Page 3 of A Moment Of Forever

“But you do.”

Her brows rose, and she folded her arms. “Please, since you have all the answers, tell me how it is that I know you outside of our business relationship.”

“I thought you’d never ask.”

This intrigued Vanessa even more.

“You are aware of what time I arrive at work because I send you a daily good morning email.”

“That’s a mass email that you send to all of the branches,” she interrupted.

“If I may finish…”

Vanessa shut her lips and let him go on.

“You’re aware of my income, one of the things I consider private and most precious.”

He paused and waited for her to debunk his statement and could see her mind working as her eyes visibly shifted in thought.

“I give ten percent of my earnings in donations, remember?”

Vanessa did remember, and it hadn’t crossed her mind that she could literally figure out his income because she never tried. It wasn’t something she considered.

“You know the trails I run daily because of the reports you send, same time, when I’m out for a run, and I must admit, after telling you the first time that I ran at a certain period I was surprised you continued to send the reports at that same instance. Why?”

Vanessa pressed her lips closed, then responded. “Well, I didn’t think it really mattered what time I sent them. I knew you would see them when you had the chance.”

“Hmmm…”

“Okay, so, those are all cute, and that’s a nice story—”

“A true story.”

Her lips arched. “Yes…true indeed. But—”

“I’ll do you one even better.” He stepped closer to her as if the tiny gap that infused her with his fragrance wasn’t enough to send her nerves spiraling.

“Let me share what I know about you.”

Vanessa couldn’t lie; while she was intrigued, she was also a bit unnerved. Her life wasn’t a box of chocolates. In fact, all the sweetness in her demeanor had been diminished after dating that fool of a boyfriend for two years, only to find he had a wife and two daughters living on the other side of town for six years.

What a waste.

Since then, her heart had been hardened. If a guy so much as looked her way, she would cut her eyes, then roll them and walk away.

Vanessa was sure that there was no truth left in the male species. At this point, she’d convinced herself they were all a lying, conniving population, only good for a decent screw.

However, for reasons she couldn’t contemplate, this one whose fragrance she could taste on her tongue from the mere whiff of him, made her say, “I’m listening…”

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