Page 59 of The Wedding Deal
She ran her hand down his tie and playfully tugged on the end. “He looks pretty sexy in a suit. Not that I’d ever say that to him, because it’d be highly inappropriate.”
“Ah. It just so happens one of my new employees is hot as hell. Sassy and feisty, and she’s saved my ass so many times it’s insane. I’m not sure if I’ve thanked her for that.”
“Well, it is a nice ass— Funny story, when I first noticed how nice it was, I reread the interoffice dating section of the handbook.”
He grinned and wrapped his arms around her. With the pretense of only being work associates officially blown, he didn’t see any reason to hold back. “That day you stormed into my office and reprimanded me for my language, I knew I was in trouble. I could handle a bunch of lazy, pompous dudes, but you…” He nuzzled his nose into the curve of her neck and sucked in a big inhale before straightening and peering down at her. “I had no idea how to handle you.”
“Don’t act like you do now.”
He touched his lips to hers. “I’m still going to do my damnedest.”
Her lips parted, and he gave her a proper kiss, holding her tighter as she relaxed into his embrace. Earlier today she’d been amazing. When he’d needed to suck it up and swallow his pride, she’d given him a push. After she’d helped him reinstate John, she’d tasked herself with getting the necessary information to put together an offer for Gavin Frost.
They made one hell of a team. He didn’t want to let her go, not tonight, not when they got back to San Antonio. He didn’t want to pretend they weren’t more, and he wondered if they committed to this thing between them, could they pull it off?
It’d be hectic, but she was good with hectic. She was the only reason he’d kept his cool all week. She calmed him and pushed him and made him better, and he’d be an idiot not to hold on to that.
“What if I wanted to try to make us work?” he asked before he could ruin it with overthinking.
“Like…revise our contract from dating to a full-blown relationship?”
He laughed—of course she wanted the correct documentation. “Yes. I don’t want to lose this. I know it’ll be tricky, but we’re great together. You get my job and how busy it’s going to keep me in a way most women wouldn’t.”
“You had me till that last part when you made me sound more like a convenience.”
The panic that twisted through him obviously showed because she reached up and patted his cheek, slightly lighter than after he’d implied he was maintaining the scruff for her sake. “It’s okay. I understand what you meant, but let me coach you closer to the right territory. Like maybe you want to say you’ve had so much fun with me it’s unbelievable.”
“It really is.”
“And you could always mention my—”
“Amazing ass.”
“Not where I was going, but I appreciate you noticing.”
“In that dress, it’d be impossible not to.” He craned his neck, giving it a longing glance. Then he pulled back to look her in the eye. “You’re smart and funny and sexy, and I honestly have had more fun with you this week than I’ve had in a long time. I didn’t even realize how empty my life had become until I saw what I’ve been missing out on.”
She pointed to herself. “Me?”
“Yes, you. I want you to be more than my work associate. I want you to be my girlfriend.” Putting it like that made him feel a bit like he was back in high school, but it was the most nervous he’d been talking to a girl since then, so it fit.
She’d come in and taken his life by storm. She’d crawled under his skin so quickly it made his head spin. Over the past week, she’d become his center of gravity, the person who kept him grounded while helping him achieve his dreams.
This woman could wreck him.
A different sort of panic climbed up and attached itself to his lungs, constricting his flow of air.
I can trust her. She’s different.
Her smile lit up her face as she threw her arms around him. “I’m in. Honestly, I can’t wait to call you my boyfriend. I’m gonna tell everyone my boyfriend is Lance Quaid.”
He tensed the slightest bit, but she didn’t mean it like that, in the attention-seeking way. Not like Sage.
She kissed his cheek, and his worries calmed. Gradually his heart returned to beating at a nice, steady level. Until she moved her lips next to his ear and added, “And Mr. Quaid, you’re definitely going to score tonight.”
A steady heart rate was overrated anyway.
Chapter Twenty-Three
