Page 67 of I Won't Be In On Monday

"Do you?" he asks. "If you could be a princess, would you want to be one?"

"I don't know." I shrug. "I guess I've never really thought about it."

"Would you want to marry a prince?"

"No," I say. Inside, I'm shouting that the only person I would ever want to marry is him, but I know better than to say that out loud. I don't want to freak him out. Especially not now that we've crossed the line from just employee-employer to something more.

"So, what's your favorite Chinese food?" he says as the elevator beeps and alerts us to the fact that we're on the lobby level. He stands back and lets me walk out first. I love that he's a gentleman.

"I'm kind of basic. I like sweet and sour pork and chicken fried rice. What about you?" I say with a little bit of a giggle.

"I'm kind of basic, as well, I guess. I like Mongolian beef and vegetable lo mein." He grins. “But hey, we can be basic together, right?”

“I don’t think anything about you is basic, Remington Parker."

"Oh, and why is that?"

"I don't know. Because you just make me feel like there is a lot more going on in that brain of yours." He grins for a second and starts chuckling. "What's so funny?"

"I thought you were going to say something else."

"What did you think I was going to say?"

"Well, you started with the wordsyou make me feel." He winks at me. "And my mind kind of went somewhere else."

"Where did it go?"

"Directly to the gutter." He grabs my hand and squeezes. "But I am sure you would've figured that out."

"To the gutter, huh? How far into the gutter?"

"Let's just say it went pretty far."

We step out into the brisk New York air, and he gazes at me before looking left and right. "You want to walk or get a cab?"

“I'm okay with walking," I say, nodding. "Do you know where we're going?"

"I know a little place not far from here," he says. "I think you'll like it."

"Ooh, you do, do you?"

"Yeah." He grins. "I do. So, I want to apologize," he says. "It wasn't very..."

"Don't," I say, shaking my head. "You don't have to worry that you've stepped over a line." I start laughing. "I mean, you've stepped over several lines now. So if I was going to be upset, I'd already be in HR's office."

He shudders. "I am really messing this up, aren't I?"

"No, you're not messing it up because I think I kind of like it."

"You do, do you?"

"I do. In fact…" I stare deeply into his eyes. "I think I may take you up on your challenge."

"Oh?" I see him stop. "You're not joking with me, are you?"

"I don't know," I say quickly, wondering if I've made a mistake. "I mean, we do have to have some ground rules, though.”

“What are the ground rules?”

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