Page 79 of Love You
Win leaned over the counter and held her gaze. “I’m sure you did but you still should’ve called me.”
“Why?”
The question seemed to stump him, but then suddenly a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. “Because you don’t need to do everything yourself. Learn to lean a little.” With that he strolled away.
She shuffled the papers in her hand, put them aside, and tried to focus on entering time cards into the database. After entering the same card three times she gave up and stomped down the hall to Win’s office. He was leaned back in his chair, throwing a Nerf ball through a toy basketball hoop. TJ had one too.
“I don’t do everything myself. And I lean plenty.” She rested her back against the doorjamb with her arms folded across her chest.
He stopped pitching the ball and looked at her. “Whatever you say. But you could’ve called me. That’s what boyfriends are for.”
She squinted her eyes at him because she didn’t trust him. Not one bit. Win didn’t do boyfriend. Still, a part of her dared to hope. Why was a whole other story. Maybe just for once she wanted the popular guy to like her. Or maybe, just maybe, she was crazy about him and had been from the day she walked into Garner Adventure and he showed her where the supply cabinet was.
It wasn’t worth analyzing too closely. Win was probably suffering from a sugar high from too many doughnuts. Or he was just trying to add her to the list of women he’d slept with and dumped because the whole town knew there were legions of them.
“Get real, Win. We both know you’re not my boyfriend,” she said. “And after we snag this account we’re done sleeping together.” It was better that she made the rules before he dumped her and made her feel like a delusional fool.
“Why wait?” He lifted his brows and folded his arms over his chest. He was challenging her. “Because you like sleeping with me. You like me, Darcy, admit it. You want to be my girlfriend.”
She wanted to wipe that smug grin off his face. “Arrogant much?” But he’d nailed it, she did like sleeping with him. Too much. What she didn’t like was being made to feel like an idiot. Or a charity case. There was a part of her who believed Win was playing the boyfriend act because he felt sorry for her, like if he sprinkled enough attention on her she’d grow up to be big and strong. And he could pat himself on the back for giving her confidence and sending her out into the world a new woman. Maybe she was his project.
“I like it,” she admitted. “Anyone would after the drought I’ve been through. But don’t get too high and mighty. You and I”—she wagged her hand between them—“are strictly temporary. After FlashTag we go back to being friends and you can return to being the lothario of the Sierra Nevada.”
He snorted. “With that winning personality of yours I can’t imagine why you went through a drought.”
She noticed that he didn’t argue with her about being temporary. Good, as long as they were on the same page.
“We have to come up with an itinerary for this weekend,” she said.
“All right. I’ve got a rafting trip in thirty. Why don’t we do it tonight over dinner?”
She scrutinized him for a second, trying to figure out his game. He was being way too agreeable. “So you can change everything at the last minute?”
“Possibly. It’ll depend on my mood and the weather. But it’s always good to have a plan as a jumping-off point.” He winked like he was joking but she knew he wasn’t. He’d turn everything upside down if it suited him. The man couldn’t be bothered to follow a simple plan.
She gritted her teeth and turned back to go to her desk. “Whatever.”
“Hey,” he called. “Come back here.”
She would come back all right, to take a swing at him. She circled around. He waited for her to come inside and kicked the door shut with his foot.
“What?”
“This.” He moved toward her mouth and kissed her long and slow. His hands slid down her back, grabbed her butt, and pushed her tight up against the hard bulge in his pants. When they finally came up for air she was out of breath.
“You’re nuts, you know that?” she said.
He let his eyes drift over her. “See you tonight.”
She walked away shaking her head. Whatever his game was she wasn’t playing, though the memory of that kiss stayed with her through the rest of the day. And his words “I’m your boyfriend” played in her head over and over again.
At six she started to pack up when the main number rang on the switchboard. She was about to let it go to voice mail but her anal-retentiveness kicked in.
“Garner Adventure, can I help you?”
“Darcy, it’s Lewis. You didn’t call me back.”
She held the phone away from her mouth and silently yelled,Shit. She’d been ducking him since yesterday and he’d finally caught up with her.
