting on Della to walk out of it. “Miss Sloane, if you don’t come willingly I will have to go against Mr. Kerrington’s wishes and arrest you right here on the club’s grounds.”
         What did he just say? Arrest? Mr. Kerrington? Woods wouldn’t do this. If he had he would have at least shown up and been a part of it. Besides, I was a good people reader and so was Jimmy. We both liked Della. Something was wrong.
         “What are you arresting her for? I sure as hell don’t believe Woods knows about this,” Jimmy demanded as he stood in front of Della as if to protect her. I loved him even more for that. She looked like she was about to faint.
         “Mr. Kerrington does know. He is who sent me in here to escort a Della Sloane out of the building and then arrest her once I had her in the parking lot.