Excerpt: Keeping a lock on things

She flipped the phone open and scrolled through the pictures she had stored in it, stopping at one she had taken a few months earlier.
Jim’s face gazed back at her, a teasing smile on his lips and a question in his eyes. They had gone for coffee that day, taking their steaming cardboard cups to the park bench near the library downtown and talking. Meghan smiled, remembering how she could smell his Old Spice cologne mixing with the hazelnut coffee aroma. She had told him he smelled good enough to eat, and he had grinned wickedly. She had blushed, and he had laughed, apologizing for embarrassing her.
At the time, she had pushed her thoughts away. Now, though, she allowed herself to pull them out and examine them. She had been embarrassed, but not how he thought. She had felt a sudden shock of exposure with his first naughty smirk, but then realized that he couldn’t have known what she was thinking. She was usually very good at keeping her thoughts hidden behind a smooth face or laughing eyes; she had perfected the ability over the years. The blush had come from the idea that what she was thinking was probably naughtier than he would imagine.

Since that day, their friendship had deepened. They talked about Meghan’s family, Jim’s parents, and their jobs. At first, though they flirted, they kept things above board. Lately, though, that line had gotten harder to remember, and harder to stay behind.

Sighing, Meghan snapped her cell phone shut and slipped it back into her purse. Jazzy needed her poster board, and Meghan needed to reign in her thoughts. She put the car into gear and headed home.