Page 64 of The Situation
“Why?”
I sigh. “I told you why. One-night stands don’t come with an encore, no matter how amazing the performance.”
“You thought it was amazing?” he asks, grinning from ear to ear.
This man.I shake my head.
“I had the best night of my life with Kelly.” He winks. “And I’d do just about anything to see her again.”
“Well, Kelly can’t see you again, even if she agrees that it was the best night of her life, too.”
“Why the hell not?” he asks.
I laugh softly.Has he ever been told no?“Because Kelly has a lot of baggage. Kelly is trying to avoid repeating harmful patterns in her life. Kelly is trying to grow—and keep her job.”
“Well, Tate with No Last Name would like to help her do all of those things.”
“Tate with No Last Name just sees her as a challenge.”
“That’s not true.”
He cuts the distance between us in half, close enough to be able to pull me to him.
Our proximity is infuriating. I’m pulled to him like a magnet, drawn to him like a rose to the sun. I crave the warmth his touch provides and feel myself leaning toward him to bask in his energy.
It would be so easy to give in. Yet I don’t.
“You sell yourself short,” he says, cupping the side of my face.
“How?”
“You think I’m interested in you because you’re a challenge? If I wanted a challenge, I’d play golf.”
I bite my lip to keep from giggling, but it’s futile.
“Golf is one of the few things I’m not great at,” he says, dropping his hand to his side. “I’d rather focus on putting my balls into other holes, if you know what I mean.”
My laughter slips through the conference room. The sound makes him grin.
I wish that being with him, even in this setting, didn’t feel so incredible. I’d give my right arm to be able to pull the fuse inside me that links his smile to my heartbeat so every time his lips tilt to the ceiling, my heart doesn’t flutter.
I take a step back. “Can I ask you a question?”
“Sure.”
“Did you take this job before or after you knew I worked here?”
“Does it matter?” he asks.
“Yes.”
“Then after,” he says with a simple shrug. “But, in my defense, my degree is in marketing, so it does make sense to take this on.”
That’s fair. And it is his company. “I want to keep working here, Tate.”
“You better. I just took a job in hockey to be near you. I hate hockey.”
I chuckle, both at his words and the look on his face. “But I need to know that what happened last weekend won’t get me fired.”
