Page 97 of Indiscretion

“I don’t mind walking it back to your lovely paralegal,” he said. “I wouldn’t want the file to get lost.”

Dawson crossed his arms. “I think it’ll safely make the thirty steps it takes to get from the reception area.”

Will looked between Dawson and me. “Or…I can just have a messenger deliver it instead.”

Dawson put a hand on Will’s back and started him walking toward the lobby. “Great plan.”

A few minutes later, Mr. Grumpy returned. He stopped at my desk. “Will isn’t a good idea.”

I thought I knew what he was referring to, but I gave him the benefit of the doubt. “As co-counsel, you mean?”

“His schtick with the ladies is coming off as a bumbling buffoon. But he’s a player. His wife divorced him after the third time she caught him with another woman. She’s a lawyer, too. Nice lady.”

I blinked a few times. “I wasn’t planning on going out with the guy.”

Dawson shrugged like it didn’t matter, yet his face showed anything but indifference. “Just giving you fair warning.”

I wasn’t sure what was more upsetting, the fact that the man I’d spent all day in bed with this weekend thought I mightsay yes to going out with a coworker of his, or the fact that I totally fell for Will Archer’s buffoon act. Before I could respond, Dawson had disappeared into his office. I sat at my desk for a few minutes, going over the morning in my head, hoping maybe I’d see things in a different light and calm down. But the more I thought about it, the more pissed off I became.

Eventually, I walked into Dawson’s office and closed the door behind me. “I don’t know what your problem is, but I’m insulted that you don’t give me more credit than thinking I would go out with someone you work with.”

Dawson sat behind his desk with his jaw clenched. “And I’m insulted that you’re already planning on me being just a fuck buddy.”

“I never said that.”

“Not in so many words, but you don’t think I have the potential to stick around for more than a few months.” He sighed. “As much as it sucks, I get why you’d think that.”

I opened my mouth to say something in my defense, then closed it when I realized that wasexactlywhat I’d insinuated. “I’m sorry, Dawson. I shouldn’t have said that. Sometimes I start talking before I think it through.”

“And sometimes the truth is better off coming out than hiding behind couched words.”

I shook my head. “I’m just scared, Dawson.”

“Of me?”

“Of getting hurt again. I don’t have the best track record with relationships. And for the last year, I’ve felt like I was floating in the wind. Then I met you, and you feel like such an anchor already. That scares me, but it has less to do with you and your history and more to do with my own fears.”

Dawson’s face softened. “And I can’t even tell you I know how to be in a relationship. There’s nothing in my past to make you believe I’m capable.” He looked down and shook his head. “Idon’t even know if I’m capable. But I like you. A lot.”

“I like you a lot, too. Maybe we can just take it one day at a time and try to not focus on where things are going for a while. My trust issues don’t have anything to do with you, and I think with time we might be able to grow to believe in each other.”

Dawson smiled sadly. “This is already the most adult conversation I’ve ever had with a woman, and our relationship is only forty-eight hours old. So you might need to be patient with me while I learn how to communicate rather than getting pissed off.”

I smiled. “I can do that.”

Dawson crooked his finger. “Come here.”

All the little hairs on my arms stood up.Two words.That was a pretty good trick for a man to keep in his bag. I walked toward him slowly. “Okay. But we’re only doing a quick kiss-and-make-up. Sex in the office is still off limits.”

Dawson’s eyes sparkled. “For now…”

He stood and wrapped his arms around me, locking his hands behind my back. It made my pulse slow and my racing thoughts disappear.

“I’m sorry I was an asshole,” Dawson said.

“And I’m sorry for projecting my fears onto us.”

He ducked his head and brushed his lips with mine.

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