Page 96 of The Wrong Boss

“No,” I said, brandishing the jewelry box. “You gave this to me for a reason.”

“A bad reason. A terrible reason.”

“Are you saying itisan engagement ring?” I said, and my voice jumped a couple of octaves. I could feel my pulse thumping in my neck and fingertips…and between my legs.

Oh, my God. I was turned on. I wassoturned on!

“Carrie,” he growled, “give me that back and get out of the car.”

A wave of heat washed from my navel down to my knees. He was usingthatvoice. The one he’d used the very first time we’d been together. And his eyes weren’t hard and angry; they were intense and full of heat. “Give. It. Back.”

I had no idea what the hell was happening, and it was thebest I’d felt in weeks. I narrowed my eyes, tightening my hold on the box. “I don’t think I will.”

“You haven’t changed a bit,” he growled.

I popped a brow. “Neither have you, apparently.”

The intensity of his gaze made me hesitate. Had I misread the situation? Was he actually mad, and I was making it worse?

Then the corner of his lips twitched a fraction of an inch, and a smile bloomed over my face. Happiness was a fizzy feeling in my chest, because I was here with him and his walls were down. Hell,mywalls were down.

My thumb found the seam in the velvet box, ready to flick it open. “Let’s see if your taste in engagement rings is any goo?—”

My teeth clicked. I stared at the contents of the jewelry box, not understanding. Beside me, Cole shifted, moving back to his side of the car. His hands kneaded the steering wheel while I stared at the item in my hand, struggling to breathe.

“What is this?” I finally whispered.

His sigh was long and heavy. “I found it at one of the pawn shops near the hotel the day after we met,” he said. “Had another one made to match so I could give them to you when we saw each other again…”

My mother’s earrings winked at me from their bed of black velvet. Two delicate gold hoops with little bird pendants hanging off them, all carved out of shiny yellow gold. The birds’ emerald eyes stared out at the world, only as big as a pinhead and green as new grass.

Blinking away from the earrings, I dragged my gaze up to look at Cole. He still had his hands on the steering wheel and was looking at me like was expecting me to bite his headoff.

“You kept these for seven years?” I asked in a whisper, lifting the jewelry box.

He cleared his throat as if there was a blockage, then shrugged. His eyes slid away from mine to look out the windshield. “I kept them in my desk drawer at home. At first, I did it because I expected to see you again and I wanted to make you happy. And then because whenever I pulled the box out, I’d flip it open and think of you, and then I couldn’t make myself get rid of it.” He snorted, then glanced over at me. “Bit of a disappointment when you were expecting a diamond ring, huh?”

Was he delusional? “You went out of your way to go to a pawn shop to look for my stolen stuff,” I said, needing to say it out loud. “You found my mother’s earring, had a matching one made, and then kept them for years in case we met again.” I stared at him. “Cole. This is a million times better than a diamond ring. This is…”

Swamped with gratitude, I couldn’t stop myself from reaching forward to grab the lapels of his jacket. I pulled him forward and planted a kiss on his lips before he could push me away. Then I sat back in my seat, pulled out the dangly earrings I’d worn to dinner, and slipped in my mother’s little birds. I flipped down the visor and looked at myself, blinking past the wateriness in my eyes. “Thank you so much, Cole. Thank you,” I brushed a tear from my cheek, overwhelmed.

When I looked over at him, his gaze was intense.

“How do I look?” I asked, touching one of the earrings with my finger.

“You always look beautiful, Carrie,” he said quietly.

Heat prickled on my cheeks. My eyes were still teary. “Youcan’t say things like that to me anymore,” I said in a hoarse whisper.

Moving slowly, Cole reached over and slid his hand over the side of my neck. His skin was hot, his fingers strong as they curled around my nape. “Says who?”

“Cole…”

“If it had been a ring in that box, what would you have said?”

I rolled my lips inward, blinking away the tears from my eyes. “I don’t know.”

“What would you have said, Carrie?”

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