Page 138 of Theirs to Take

Eli grabbed his jacket from the hook and pulled it on. They were back to complete, awkward silence and he hated that. Mina had been so easy to talk to at his brother’s wedding. He hated that they seemed to have nothing to say to each other now. He only had himself to blame too. He was the one who had taken things too far when she kissed him. He should have pushed her away when she leaned in to kiss him, not push her back against the sofa and kiss her the way that he did. He was going to have to figure out how to fix this mess that he caused between the two of them.

“This is me,” he said, nodding to his car after they got out to the parking lot. She paused and for a split second, he wondered if she was going to kiss him again.

Mina leaned in and smiled, “Goodnight, Eli,” she said. He watched as she walked past him with Daisy and all Eli couldthink about was how much he wanted her. He wanted her to lean in and kiss him again, even if it would have been a mistake.

She had a little bit more of a sway in her hips and all he could do was watch her walk away. “Tease,” he whispered to himself as she disappeared around the corner of her building.

It had been two days since Mina and his “Not” a date night. Eli had spent the whole day Sunday kicking himself for being so stupid and kissing Mina. When he really should have been upset with himself about not taking things further with her. He liked her, and what was wrong with that? Nothing. Plenty of the other guys around McTavish had dated their assistants and even ended up marrying them. But he wasn’t like the other guys. They were smooth with women, and he wasn’t. Hell, the last time he had a proper date was almost six months ago, and by the time they got to their third date, things had fizzled out between the two of them. They had a few nights of some really hot sex, and then, she ghosted him. Eli had been out on a few dates since, but honestly, Mina was the first woman he had found interesting in a damn long time.

By the time Monday morning rolled around, he was ready to call in sick and tell Mina to cancel his appointments for the day, but he was sure that she’d see right through his lie. Instead, he showed up to work and when he saw her, he pretended nothing happened between the two of them. He could tell that she was relieved that he didn’t bring Saturday night up, but he also felt like a coward. He hated that he was running and hiding from what he considered a pretty good night with a woman he liked.

He had a ton of meetings during the morning, but his afternoon was wide open. He decided that acting the cowardwasn’t his way, and maybe clearing the air might be the best thing for him and Mina. He’d ask her to lunch, since both of their schedules were free, and set things straight between them. Sure, he was stalking Mina’s calendar, but she was his assistant, and knowing her availability was important to him as her boss.

He ducked his head out of his office and found her sitting at her desk. “Hey, can you come into my office for a second, Mina?” he asked. She stood from behind her desk and smoothed her hands down her pencil skirt and he nearly lost it. God, what he’d give to be those hands right now, running the length of her long legs.

“Sure,” she breathed. “Should I bring my laptop?” she asked.

“Um, no,” he said. She walked into his office, and he shut the door behind her.

“What’s up, Eli?” she asked. He could tell that she was nervous, and he hated that she felt that way around him.

“I was wondering if you’d like to have lunch with me today,” he said.

“Lunch with you?” she squeaked. “I thought that we did the whole, let’s share a meal thing the other night, and it didn’t go so well.”

“Right, and that’s why I want a do-over. I acted like an ass, and I’d like to make it up to you,” Eli said.

“I already have lunch plans,” she said.

“Oh,” he breathed, “I checked your schedule, and you didn’t have anything down on your calendar.” Yeah, he sounded like a stalker.

“Sorry, I forgot to put my lunch date down. It’s kind of a last-minute thing. I just set it up this morning.” He wanted to ask her a million questions about her so-called lunch date. He didn’t really believe that she had one since it wasn’t on her schedule, but he wouldn’t call her a liar.

She checked her phone, “He should be here in about a half hour. I still have time to cancel, if you still want to have lunch. But if it’s only to make up for what happened at my place on Saturday night, don’t worry about it. I’m over it, Eli,” she said. Now, he could tell that she was lying. There was no way that she’d be over the way that he dismissed her. He wasn’t lying when he said that he acted like an ass that night toward her.

“You’re over it?” he asked.

“I am,” she insisted. Eli took two steps closer to her, testing to see if she was truly over it—over him kissing her. He could tell by the way that her breath hitched when he invaded her personal space that she was in no way over it or their shared kiss.

“Keep telling yourself that, Mina,” he whispered. “But when you’re ready to talk, let me know. I think that we need to hash things out if we don’t want our working relationship to suffer.” Jesus, he sounded like he was threatening her job at McTavish now. What the fuck was wrong with him? He was out of his mind, and Eli was sure that it had everything to do with his sexy assistant.

“Got it,” she spat. “Is there anything else, boss?” she asked.

“No,” he said, feeling even more like an ass than before he called her into his office. He needed to get himself together and if that meant letting Mina go without apologizing again, that’s what he’d do. Sooner or later, he’d get himself together but now wasn’t that time.

Mina

Mina was having lunch with one of her best friends, Ben, and he was picking her up any minute. Eli seemed pretty pissed off when she turned him down for lunch. In fact, he made up some excuse about having a meeting, that he forgot to put on his calendar, and then he took off. She just hoped that Eli’s pretend meeting would run late because the last thing she wanted to do was run into him with Ben. Sure, Ben was her best friend, and he was gay, but most people who saw them together for the first time assumed that they were a couple. She hated that Eli didn’t want to mix business and pleasure, but she still wanted her chance with him. If he thought that she was taken, she’d never get him to agree to go on a real date with her—not that he seemed willing to change his mind.

“Hey stranger,” Ben said. He stepped off the elevator with Eli right behind him and Mina bit back her groan. This was just what she was trying to avoid. At least Eli would stop looking at her as if she had lied to him about having a lunch date.

“Hey, you,” she said, letting Ben kiss her cheek. “Eli, I’m going to be taking my lunch now, if you don’t need me for anything.”

“Um, sure,” he said. He looked Ben over and held out his hand to him. “Eli,” he said.

“Oh—you’re the boss,” Ben said. Mina had told Ben all about Eli and her disastrous “not” a date the other night. Mina just left out the part about her kissing Eli and him kissing her back. She was sure that it was one of the reasons he wanted to take her to lunch this afternoon and insisted that he pick her up from work. Ben was nosey and probably wanted a good look at Eli to measure him up or something. It was a guy thing that she didn’t understand. Of course, Ben thought for sure that Eli was gay. It was his very first question when Mina told him about making a pass at her boss and being turned down flat. He asked if Eli was gay, and she insisted that he wasn’t. She even offered Ben more details than she planned, telling him about Eli and insisting that he wasn’t comfortable with them dating as employer and employee. Ben said that Eli sounded like he was full of horseshit and that’s when he asked her out to lunch. She was sure that all of this fell under Ben’s plan—including meeting Eli.

Eli shrugged, “I’m Mina’s boss, yeah,” he said as if it wasn’t any of Ben’s business.

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