Page 51 of Mr. Flirt

Her words crushed my soul into a million pieces. It all but confirmed that she would never be able to go down that road with me—I would never bethe onefor her.

“Okay. Good to know.” I nodded. “But I’m not really looking.”

She shrugged. “Okay. I’m just saying.”

Lucy pulled her sweater over her head and looked completely oblivious to how her words hit me, but I wasn’t going to let Lucy run this show.

She’d spent her entire education and career making decisions that steered her away from the possibility of finding someone. I wasn’t going to go down without a fight, especially after last night.

“How long do you think you’ll be today?” I asked.

Lucy scowled as her mind drifted to the workload waiting for her. “At least seven or eight hours.”

I nodded and smiled. “So, not too bad then.”

She scoffed. “Not too bad?”

“Sounds like you’ll be done right about dinner time.”

Lucy stared at me. “Yeah?”

“And you need to eat.”

She smiled. “I do.”

“And I need to eat.”

“You do.” She nodded in agreement.

“So, what if we eat together?”

Lucy thought hard about my offer, and at about the sixty-second mark, I got nervous until she finally cracked a smile.

“Sounds good. I’ve been craving Italian and had already planned on stopping to get some takeout.”

“Perfect. Then I’ll meet you at your place at five o’clock with dinner, but it won’t be Italian.”

Lucy frowned and shook her head with a laugh. “Why’s that? Are you allergic?”

I laughed and stood with the sheet draped over me. “You’re just way too into making all the decisions, and I count too. Aside from this breathtaking physique, I have brains and ambitions too. I need to be heard, so if I feel like a burger, then we should have a burger.”

She walked over and leaned against my bare chest as I clung to the sheet. “Do you just like seeing me get aggravated?” Lucy’s eyes stayed on mine. “Because I felt like Italian.”

“It’s me or the spaghetti, Lucy,” I said calmly. “Let me treat you to something that will blow your mind.”

“Again?” she asked, tapping my chest.

“You’re saying I blew your mind last night?” I wrapped my arms around her waist.

“That’s an understatement,” she said, smoothing her palms over my chest and looking into my eyes.

And for a brief second, I even caught that she truly wanted to stay in bed with me today.

Not go to the office.

But she was built of determination and discipline and everything that I’d managed to skip over since adulthood.

I wouldn’t say I didn’t put energy toward my company, but I also recognized fairly early on how my weaknesses were others’ strengths, and I didn’t want to get in the way of building my own company. I learned when to step away.

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