Page 47 of Up All Night

He gave me a sheepish grin at my teasing but didn’t disagree. He told me his drink order, and I went to get in line.

When I returned with our drinks, he slid my computer back toward the middle of the table. “I’m impressed. Your marketing plan is spot on. Your social media plan looks great. Your financials look accurate. You’ve done an incredible job.”

He took a sip of his drink, and I couldn’t help the feeling of pride that surged through me. Having someone like West tell me I’d done a good job meant a lot to me.

“The only thing I would add is some market analysis,” he added. “The bank needs to better understand the demand. How many people within twenty miles are looking for a dance studio? How many other studios are there? A supply versus demand analysis will go a long way.”

I took out my notebook and wrote down everything he had said. This was exactly what I needed.

“That’s good, thank you.” I finished writing my notes. “I’ll start working on that.”

“Looking at all these different parts of your plan—it’s very impressive.” He wrapped his hands around his drink and leaned against the table. “I have to say I’m a little disappointed you don’t need more of my help. I was hoping we were going to dig in and get to work, but you have it all covered.”

I chuckled. “I knew you were a little bit nerdy, but I don’t think I knew exactly how nerdy.”

“My nine o’clock bedtime didn’t give it away?”

I laughed this time. “I don’t know if that has anything to do with being a nerd or more to do with how you act like an old man.”

“An old man?” He leaned away from me as he pretended to be offended. “Can an old man bench press two hundred and seventy-five pounds like I did yesterday?”

I shrugged, acting like what he’d done yesterday during our training session hadn’t been impressive, although it totally had been. I may have let myself for one tiny second admire how sexy he had looked all sweaty as his muscles bulged.

But instead of saying that, I said, “It probably had more to do with your amazing personal trainer.”

His grin turned mischievous, which somehow made him even better looking. “Yeah, Ben is great at his job.”

“Hey,” I exclaimed, taking a sugar packet and throwing it at him.

He laughed, letting the packet hit him in the chest.

At times like this, it was hard to remember West as the grumpy neighbor who had tried to get me evicted. He was so different now. Which had me wondering which West was the real one.

“What?” he asked, his head tilting slightly.

I must have been staring at him again. It was hard not to.

Taking a breath, I made my eyes focus on my coffee in front of me. “You’re a lot different than I thought you were.” I swirled my straw, mindlessly mixing my drink. “Or different than you were,” I amended.

He put the packet of sugar back in the dish on the table. “You’re different than I thought, too.” He leaned back in the booth. “I was quick to judge you, and I apologize.”

“And I’m sorry I wasn’t more considerate of your bedtime,” I said. “Although I wasn’t aware people under the age of seventy went to bed at nine.” I pulled my lips in, hoping to keep the smile at bay.

“I wasn’t always like this.” A slight grin appeared on his face. “I used to stay up until ten.”

“No way!” I exclaimed, playing along with him.

He nodded slowly, as if he was confessing some dark secret. “It’s true. I was quite the night owl.”

I laughed. “What made you make such a huge change in your life?”

He took a sip of his coffee before answering. “Do you want the long version, or the short version?”

Ooh, a chance to get to know this enigma of a man? Sign me up for the long version, please.

“Long.”

He let out a heavy sigh, the playfulness in his eyes from earlier leaving. “A couple of years ago, I had just begun working with my dad. I started from the bottom and was working hard to make my way up the ranks. I was working fifty-hour weeks and thought I was showing my dad how serious I was about my job and the company by working extra. But I soon found out it wasn’t enough, so I bumped it up to sixty hours, thinking surely that would help me in my efforts to get my dad to notice me.

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