Page 6

Yeah. I was being ridiculous. A thousand percent ridiculous. And I needed to get back to work. Only it was difficult with him being so close to me, close enough that I barely had to lean in to be able to touch him.

“I think we’re on the right track.” It was going to be a long-ass track, but at least we knew the direction we were heading, which was miles ahead of the job Harold had recently finished up.

He leaned back in his chair. “I knew it was bad, but I never—I never realized it was this bad. I’m so glad I called you.” He grabbed the back of his neck, and I itched to replace his hands with mine so I could give him a little massage.

I couldn’t help but puff up at his praise—or what I accepted as such. I was glad he’d called me, too. But also, part of me was wondering if things would be better after the job was over. Because then maybe I could, I don’t know, reach out and see if he had any interest in me at all. And no amount of pushing down my feelings was going to change the fact that I wanted this man in a way I’d never wanted another.

There were times when I didn’t think he even noticed me. And others when I wondered if I were the unsuspecting prey.

But one thing was for sure—the time spent here with him was never boring.

“The system you're currently working off of… I’ll be quite honest with you—it shouldn’t have worked. It should have full-on failed years ago. But you’ve got good people here, and they work hard. And when I’m done helping you implement this, it won’t be as hard for them anymore. And that’s when you can grow.”

Gods, I sounded like a sales pitch.

He smiled, his phone going off on the desk for the four bazillionth time since we started. He kept ignoring it, instead focusing on me—until I couldn’t take it anymore.

“Please answer that. Maybe someone, I don’t know, needs you.”

He met my eyes as if looking for answers, then picked it up and barked a “Hello” into the phone.

“Yeah, I’ll be right there.” He shoved the phone in his front pocket. “I’m sorry. I gotta go. There’s a situation I need to deal with.”

“Oh, I can leave?—”

“No.” He gave my shoulder a squeeze. “Stay. Do what you need to do.”

And then he walked on his way. And I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t watching every single step he took out that door. The man was gorgeous walking toward me, but there was just something about watching him walk away.

I finished going through what we had set for the morning and then went back to my workstation. I didn’t love it, because it was away from him, but it was close by. And I had to give them credit—the office was really bright, and even though not everyone had windows, there were lots of glass panels preventing light from becoming blocked.

“Hey, I brought this for you.”

A paper cup was placed in front of me. I looked up. I didn’t know the person there, but there was no mistaking it—he was related to Garner. They had similar facial structures. And their eyes—they were identical, while at the same time being... not.

There was no warmth in these ones, the way there was with Garner’s, but the color palette? Identical.

“Thanks?” It came out as a question because I had no idea what was going on. Who this man was. What he wanted.

“I’m Booker. Garner’s brother.”

I’d known he existed, and there was something about the way Garner said his name that told me there was, at the very least, mistrust between them.

“Oh. Nice to meet you.” I didn’t give him my hand, hoping he wouldn’t notice the slight.

“Aren’t you gonna drink it?” So much for that.

“Oh, I’ll just let it cool first.” Because there wasnothingcreepy about someone telling you they wanted you to drink. Nope. Especially not when you didn’t order it in the first place.

“Are you as good as they say?” The man was standing far too close.

“Oh. Denmarke Solutions? Yeah. We’re that good.” I didn’t pretend to be shy or humble when it came to what our company could do. We were the best. Full stop.

“I didn’t mean that.” He leaned in, his hand now on the arm of my chair, his face far too close to mine.

I pushed back the chair with my feet and hoped he’d get the hint. He did... but then went right back to the same position.

Asshole.