Page 52 of The Plus One Professional

“Ten? Are you sure?”

“You’ve worn your hair up five times, half up and half down four times, and all down the last one. You’ve worn two blazers, four long-sleeved shirts, one sleeveless turtleneck, and three quarter-sleeve shirts. The sleeveless turtleneck was my favorite.”

Her lips parted, and she licked them. My eyes followed the path of her tongue as it slid across her mouth. The mouth that I’d had the tiniest taste of and was aching to explore more thoroughly.

She blinked up at me several times before asking, “Do you have a photographic memory?”

“Only when it comes to you.”

Her nostrils flared for a moment before her eyes shut, and she sneezed. Loudly. She covered her mouth and took two steps back from me. “Sorry, allergies.”

“Is it?” I questioned.

“Yes. I’m not sick, but if you’d feel more comfortable with me sharing a room with my sisters?—”

“I don’t think you're sick. And I don’t think you have allergies.”

“You don’t?” she breathed.

“No. I heard you talking to Billie after I left the bathroom. I heard her say that she heard you sneeze and what that meant.”

I waited for her to deny it, to tell me it was a joke or that I must have misheard her.

“You did?”

“I did. And you’ve sneezed quite a lot around me.” I took a step toward her.

“No. I haven’t…I mean, yes, I have, but this is, I’m paying you to be here.”

“No, you’re not.”

“What?” Her brows furrowed.

“You’re not going to pay me. This isn’t a job.”

“Yes, I am. And yes, it is.”

“No, you’re not,” I insisted. “And no, it’s not. I’m not here because you hired me. I’m here because I want to be.”

She swallowed audibly and shook her head. “This isn’t…we can’t…you’re twenty-four.”

“I know.”

“I’m thirty-six.”

“I know.”

“You’re too young, and you date women for a living.”

“Are you attracted to me?”

She closed her eyes—her beautiful green eyes that I saw every time I closed my eyes. The eyes that I’d dreamt about. The eyes I’d known the color of because of those dreams.

“Do you remember me asking if you had green eyes and blonde hair?”

Her lids popped open. “Yes.”

“Do you want to know why I asked that?”

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