Page 26 of Save Me the Trouble
“Only you.” His face was rigid, the command etched in stone.As if I wanted anything different.
Later, I’d come up with a hundred reasons why it was rational and logical to continue working with him, but when my head touched my pillow tonight, my eyes would close and the real reason would be right in front of me:because I wanted him.
“And I owe you an apology, too,” he said, his voice lowering as he planted his knuckles on his desk, sinking forward onto them in a way that reminded me of when a knight chose to bend the knee. “I’m sorry for kissing you.”
I should’ve been grateful for the apology—relieved that we could now wipe the slate clean from that day and move on with our jobs. Instead, all I felt were the butterflies in my stomach stop fluttering one after another after another.
While I dreamed of nothing but that kiss all weekend—and how I wanted more—he’d harbored guilt over the intimacy and only wanted to forget it.
“It’s fine,” I managed to say. “I guess it was a moment of weakness for the both of us.”
His jaw twitched again. “Yeah.” I swore there was something that flashed in his eyes, but he looked away before I had a chance to hope.
“I have something for you,” I blurted out and reached into my bag for the tickets. “A peace offering.” The look on his face when I held them out for him to take was almost like he’d never been given a gift before. “I know it’s not much, but I thought you might enjoy it.”
Killian’s eyes flicked down to the tickets, then back up to me. “Are you coming with me?”
Heat drenched my cheeks. That had been my assumption—for profile research, of course?—
“I don’t have to—” I broke off when he let out a grunt of displeasure. “But I absolutely can. I love the Frye.”
“Then I’ll enjoy it,” he said and looked once more at the tickets like they were the most valuable thing he possessed. “Thank you, Grace.”
I shivered, goose bumps warming my spine. “You’re welcome…Killian.”
Why did I do that? Why did I just smash right through the boundaries we’d just resurrected?
Because ofthat.The look in his eyes when he did it, like I’d just waved red in front of a bull. We’d both apologized, but somehow the tension in the room turned up at least a dozen notches.
“So, what is on the agenda for today?”
I reached for my notebook. “A few more questions to round out the profile, and then, if possible, I’d just like to observe youworking and interacting with others, so I can shade depth into the profile.”
“Ask away.”
Was that—was his guard really down?
I turned to pull out one of the chairs in front of his desk, but he stopped me.
“Why don’t we sit on the couch?”
My brow lifted. “The one you never use?”
He shrugged and gave me a cocked smile. “Someone said it was a good couch to waste.”
Chapter Seven
Killian
The office was still, the only sound the soft tick of the clock on the wall. In a blink, another day had stretched into night.
I’d finished reviewing the last contract in my inbox a few minutes ago, my iPad screen nothing more than an ambient glow on my lap, but I couldn’t bring myself to move. I didn’t want to disturb the woman who was currently asleep on the opposite side of the leather couch in my private office.
I didn’t want to give her a reason to leave.
Grace looked peaceful. Her hair spilled over her shoulder, a strand caught against her cheek and blowing softly with her breath.
We’d been at it all day. A volley of questions like an hours-long game that had been going on for days. She asked about anything and everything. Food preferences. Favorite TV shows. If I could go anywhere, do anything—spoiler alert: I already could, I just…didn’t. I just worked and worked and worked, following the path of my business-like bricks on the road andignoring the way I had to grind up my personal life into dust in order to fit between the slabs.
