Fringe Benefits Read Online Free PDF Page B

Mallory added, her knowing gaze also on Dani.
    Beth joined in the stare-down, her eyes searching for something Dani wasn’t sure she was ready to admit to herself, let alone to her friends.
    Beth slapped her palm against the table. “You like him!”
    So like Beth to figure it out.
    “Oh, puhleeze…” Dani rolled her eyes, hoping to dissuade them from pursuing the topic. “I’m technically his boss, and I’m his mentor for this school year.”
    “Sounds like a perfect way to spend time together,” Jules said.
    Mallory, as usual, added to Jules’s thought. The two were every bit as in sync as Dani and Beth. “Plenty of forced contact. Up to you to turn it into quality time.”
    Beth kept on grinning as she packed up the litter from her lunch. “You know, that basement apartment of yours might be the answer.”
    “Answer?” Dani quirked a brow. “To what?”
    “To Nate’s problem. And yours.”
    The gleam in Beth’s eye alerted Dani to her friend’s thoughts. “Oh no, no,
no
.” She gave her head an emphatic shake. “I am
not
asking Nate to take that apartment. That’s for when I host foreign exchange students.”
    “Which you aren’t yet,” Mallory pointed out. “Beth’s right. Invite him to stay with you while Jules helps him find a house.”
    While a part of Dani wanted to immediately embrace the idea of Nate Ryan sharing her home, the saner part of her brain screamed not to do it. Beth’s husband, Robert Ashford, was a custom builder. He’d built Dani’s house, and at her request, he’d turned the basement into a nice one-bedroom suite. Her reasoning had been that she wanted to host students from other cultures at Douglas High for a year of school. When she’d been a teenager back in Chicago, her parents had hosted three different kids from overseas. Sweden. England. Germany. Each of their guests had been a delight. To this day, they still hosted students, although it was now in their California home.
    Dani wanted to continue the tradition. Her parents were still in touch with each of the students who had called the Bradshaw house “home.” Maybe the exchange students were their way of coping with having an only child, one who’d followed several miscarriages that had left them bereft of having the large family they’d wanted.
    Her apartment was supposed to host a teenager. Not once had she anticipated having a man like Nate living so close.
    “Oh yes, yes,
yes
.” Beth grinned. “Think about it. The poor guy’s stuck in that ratty place.”
    “It’ll only be a month or so,” Jules added. “I’m really good at my job, and I’m sure I’ll get him a great place quickly.”
    “Why bother?” Mallory asked. “Once he sees Dani’s place, he’ll want to move right in.”
    Hating being trapped in a corner, Dani waved her hand in dismissal. “I’ll think about it.” Their scoffs made her add, “I will. I’ll think about it.”
    “That butt is just begging to be squeezed.” Beth winked at her.
    “I’m telling Robert you said that,” Dani joked. “Even if you’re right, Nate Ryan’s too young for me.”
    Three snorts sounded right before a merciful bell rang, ending lunch.
    “Bring him to the barbeque Sunday.” Mallory tossed her trash in the wastebasket. “We’ll check him out.”
    Dani shook her head. “You’ll do no such thing.”
    “Bring him,” Jules insisted. “I could use the business.” She winked.
    Without waiting for a reply, Jules and Mallory strolled out of the workroom.
    “You really should invite him to the barbeque,” Beth said. “I can tell you like the guy. It’s a great kind of nonthreatening date.”
    It was Dani’s turn to snort her derision. “Nonthreatening? I’d be feeding Nate to the sharks. Not only will the Ladies be there, but your husbands will give him a hard time.”
    “What better way to find out if he’s right for you than to toss him in the deep end?”
    As far as Dani was concerned, she and Nate were already swimming