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“Are you nervous?” Nathan asks as he pulls out a seat for me, then he sits in the one next to me.
“You introduced me as your secretary,” I state, laying my purse on the table. It sort of threw me for a loop when he did that on arrival.
“And?”
“It’s just, you know, I thought you might have said I was your date for the night.”
Stop talking.
He pins me with a serious stare. “Would you have preferred that?” he asks seriously.
“I don’t know,” I answer honestly. Yes. No. Maybe. Definitely yes.
His voice low so no one overhears us, he says, “Because I will if you want me to, and if I kiss you again right here and now then everyone will know you’re more than just my secretary. Is that what you want? Because I honestly don’t care what anyone thinks anymore, but I know you had doubts and it’s taken a while to decide about us, and the last thing I want to do is scare you and move things too fast. But Arianna, baby.” He urges me to swivel around in my seat and he cages me in, his thighs on either side of mine. “I told you what I want and that is you. I don’t think it matters how I introduce you.”
My pulse is beating so hard with a mix of happiness and surprise, I bet the whole room can hear it.
He adds, “And I don’t care if they know you’re staff and we are dating. I made up a stupid law, rule, guideline, whatever you want to call it, in my head about not dating staff, and like my brothers have told me, it’s a ridiculous one.”
Nathan keeps saying things that feel like music to my ears. “So whatever you want, I’ll do, but what we are going to do is enjoy the night as much as we possibly can because I’m going to be verbally teased at every opportunity by my brothers and mom. You’ll have to dance with me to escape. And when you’re on that floor with me everyone will know who you are to me. The only thing I’ll be thinking the entire time is how soon we can leave so I can take you home and get you out of that pretty little dress. Something I’m dying to do, but not tonight, because I’m a gentleman and I want to show you that our connection goes beyond physical attraction and desire.”
I feel disappointed by his confession but at the same time I love this side of him he’s letting me see. He’s considerate and patient, which makes me like him even more.
And he’s not willing to put an exact label on us, which is refreshing.
Fun. That’s not all we are, I know we’re not.
Steady as a rock, he continues, “Instead, I’ll donate money tonight, then I’m going to take you home and kiss you goodnight on your doorstep then tell you how beautiful you are and how I was the envy of every man in the room.”
I reach up and cup his face. “You’re amazingly sweet when you want to be.”
“You look stunning.” He leans into my touch and kisses my wrist right over my pulse point that’s beating faster than a marching drum.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake. I might be sick.” A gruff voice from one of his brothers breaks our tender moment; Cole, I think.
“You’re going to make Eli sick.” Max fakes a gagging noise, and I love how much they screw with each other daily. Their love for one another is tangible.
I say a quick hello and smile nervously. Nathan has me all flustered with how intense he is being tonight. I both love it and want to run from it all in equal amounts. It’s overwhelming.
“Did you fall and bump your head or something?” Eli asks as he takes a seat opposite us, and Nathan covers his hand with mine then lays them on his lap.
Nathan replies without flinching, “I didn’t bump my head.”
“But you’re definitely falling.” Max sounds serious.
Max is clearly implying Nathan is falling for me, it’s obvious Max can see what I feel.
“I think I need a drink,” I say out loud, not meaning too.
“We all do.” Eli signals to a waiter and the brothers continue talking amongst themselves again.
“Does me falling for you, scare you?” Nathan leans forward and whispers in my ear with strong determination. It feels like there is no one else in the room but us.
As if I’m a statue, I feel like I can’t move or breathe. Nathan’s words and confession are breathing new life into every cellular level of my body, lighting up my soul in ways I never knew were possible.
“Yes.” Because I might be falling too and think it’s naturally been happening like a snowball rolling down a hill. It’s gained momentum, much bigger now, and it has been gaining speed and grown in size since the first night we met. “I’m petrified,” I admit. “Working together complicates things.” It messes with my original reason for joining Hart Law. I’ve made zero progress in my hunt to uncover the truth about my family’s death. Now I’ve made the decision to leave it alone for the time being, I feelguilty because here I am, sitting cozy and falling for the man who I have loathed from afar because of his father.
It seems my judgment was unjust because the entire Hart family are nothing like how I imagined. My grudge sits with his father, not Nathan or his brothers, and I have to keep reminding myself of that.