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Good thing she liked the wine; otherwise, I’m sure she’d splash it in my face.
“You seem distracted,” she said. Was that a hint of disappointment in her voice?
I shook my head. “Not at all. I’ve been looking forward to this all day.” Even if I was nervous too.
She glanced down for a moment, then tucked a blond lock behind her ear. “Is that so?”
I nodded. “Tell me, what were you doing with Hayden French?”
9
MIA
Ford wasn’tone to dance around the topic. No, he’d gone straight to the question that had a more-than-slightly embarrassing answer.
Years in boardrooms had taught me to school my expression, even when my heart was beating out of control and my stomach was lurching.
“It was a PR opportunity,” I answered simply.
He raised his eyebrows, the dark brown lines arching over turquoise eyes. “And here you said it was a long story.”
The response was so unexpected, I had to laugh. “You’re right, I did.”
He smiled a crooked smile that did nothing to slow the rampant pace of my heart. It was one thing to see him in a room full of people, another all together to watch him in his home. Relaxed, yet confident. Inviting, but still mysterious.
All alone with me.
I swirled a strand of floppy asparagus around my fork. “Promise you won’t judge me?”
He dipped his head in promise. “You have no idea the stories about my teammates that have been covered up. I’m sure yours is nothing in comparison.”
I tilted my head in question.
He leaned a little closer over the table. And I was so mesmerized by his perfect bone structure, the changing color of his eyes, I almost didn’t hear what he said next. “Let’s just say that the rhino didn’t get out of the zoo on its own last year.”
My jaw dropped. “No way.”
He nodded. “Pretty sure I’m still sore from the sprints Coach had us do as a punishment.”
That made me laugh. “I’ve only ever heard of high school teams running when they got in trouble.”
I shook my head. “Where do you think those coaches got the idea?”
Silence hung between us, his question heavy in the air. I bit my bottom lip, gauging how much I should reveal.
But I liked Ford. He was the one guy I actually wanted to have a chance with, and I wasn’t building a relationship full of potential around a half-truth. “Do you remember me complaining about Thomas?”
He grimaced, then nodded.
“He blocked the acquisition of the Andersen sisters’ company so he can propose one of his own to challenge me next quarter. And between him and his wife, they’re campaigning internally to win the board’s vote.”
“Mia...” he breathed. “Does Gage know about this?”
“He’s on the board,” I said, “but he didn’t make it to the last meeting. Tara had a dance recital.” I smiled on the last sentence, amazed that the man who used to work nonstop would miss a quarterly board meeting to watch toddlers in tutus.
Ford shook his head, and I continued. “My publicist had the idea that a relationship would level the playing field. Thomas has his wife, and I’d have someone to ‘campaign’ on my behalf. So she set me up with Hayden because, apparently, he’s a hot commodity at Griffen Industries.”
Ford smirked. “Do you work with a bunch of twelve-year-old girls?”