Page 9 of The Lamb and the Llama
“Most of my life after captivity was about keeping quiet, while others did what they thought was best. Now that I’m an agent, I want to do more for myself.”
“So, you’re okay with me opening up the door for you and pulling out your chair, but you don’t want me to order for you, even if you tell me what you want ahead of time?”
“I think that, since we’re having professional working lunch, it would be best to let your employee order for herself.” She smiled again, and this time, she made certain it reached her eyes. It was infectious enough to make him light up as well.
Even if she had just reminded him that the feelings he was having toward her were inappropriate. He was still her boss, even if only for a few more hours.
Temporary boss,he told himself. She was filling in, and then she’d be back working for Stan, who’d promised to send a new replacement assistant. This time, Richard didn’t want to look at resumes. He didn’t even want to do an interview. Truthfully, he wanted Amira back. She’d proven to be even better than Quinn. But he couldn’t keep her as his employee. It seemed more likely that he’d be able to find a replacement for an assistant than to ever find another woman who made him feel the way Amira did.
“So, we are friends? Or can we be more than friends at some point?” Giddy, he committed some serious verbal diarrhea, and no Pepto would cure this folly. He bit his lower lip the minute it came out of his mouth.
Her eyes flicked from his eyes to his mouth and damn it! His dick grew three inches just thinking about how her vanilla-scented lip gloss tasted as he’d swirled his tongue over her upper and bottom lip on the elevator. The scent on those lips alone was intoxicating—never mind the rest of her. But oh, how he wanted to claim those damned lips as his.
Fuck!
Here she was, pouring her heart out to him about how she wanted to be treated, and all he could think about was staking a Neanderthal claim on her. And damn it! To him, she was his in so many ways.
His inner llama insisted that this was it. A relationship with Amira would be different than any other relationship he’d had. Even his ex, Carol, hadn’t been like this. Because Amira, the little lamb? It had taken him two weeks to stop avoiding the truth. He’d finally admitted to himself that she was hismate.
He never thought he’d find a mate. The woman who’d make him want to be a better man. Just her palm over his hand as he was contemplating man, woman, Darwin, and possibly existentialism was making him believe in everything she was and all that they could be together. She had all the answers he was seeking. He was sure of it.
And on the elevator, she’d admitted that the attraction wasn’t just one-way. She’d kissed him back. But did that mean she was on board with thematething? If she wasn’t, he’d be devastated. There was no dating someone else. She was it for him.
Her teeth brushed her bottom lip before she pressed them together.
Fuck, that was hot!
“Richard, you haven’t asked me if I’m going to return to your office after my mission.”
“I already told Stan he could send a replacement.” At his brusque words, her face fell, and he realized what his statement sounded like. “I assumed you don’t want to come back! If you did, I’d be lucky to have you. You’ve done a great job. I just assumed you’d be moving on.”
“Oh.”
“Did you want to return?” He did it again. Spoke without meaning to. Why was this woman making him so comfortable that he lost his filter? Why did he feel like he could tell her exactly what was on his mind? He’d never done that before—not with anyone.
She placed her palm over his hand again, and the heat it gave off made his dick twitch in tortured ways against the zipper of his pants. Why did he pick today of all days to wear Dockers? The light color would surely give his erection away once he stood from the table, because damn! This woman wasn’t giving his member any reprieve.
He shifted in his seat to readjust himself, just as she patted his hand before drawing back into her seat. And shit, did he miss that heat!
“Let me think about it.”
He swallowed because his mouth had instantly gone bone-dry when she uttered the words. It was a near rejection, but he didn’t believe it really was, not with the way her eyes smoldered as she looked at him. The same way they had when he’d done the almost unthinkable and kissed her in the elevator. “Think? As in, I didn’t make a complete ass of myself in the elevator?”
Well, crap, crap, CRAP! And fuck the acronym! He was in this deep now. He’d shown his hand to her instead of keeping it close to his chest. His eyes grazed over hers, and to his amazement, they were still locked on his. Fuck! Were they really? Or was he just imagining things now because he wanted her so much?
She shook her head before responding. “No. You didn’t screw up. And honestly…” She intertwined her fingers with his before she continued. “If we weren’t working together, I’d consider this a date.”
“Oh.” His mouth became bone-dry again as he sucked in a breath. She would consider this a date if they weren’t working together—well, damn! Now he really hoped she’d decide not to come back to work for him!
“Hey, we only have a few hours left of working together,” she said, lowering her voice to a conspiratorial tone. “There’s no reason this couldn’t be kind of a date. At least, in the get-to-know-you sense.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean we hardly spoke to each other these last two weeks. I feel like I don’t know anything about you. For instance—money aside—what is your greatest passion in life? What do you want to achieve?”
Being with you,was the only answer he could come up with. Instead of saying it out loud, he said, “You first.”
“Okay.” She nodded once and took a sip from her water glass. “Money and other factors aside, I would have loved to pursue archaeology. There’s just something about unearthing history at a dig site that tugs at my heartstrings.”
