Page 34 of More Than Words

“You didn’t come down here to flirt with me. What do you want?”

He leaned forward, cupping his chin, and slowly rubbed the stubble he surprisingly hadn’t shaved off this morning. “I think it might actually work. The new pages, they’re…” He trailed off, and I watched him swallow, his Adam’s apple bobbing heavily. “They’re hot. Like I didn’t know Evan was capable of writing this kind of hot. I can tell he had help, but it’s still his writing. I know I made a crack at Chase being flirty, and I’m sorry for that, but I think she’s getting through to him.”

“Oh.” Well. That was good, at least for Evan and Chase. It meant they might finish up quicker than expected. “That’s good. Then we can stay out of each other’s hair if they complete the rewrites early.”

“Right,” he nodded, his gaze traveling lower and running down my body like a caress.

“Right.” Snapping to get his attention, I pinned him with a loaded look, not knowing how to deal with his blatant ogling. Clearly, he was attracted to me, but we’d agreed that weekend had never happened. It was a one-off that I wasn’t planning to repeat.

“I think we should sit down and go over the pages together. I know they’re vastly improved from the originals, but if everyone else is working together on this, shouldn’t we?”

“They’ve already gone through four sets of eyes by now, and I trust Kristine and Sam to make sure they catch any further issues. I don’t think we need to sit down together. Anything you need regarding the document can easily be handled via email.”

He frowned, clearly not liking my dismissal, but the two of us spending time alone together was a terrible idea. While I hated myself for it, I couldn’t repress my attraction to him anymore, and the temptation of having him near wouldn’t help that.

“I know we can communicate by email, but sometimes it’s easier to brainstorm and have a discussion in person where I can see your reactions to things and get real time feedback. Isn’t working that way a little distant?”

He wasn’t letting me off the hook. But I knew he had to have an ulterior motive to get me alone. I didn’t want to talk about my impulsive behavior, or the fact that he was the first man to give me a satisfying orgasm in years. “We can sit down in my office next week once we’ve got the final documents ready for the proofers.”

“You seem to be giving me excuses as to why you won’t work with me. When you’ve been insisting this entire time you want our offices to work as a team on this release. This is me being a team player. Are you capable of being a team player, Is? Or was that little display of dominance in front of your intern just another way to get back at me?”

“You seem to think I want to spend more time with you than necessary on this project.”

He smirked, knowing I was having a hard time coming up with reasons to avoid what he wanted.

“That was still avoiding the question. But nice try at blowing me off. We know how much you enjoy doing that.”

My cheeks ached as I clenched my jaw, gnashing my teeth together. My blood pressure started to rise, my heart pounding as I fought the urge to tell him exactly where he could shove that blowing comment.

“What are you doing tomorrow night?”

My pulse raced as I thought about his request. Tomorrow was a Friday, so after 5:00, we were off the clock. This didn’t sound like a professional invitation. It sounded more like a come-on, and I hated that my nipples were standing at attention at the prospect. It’d been a while, but I wasn’t sure that opening the door to something like this was a good idea.

“You can send me your notes, and I’ll review them this weekend.”

Adrian’s smile widened fractionally as he stepped forward, his palm settling on the outside of my arm. “Or I can use my expense account to order dinner, and we can go over this together. You said you wanted this to be a collaboration, so I think we need to discuss where we might make some changes. If everyone else is working together, it only makes sense that we spend time together to ensure this document gets the attention it deserves. I know you’d rather do that here in your office, where you think I’ll behave myself. But I secretly think you like it when I misbehave. Come on. Work with me. One working dinner won’t kill you.”

As his thumb caressed the front of my arm, I felt like he wasn’t talking about the document. He wanted to give this tension between us attention, which was a scary prospect to indulge in. Office affairs were messy, and while my quickened pulse and the increased wetness between my legs in the last few minutes confirmed that my body still wanted him, my brain was screaming to run in the other direction.

I opened my mouth to shut it down, but the heat in his gaze made me change direction. “I’m not coming to your fuck pad. We’ll do this at my apartment. I get to pick the restaurant. You go pick it up. And I’m still not sleeping with you.”

Completely ignoring my last comment, he nodded. “Done. Text me with the details. I’ll be there at 7:00. Do you like red or white?”

“You’re not getting me drunk if we plan on getting work done.”

“Not drunk,” he smiled, stepping forward and leaning toward my ear again. “Maybe just enough to loosen you up. You’re a bit tense.”

Adrian quickly realized he was borderline outwearing his welcome and retreated, smirking at me as he turned in the doorway and gave me a slow once over again, making my skin break out in goosebumps.

“I’ll see you tomorrow.”

This had to be the dumbest decision I’d ever made. Next to getting married and then divorced before I even hit thirty. Hopefully, this didn’t wreck me like that had.

ADRIAN

Boston

To my surprise, Isobel texted me bright and early Friday morning with her dinner order, along with a very specific list of wines I could bring if I wanted admittance to her apartment. I knew I was treading a dangerous line between professionalism and my attraction to my co-worker, but this was a risk I felt I’d kick myself in the ass later for if I didn’t take it.

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