Page 36 of Surprise Me Tonight
“I think we need to talk about it,” she whispers.
“Yeah. We do.”
She tilts her head, trying to look unfazed. “Look, it doesn’t have to be complicated. It was a moment. We gave in. No need to drag it out.” She is trying to give me an out.
She watches me. Her face is calm but her eyes give her away — flickers of doubt, heat, hope. She’s not trying to forget it. She’s trying toprotect herself.
I stand, walk around the desk. Every step is a battle between my better judgement and the part of me that’s completely, irrationally gone for her.
“I’ve been mesmerised by you since the first day.”
She lets out a breath of a laugh. “Not the first day. You ignored me. Remember?”
“The coffee shop.” I wince. “I didn’t know it was you.”
“Because you were too busy ogling the yoga instructor,” she adds, with a grin that doesn’t reach her eyes.
“I don’t even remember that or that woman I apparently ogled,” I say honestly. “Which makes me a bit of a twat, I’ll admit. But I was probably in my own head.”
My hand lifts without thinking, brushes her cheek.
“But since that interview… since you walked into my house, all quiet and soft-spoken and feisty at the same time…” I exhale. “You’ve been stuck in my head. And I haven’t been able to get you out.”
She stares at me, lips parted, eyes wide.
“IknowI shouldn’t be saying this,” I go on, voice quieter now, closer. “I know I’m your boss. But I also know I want you. Not just like that—” I nod toward the desk, “—but all of you. Talking to me. Laughing. Smiling at my stupid jokes. Giving me grief when I deserve it.”
I lean in and kiss her — slow, deep, reverent — and everything in me tightens.
Because this is the kind of kiss that ruins a man. This is the kind you don’t come back from.
When I pull back, she looks at me torn.
“There’s still the fact that I’m… old,” she says, voice a little too casual.
“Older than me,” I correct. “Not old.”
“It’s a big gap.”
“Maybe when we were twenty it would’ve mattered. Now?” I shake my head. “Doesn’t make a damn bit of difference.”
She tilts her head. “So what are you saying?”
I take a breath. Feel it hit my ribs like a warning. This is the part where I’m meant to walk it back, draw a line, be sensible.
But I’m so bloody tired of pretending I don’t want her.
“I don’t know yet,” I say honestly. “But I think I’d like to date you. Take you out. Talk to you without worrying about where it leads.”
She blinks. “Date me?”
“Yeah.” My voice roughens. “And fuck you again. Because, bloody hell, Stella, this was amazing.”
She swallows.
“And yeah, we’d need rules. At work. Boundaries. Clear lines.”
Her mouth twitches. “So… boss with benefits?”
