Page 10 of Bronze Dragon

Ashley’s stomach lurched at the way his eyes begged her to accept his offer. She desperately wanted to, but the rational part of her told her this was a mistake. Not only had their single night turned into the distraction of her life, but she was pregnant. The more time she spent with him, one-on-one, the more likely she would let something slip. It was bad enough she’d accepted a dinner date without thinking twice.

She dropped her eyes to the folder on her desk, shifting it slightly to align with the edge of her desk pad. If she said no, would he make a scene where her coworkers could hear?

"Please?"

There was something in Raf’s tone that made her look up; his unguarded expression revealed a surprising vulnerability. He’d said he needed to see her. Not wanted, not hoped. Needed. "Okay." The word was out before she could bite it back. For all her rationale, just being near Rafael was affecting her. She wasn’t sure she liked it, but at the same time she felt a strange kind of relief. Her pregnancy—confirmed by her physician earlier that week—had been dragging her down with doubts, chaining her to the same cyclical thinking that never led to a resolution. Having him here was a chance to get to know him a little bit better, to learn if telling him would be a mistake.

Raf’s smile was blindingly bright and lit his face with so much hope it almost strangled her for a moment. He really wanted to see her that badly? It was hard to believe that this handsome man was ever that desperate for anything—he had to be a billionaire, best guess, and she didn’t think he was likely to have many people tell him no.

Ashley gave him a wan smile and pulled her purse from her bottom drawer. "They have a really delicious tea I’m always happy to get." It was the best she could do in the face of how oddly he was acting. "I never feel like I have the time to go get it, even next door."

"I know how that can be," he agreed, nodding. "Do you need anything else?"

She shook her head and moved for the door—he jumped forward and opened it for her. Ashley bit her lip; it was such an appealing, gentlemanly move, and he was hard enough to resist already. "Thanks." She led the way, briefly making eye contact with Miriam on her way past her friend’s desk. Miri’s eyes sparkled as she saw them leaving together. A sudden widening of her eyes and a raised eyebrow asked a question; at first she wasn’t sure what it was, until she remembered how Miriam had done the exact same thing when she asked last week if Ashley wanted to see Raf again. Her friend was quick. Ashley felt her cheeks heat, and had a feeling she was blushing madly. Miriam pressed her lips together, but it didn’t hide her amusement, nor her twinkling eyes.

Ashley hurried past before her friend could say or do anything, only to realize she’d be alone in the elevator with Raf in close proximity. Her heart fluttered and the heat in her cheeks started to flood the rest of her body.

If Rafael noticed, he didn’t show it. Once they were alone in the elevator, he pulled out his wallet from one pocket and a pen from another, sliding a business card with Heliodoro’s sun logo out of the leather billfold and flipping it over. He wrote a phone number on it carefully in the moving elevator, then returned his wallet and the pen to his pockets. "Here," he offered, extending the card. "That’s my personal number, along with all my office info."

She accepted it, her fingers brushing his with a burst of tingling electricity that ran up her arm. She hastily pulled back, fumbling with her purse to put away the card before she dropped it—it helped her avoid looking at him as she fought the way her body lit up at the innocent skin contact.Damn him, he’s going to make it impossible to stay away.

Raf was just as quick to hurry ahead to open the front door for her, his eyes never leaving her even when Ashley spotted the receptionist making eyes at him. That was a relief and a minor moment of panic in one—relief she didn’t have to worry about his eyes straying if she did date him, and panic that he was so focused on her. Her last relationship had imploded massively when she tried to balance her busy work schedule with seeing someone, even someone she’d moved in with. The Bastard had gone so far as to tell her she was avoiding him by working so much. She was loathe to have anything like that happen again, and she refused to date anyone who would want her to change.

As they walked next door—Raf quick to open the door to help a customer juggling a tray and then hold it for her—she realized she was trying to rationalize how things would work when they were dating… when, not if. Her heart and mind seemed to be in agreement already that she would do so.

"Can I get you something while you find us a table?" Raf’s question pulled her out of her thoughts.

It took her a second to switch her train of thought to answer him. "A large orange-jasmine green tea, iced, with two stevia added, please." Even as she said it, she caught sight of a familiar barista nodding at her from behind the counter, already reaching for the tea. "Looks like they know my order at this point."

He smiled and moved to the cash register to order, leaving her to pick a table out of the way. Once she was seated, she was fidgeting again already. To keep her hands busy, she pulled her phone from her purse and snagged the business card Raf had given her; she took a quick photo of each side to save it and then typed his information into her contacts. There was an email address on the front of the card, but it was his work email. She wasn’t likely to use that, though the direct phone line was something she had actually wished she had; that she entered, too.

She was so busy keeping herself from thinking that she was startled when khaki pants appeared in her peripheral vision and jumped a little.

"Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you." Raf set her iced tea in front of her then slid into the seat opposite. He had an iced drink that looked like iced coffee with milk, or maybe a latte, it was hard to tell.

"That’s alright, I was just making sure I saved your number." It was true enough, even if it wasn’t the whole truth, nor really why she had been so startled.

"Text me?" he asked, taking a sip of his drink. "So I can save yours." She did as he asked, giving him her office number for good measure. It was only fair. He pulled out his phone when it chimed in his pocket, barely glancing at the screen before putting it away again. "Thanks." His smile was friendly, but it still did things to the butterflies multiplying in her stomach. "Is it too presumptuous to ask you to go to dinner with me tonight?"

Ashley blinked. "Um, no, I could. Are you sure?"

His smile grew, showing more of his perfect teeth. "It took me enough time to figure out how to reach you. Yes, I’d like to take you out sooner rather than later."

She grabbed her tea and sipped to put off a response until her mind stopped fawning over his good looks. She needed to know if he’d resent her job. "I think tonight I’ll be working late, but I’m free tomorrow."

He nodded, not showing any sign that her statement bothered him in the least. "Would you like me to pick you up here after work, or somewhere else?"

Ashley blushed at the idea of wearing date-worthy clothes to the office, but she did usually stay until six, and she didn’t want to delay much later than that. If it got into the evening, she could tell based on her body’s current reaction she’d consider taking him home with her, and she wasn’t ready for that. "Alright. Is six-thirty okay?" That would give her time to wrap up whatever she was working on and then freshen up in the bathroom before she met him at the street.

"Perfect. Thank you for giving me a real chance, Ashley," he added quietly. "I wasn’t really sure how you’d react when I showed up at your work."

She gently worried at her lower lip with her teeth. "I wasn’t entirely sure how to react," she admitted at last. "I don’t really do the one-night stand thing, and the few times I did, it was on vacation or with someone I never saw again."

His eyes flickered with heat for a moment that made the golden flecks in his chocolate brown eyes seem stronger. "I’m hoping it won’t just be that one night," he said, voice dropping almost to a whisper.

The words felt like a physical caress in her most private places, and she inhaled sharply. Another shift in his gaze told her he heard it; she blushed harder. "We’ll see." Her voice came out sounding almost strangled. "Should I dress up tomorrow night?"

He smiled, his lips parting in slow-motion as he considered what part of her body was above the table. "Please do. I want to take you somewhere special." When she dropped her eyes from that knowing look, he sighed. "Why don’t I walk you back to your building? I didn’t mean to embarrass you." She could only give him a jerky nod, already thinking ahead to what she could wear to dress up without giving her coworkers something to gossip about.

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