Page 28 of Her Prince in Disguise
So instead of looking at him, she ducked her head and opened her laptop. It had been a fling, Andi reminded herself firmly. Just a fling. And if she didn’t hide her reaction to his close proximity better than this, then her whole career would be destroyed.
When she finally looked up, Laith was gone. Andi’s heart slowed and she sank lower into the leather chair, feeling…deflated.
Shaking her head with disgust at her rioting emotions, Andi forced herself to concentrate on her work. Thankfully, Andi found solace in the data. Diving into the numbers allowed her to focus on something other than her personal problems. When she ran into a delay in getting some of the reports she needed, Andi didn’t bother going to Jonas for help. Instead, she went to the person responsible for the report and asked for it. Several of them replied that they’d already sent the information to Jonas, which only confirmed her suspicions that Jonas was purposely trying to sabotage her.
Should she go to Laith? Andi debated that option, but in the end, she wanted to show him that she could do this job. She wasn’t going to complain to the boss, especially since she did eventually receive all of the reports she needed to get the job done.
She’d do her job without that jerk’s help! If he got out of hand though, she’d expose his sabotage. No way would she be fired because some wimpy prick thought he could interfere with her career!
Chapter 17
“Meet me for lunch?” the text read.
Andi stared at the message, her heart pounding. Lifting her gaze, she looked around at the others. Jennifer was typing away at her laptop. Lawrence was making notes on the margins of a document. Tom wasn’t around and Jonas had just passed by the conference room doorway. He brought everyone’s lunch inside and set it on the table. “Enjoy!” he called out, then walked away with his own lunch in hand.
Andi hadn’t been around when Jonas had taken their lunch orders, but there were three lunch containers on the table. Tom must be out of the office today.
“I’m starving!” Lawrence announced and tossed his document onto the table.
Andi watched as Lawrence and Jennifer grabbed their boxes. Once they’d each found their own, Andi shuddered at the last meal. It contained broccoli. A lot of broccoli!
Lawrence grabbed a fork and dug into his meal. “Andi, I thought you hated broccoli? Why did you order something with all the green trees?” he asked, genuinely confused.
Andi shuddered and pushed away from the table. “I didn’t. I’ll just grab something at the pub down the street.”
As she walked out, she pulled out her phone. “Lunch wouldn’t be a good idea,” she texted Laith, then stuffed her phone into her pocket and headed to the elevator. Before itarrived, Laith came to stand behind her. They didn’t speak other than to say hello while they waited for the elevator.
It was an awkward few minutes, made worse by the heavy silence. Laith shoved his hands into his pockets, but the group of bodyguards surrounding him hindered any sort of candid conversation. Andi remained silent.
However, all she wanted to do was turn around and collapse into Laith’s arms. She wanted to feel the heat of his body against hers and inhale his masculine scent. Damn, the man smelled good!
Chapter 18
Laith stood beside Andi, fiddling with the diamond engagement ring that he’d had in his pocket for the past several days. They’d known each other for only two weeks! Was this crazy? But the past few days without her, without her by his side, sleeping next to her and even just talking with her was driving him around the bend!
He didn’t need sex…okay, that was a lie. He wanted every part of her. He wanted to make love to her to show her how much she meant to him. But he also wanted to just sit with her and talk. He wanted to hear her laughter. And yeah…he wanted her soft sighs and he needed to feel her tight body wrapped around his shaft!
Ever since his father had suggested that he marry Andi, his world had felt “right”. Andi threw him off balance and now he knew that the only way to make this right was to marry her.
“How’s your day going?” he finally asked. Which sounded absolutely stupid since they’d been waiting for the elevator for several moments. Damn, he felt like an awkward teenager!
The elevator doors opened and they stepped into the tight space. She waited until the doors closed again before answering. Andi and Laith were at the back of the elevator with his guards stationed in front. They were all facing forward, but he knew that they heard everything that was said.
“I’m doing well, thank you, sir.” Another awkward moment, then she asked, “How are you?”
He chuckled and nodded, giving her a side-glance. “I’m quite well.” He glanced up at the buttons, watching the progress as the elevator descended. “Did you have a relaxing weekend?”
“Yes. It was pleasant.” She stood very still, not taking her eyes from the lights over the elevator door.
He shifted slightly, watching her. Andi tilted her head slightly, but didn’t change her body’s angle. That allowed him to see the soft pulse of her heart against the delicate skin of her throat. It was faster than usual. Plus, her pale cheeks turned a lovely shade of pink. It wasn’t particularly flattering. In fact, the blush made her look blotchy, but to Laith, the color announced she was thinking along the same lines as he was. She wanted him!
He moved his eyes lower, glancing at her breasts. Unfortunately, the suits that he’d chosen specifically for her obfuscated her body’s reaction. He couldn’t see her nipples through her suit jacket. But if he could somehow convince Andi to take the jacket off …!
He contemplated various conversational gambits that would allow him to see her breasts.
“Where do you want to eat lunch?”
Andi took a breath to respond, but then shook her head. A soft lock of her brown hair drifted down over her cheek and he moved to brush it away. Hell, he wanted to kiss that small freckle just under her mouth. He wanted to strip away her clothing and see Andi’s true reactions to his closeness.
