Page 7 of Out of Office

If he only knew. I’d been plotting ways to make his dimple show from the first day I met him. It had all been polite conversation, but at least once a day, I got a glimpse of that breathtaking smile and his sexy dimple.

“No, you should have tried.” I reached out to take the bag out of his hand.

The touch of his skin jolted me. I searched his gaze and recognized the same sizzling awareness that tingled through my body. Then that damn dimple made an appearance again.

“How about I try now?” His hand ghosted up my arm, then back down, and he squeezed it. Genevieve, don’t moan. Do. Not. Moan. The gesture should have been innocent, but it felt as if he’d pressed his entire hard, sturdy body against mine. I relaxed my hand, then dropped the laptop bag.

“Oh shit!” The dull thud didn’t sound promising.

We both knelt at the same time, his movements faster than mine. I struggled to keep my composure at his nearness and stood up as he straightened out to his full height. Lord, but he was tall. He zipped open the bag, the sound snapping me out of the fog of need that clouded my senses.

Adrián pulled out the laptop, inspecting it from every angle.

“I think it’s alright. Try it out,” he instructed, and the way he told me what to do should have annoyed me but instead lit a fire in me. I rested the laptop on the counter, and after a few taps, the screen lit up.

“All good.” I sighed in relief.

“Sorry, I didn’t know you’d drop it.”

“Are you really blaming me for...for all this...” I flapped my hands in his direction, peeved he didn’t take ownership of his aura. He must have been keeping it all leashed behind his professional persona. The moment he walked into the apartment, I could sense the difference in him. The intense confidence incredibly alluring. If only we’d dropped our masks earlier.

His laughter boomed in the apartment, a full round sound like a timpani in an echo chamber, making me feel tingly inside.

“I’m sorry for flustering you. I just wanted you to know how attracted I was to you before you left, back to the States,” he finished with a rueful smile.

The reminder that this searing intensity between us had no future dampened the mood like a wet, cold blanket. Why couldn’t Adrián and I have met on one of those boring-ass dates I took out occasionally? With him it wouldn’t have been boring; with Adrián, it would have been memorable and sensual, and thought-provoking... I sighed, I was working myself up for something that couldn’t be.

Needing a second, I turned my back to him, closed the laptop, and filled my lungs with air before facing him, feeling centered once more. He had retreated to the sofa across the kitchen island, resting himself on the back of the seat—as if that made him less dangerous to my stability.

“If I’m ever here again, I’ll make sure to reach out to you. I’ll probably have meetings to attend once the Tropics is over the honeymoon phase.” The air between us carried a heaviness of unexplored possibilities and unsaid words.

“Hold up. Before you ask me to leave, I wanted to extend an invitation.” He unfurled his body, erasing some of the space between us, his eyes eager on mine. No, it couldn’t be. Was Adrián about to shoot his shot? Was I about to be propositioned? This must be the start of my Hot Girl to Ho Girl transition because I’d never been more tempted to say yes.

“So, instead of going to whatever hostel you had at Aguimar, I wanted to invite you to my family’s cabanas. We have a little ten-cabin property, very humble but comfortable. I’d love to host you.”

The twinge in my chest couldn’t be disappointment. Adrián was offering me an honorable proposal. Here, I was imagining two weeks of a calisthenics-comparable sex-a-thon.

“Will you be in the city, or will you be in Aguimar?” I held my breath, his answer as crucial as the air around me. He closed the gap between us, his cologne reminding me of my lust-filled dreams. I swayed closer to him.

“Yes, I’ll be there. When you told me you still had two weeks here, the first thing that came to mind was how I could be part of them. I know you have a life in the States, but I can’t waste another two weeks wondering what it would mean to be in your presence without any walls between us,” he whispered. “I’ll be respectful. I know two weeks is a short time, but we can at least get to know each other better.”

He pushed back, and I pretended to be unaffected. He grinned and shook his head at me.

“Well, I already had a reservation. I mean, Anita went through a lot to get it for me, and I...well, you said two weeks, and then I leave? I don’t know if it would be smart to pursue anything.” Was the babble the best I could pull off? Ugh. Thank God for clarity. Logic came to the rescue just in time. My head had conjured many ways I wanted to spend the next fourteen days with Adrián. None of the ways involved clothes. But pursuing those wishes didn’t make sense.

“Genevieve, this is our chance.” His velvet, smooth voice soothed me. My famed logical brain seemed to have taken the rest of the morning off as I stood weighing the decision. How wild would it be to ditch my plans, and go with the flow? To experience life without a detailed plan?

“Give me until midday to give you an answer.”

“Okay, I’ll leave now to give you some space, but I’ll be waiting,” he whispered, the scent of peppermint melding with his cologne. I nodded, feigning calmness, but inside my heart had started a HIIT circuit.

Leaving with Adrián sounded like a dangerous proposal. And I’d just become a thrill seeker.

Four

Genevieve

My actions the past day were out of the norm, but that didn’t mean I had completely lost the entire plot. I sat at my laptop, researching everything I could find about Villa Bonita. The hostel was humble, with little cabana-style rooms, each of them connected by a winding path that led to the main building. The main building looked like a modest home, with cement walls painted in pearly white and colorful window shutters and a stucco roof.

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