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She swallowed, her eyes searching my face before her lips tugged into a smile. “Your freckles are so beautiful.” She smirked, and I rolled my eyes at her.

“That’s it?” I laughed.

“They’re irresistible,” she confessed. “As are you. And I think… I think I’ve fallen a lot harder for you than I ever thought I would. Harder than I thought I could.”

My breath left me in a quiet rush, and Hayden squirmed a little beneath me.

“I tried to stop, believe me,” she continued. “I tried to ignore how you made me feel, and how you consistently whittled away at my defenses no matter what I threw your way.”

Any words I might have had turned to dust on my tongue, my cheeks unbelievably warm.

“I wanted to keep things professional but you justhadto prance in with your freckles and your smiles, and that gorgeous temperament of yours… And I was helpless to it. To you.”

“Well, there’s nothing professional about our current situation,” I teased softly, and Hayden pressed a little kiss to the tip of my nose. An effervescent warmth spread through my chest, pouring out into my arms and legs, leaving me weightless and deliriously happy.

“Smart ass,” she scolded with a smirk. “I think that’s part of it. That, and I’m pretty sure I fell for you the moment I saw you sitting in that restaurant looking so bored. I almost felt bad for your date.”

“Almost?”

“You looked like you wanted to crawl out of your own skin,” Hayden clarified. “That’s unforgivable.”

“How noble of you,” I murmured, kissing her temple. “And I think I fell for you back then too. When you walked in like an unstoppable force and sent my bad date running. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you ever since.”

“Don’t tell me that,” Hayden whined through a giggle. “My ego can’t take it.”

“It’s true.” I laughed along with her. “I think I fought you even harder because of it. Because I’m hopelessly into you.”

Chapter thirty-eight

Expanding and Other Business Items

Hayden

Ishuffledmyweightfrom one foot to the other, doing my best to ignore the twitter of nerves in my gut.

“Do you want me to get you some coffee while you wait, Hayden?”

I looked over at Marina, her face poking around the threshold of my door.

“No, that’s okay,” I said distractedly. “Thanks, Marina.”

“I’ll just send Frankie in when she gets here?”

“Please.”

I shuffled through the documents on my desk, wondering why the hellIwas nervous when it was just a presentation.

And I wasn’t even the one giving the presentation.

“Coffee?”

My head snapped up, relief curling along my shoulders as Frankie swept in and set a cup on my desk.

“Vanessa is truly a godsend,” I chuckled, taking a grateful sip. “Thank you.”

She shrugged it off and sat down, chewing on her bottom lip.

“Nervous?” I asked.