Page 105 of Tempt Me

“Can I join you?” She pointed at the folding chair next to me.

I nodded. While she settled into the chair, I poked the potato salad with my fork. My appetite was gone along with any cool I had left.

“Thanks for coming.” She twisted the tail of her shirt.

“Jackson brought me here under false pretenses. I didn’t mean to crash your launch party.”

She gazed into my eyes. “I wanted you here.”

“Me?” I put a hand on my heart to slow its gallop. “You wantedmehere?”

“Only you. I don’t care about anyone else.”

“Not even my brother? Or your brothers?”

“Well, okay, I care about the brothers.”

Half a smile sneaked onto my face. “What about Rhiannon? And Alicia?”

“Fine.” She threw up her hands impatiently. “I invited all of these people here because I care about them. Get your wrench out of my romantic gesture.”

“Romantic gesture?”

“I know, I know. Not the words most people associate with me. But it’s what you want, isn’t it? Still?” Her eyes went soft like lava cake. “It’s why I sent that hedgehog cactus. Am I too late?”

Despite the warmth of the sun, goosebumps rose on my skin. “Too late? What are you saying?”

“I’m saying you’re the one for me. When we were together, my feelings scared me. I’d never felt that much for anyone else I’d dated. Never let myself feel, but with you, I couldn’t help it. When I thought you’d gone behind my back, it hurt.” She winced and patted her breastbone. “Right here.”

“Like when your mom left,” I said.

She wrinkled her nose. “No, that was definitely worse. I never wanted to feel that way again, and I thought if I could control everything, I wouldn’t have to. But you made me lose control. I was mad.”

“I know.” I set my hand on her knee, palm up, and she grasped it.

“When you stormed back in and told me Winslow was the one who’d betrayed me, I kind of went numb. Like, a blue screen in my brain. It took a minute to reboot. By then, you were gone.”

“I thought you might need a minute. You and Winslow were close.”

“Yeah.” She shook her head. “He’d tried to talk to me about his ideas for running the company, but I shut him down. I thought it was a healthy disagreement. I was wrong.”

“I’m sorry. I wish I could’ve been there for you.”

“You were.” The intensity was back. “You showed me what I’d missed. I still have the majority interest in Jamilow, thanks to you. You saved my company.” She cleared her throat. “Thank you.”

I glanced down at our joined hands. Her long, dark fingers spanned my paler skin. “That’s kind of extreme.Yousaved the company. I only gave you information you needed.”

“And pushed me until I accepted it.” She shrugged. “But I didn’t ask you to come here to talk about the company.”

I snorted. “As I recall, you didn’t ask me to come here at all.”

“I did! I asked Jackson to bring you.”

I gave her a dubious look.

“Okay, fine. Maybe I need to work on my interpersonal skills, but that’s what I’m asking you. Can you give me grace to improve? While I spend too much time at work. While I keep putting my foot in my mouth in front of journalists and their cameras.”

My sparkling wine had gone flat in its plastic cup, but bubbles rose inside me. “What are you asking me, Jamila? Because this doesn’t sound like a great offer so far.”

---