Page 30 of A Little More

“Julien told me to get lost, so I did.”

Lexi’s lips pressed together, her eyes remained on the house. “Sorry. That was rude of him, and I would say it was out of character, but it wasn’t.”

“Does he have a thing for you?”

Her denial shot out of her mouth as her wide, brown eyes met his. “No. No way. Julien has been nothing but professional.”

“This dating rule…”

“Applies to everyone. He fired a guy from the firm for sleeping with a client. I can promise you there’s nothing between Julien and me.” She shook her head, another two curls falling loose. “Nash…”

He turned toward her, twisting one of the curls around his finger. “I never had a chance to tell you how pretty you looked.” He brushed the back of his fingers along her cheek, moving a fraction closer. “Just one date, Lexi.” They could give in to this attraction. “Julien won’t find out.”

“I can’t, Nash.” Her hand reached up to pull his away.

He caught it, bringing the inside of her wrist to his lips, enjoying the way her eyes tracked the movement. His thumb covered her pulse, quicker than average.

“Someday, this will get to be too much, and you’ll agree to kiss me.”

She pulled her hand away from him. “You’re wrong. I can’t risk my job.”

Somehow,she’d managed to escape Statem and not have thrown her career down the drain by launching herself at Nash. Never again would she question her self-control. Rock steady. Lexi’s mind reeled from all the flirting and touching. He didn’t let up. He’d pushed every chance he got.

And he knew she liked it.

She’d had a dozen or so chances to tell him to back off. Like that was supposed to make it easier to walk away from him. A gentleman with a stubborn streak.

After stopping by her office to drop off her reports and pick up her mail, Lexi grabbed her purse and headed toward her car in the parking deck at her office. Six o’clock on a Thursday. She pictured Ms. Peggy standing at the stove, making dinner. Nash, coming in the door after a long day in the field. The quaint scene would have made her laugh two weeks ago. Now, the idea of going home to her empty condo seemed sad. Being alone never bothered her before.

“Lexi.” Julien jogged down the hallway to catch the elevator. He stepped in, no smile. At least she didn’t think he smiled. He rarely did. But that suited him. He reminded her of an MMA fighter. Tattoos and a dark beard with short hair he kept in a slight mohawk. A stark contrast to the designer suit he wore every day and professional attitude.

“I wasn’t expecting you to leave now.” More like eight or nine each night. Sometimes, Lexi wondered if he slept at the office.

“My day with my son got switched this week,” he said, his French accent thicker than usual. Was he stressed?

“That’s a good reason to leave.” She’d asked one time about his son. It was met with silence. Julien didn’t waver in his extreme privacy. Complete separation of work and personal life. In fact, in the past six years, this was the third time he’d ever mentioned him. She only knew his name was Trey because she’d overheard him talking on the phone once.

He loosened his tie a little and leaned against the wall, a laptop bag slung over his shoulder. His cologne was subtle, but even it seems to scream, “I’m a man, damn it!”

“How did it go after I left?” he asked.

“Moving along. We have a few more last-minute changes to make, and then we can lock in the plans as final.”

“Great. I have another client that you can start planning.”

She suppressed her groan. Oh well for contemplating her next trip to see Nash. She had one client already waiting on a revision. “That’s great, Julien. I’ll be sure to get a jump start on it tomorrow.”

“This one is located over in Athens. Might be a little bit of travel at first but not much. A standard building, really, but they want an artistic flair.”

The elevator opened to the basement parking garage. They walked together toward their assigned parking spots near one another. With absolute disappointment in his eyes, Julien muttered something in French before saying, “Your car is a mess.”

“I know. I came straight here. I’ll get it detailed tomorrow.” A light red dusting of dirt covered the navy paint.

He unlocked his pristine, white Jag with a subtle beep. Much more sophisticated than the loud honk her car gave when she accidentally locked it.

“I’m glad you take this job seriously. I can tell by your organization and your progress on Mr. Holloway’s project. I would hate for something trivial to derail your career like it did Lionel’s.” He set his laptop bag in the passenger seat and met her eyes with a neutral expression. “He hasn’t found another job yet. See you tomorrow, Lexi.” He climbed in.

She took her time, pretending to fiddle with something in her purse, letting him leave the deck and his words soak in. Trivial. Something in her resented the sentiment that anything between them was trivial. No other man had completely taken over her mind and made her seriously consider risking her job for that one date he’d mentioned.

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