Page 2 of Work with Me

I nodded, and he shook out my jacket. While he held it out behind me, I slid in one arm, swapped hands over my cut, and then slid into the other sleeve. When he pulled the sides together, we stood close, like we were dancing. That heavenly scent of his surrounded me, and the hail, my meeting, everything faded around me.

He looked familiar. I’d seen those full lips before, quirked to one side. The short, dark beard, thick on his chin and a little scraggly on his cheeks. The genuine smile seemed different, but I’d seen those eyes crinkled at the corners. How did I know him?

“Have we—”

He spoke at the same time. “You work around here? I don’t think I’ve seen you before.”

“It’s my first day. I have a big meeting this morning.” Clearly, I wasn’t all that memorable if he didn’t think he’d seen me before. Where had I met him?

“In there?” He tilted his chin toward the Synergy building behind me.

“Yes, I’m a consultant. I own my own business.” Even bleeding there on the sidewalk, I felt my chest expand.

“Consultant.” He stepped back, taking the glorious scent with him. The hailstones plinked outside the awning. “Let me get you a bandage. I’ve got one in my bag.”

“No. Thank you, though.” I couldn’t walk into a meeting with Cooper Fallon with a bandage on my face.

“Would you rather have blood dripping down your forehead during your big meeting? That chunk of ice really got you.” He rummaged in his bag and pulled out a small plastic first-aid kit.

“Are you a Boy Scout?” I carried a first-aid kit in my car for Noah, but I didn’t know too many men who did.

He chuckled. “They kicked me out when I was nine. Marlee. My assistant. She takes care of me.”

An assistant? My first-aider in jeans and a T-shirt didn’t look like someone with that kind of power. But now that I thought about it, his voice did carry a slight imperious edge like he was used to giving orders. And having them followed.

He clicked open the kit and pulled out a bandage. When he peeled apart the wrapper, I caught a flash of red.

“What’s that?”

“Oh. Lightning McQueen. You know, fromCars?She has a twisted sense of humor.”

Of course I knewCars.It had been Noah’s favorite movie since he was three. “You’re not putting Lightning McQueen on my face.”

“Show me that smile. The one you gave me when you talked about your business. The one you’ll show them in that meeting.”

I couldn’t help it. I smiled, big and broad, every time I thought about Weber Technology Consulting.

“That’s it. No one will be looking at old Lightning McQueen here when you flash that gorgeous smile.” He lifted the shirt away from my face, brushing my fingers. It wasn’t blood loss that made them tingle.

“Thanks…” I raised my eyebrows.

“My friends call me Jay.”

“I’m Alicia.”

“Alicia.” He rolled my name in his mouth. Then, with a light press of his warm fingers, he adhered the bandage to my head. “We match now, see?” He held up his arm, and, sure enough, across his elbow was a Lightning McQueen bandage.

“The hail didn’t get you, too?” I’d been too focused on my own injury, my own problems, and I hadn’t been paying attention. Jay’s arm bulged with lean muscle, and a vein wrapped around his forearm. I’d only seen that on TV, too.

“Nah.” He rubbed it. “Got too close to a tree on my run.” He stepped closer again. “May I?”

I nodded, my throat too dry to speak. He tugged my jacket so the sides met in front. Then he slid a finger into my hair near the cut and smoothed it down. He scanned me from my head to my toes, and every spot his gaze hit tingled.

“Good as new.” He stepped back. “Feel okay? Not too dizzy?”

Dizzy? Yeah. I blinked. Had I said that out loud? “I’m good.”

“Good.” He opened his mouth and then closed it again. Was he about to ask me out? He had to be feeling what I was. That thing he’d said about my smile was definitely flirty. An invisible tether kept either of us from moving toward the door or out onto the sidewalk.

---