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“Miley Cyrus isn’t cheesy.”
He held up a hand. “Not cheesy, sorry. My point is, watching you ripped my guts apart, the way you connected with her so easily, and I was hooked. I needed to have more of that.”
“So you followed me again?”
He nodded. “Imagine my surprise when you walked right into my building. Then you disappeared into the restroom, and I had no clue what to do. I just…waited.”
“And I ran into you. But I wasn’t supposed to have an interview with you.”
“No, you weren’t. But once I’d spoken to you, I couldn’t bring myself to send you away, so I gave you what I thought was an impossible task.”
“Hoping I’d fail so you didn’t have to do the sending away.”
“Yes. Because I didn’t want things or people, especially not beautiful women who made me feel more for them before we ever spoke than I had for anyone else.” He cradled my jaw in his palm, his eyes darting between mine. “But then you showed up in my office, wearing clothes from the lost and found, and I was forced to interview you. It was torture. I wanted to have you close. I knew that but wouldn’t allow myself to have it.”
“You gave me the job, though.”
His brow winged. That dubious fucking brow. “The background check said you lived with your partner. You were safe for me to have around, so long as I didn’t look at you too closely.”
It broke my heart to think about him not letting himself reach for happiness. He’d gone thirty-one years so closed off it had taken an—admittedly classic—Miley Cyrus song to finally get through to him.
“I’m sorry you found the nasty things I said about you before I shredded them. I hope you know I don’t feel that way anymore.”
His mouth turned into a full, soft smile. “Oh, I do know. I read that I have a cute butt.”
I snorted a laugh. “Well, you do. That’s indisputable.”
“I also read that you think I’ll be a great father.”
I shook my head. “No, that one isn’t right. I take it back.”
He went still. “You do?”
“Yeah, Elliot. You won’t be a great father because you already are one, present tense.”
The breath he expelled could have moved mountains with its force. His arms curled around me, pulling me inside his cave. “Work on the delivery of your devastatingly beautiful proclamations, sweetheart,” he murmured.
“Sorry, love.” I kissed his chin then grazed my lips over his.
“Forgiven, always. I love you.”
“Love you too. So much.”
He tipped me forward and gave my ass a light slap. “Now, get to work. You’ve already thrown me off the schedule you so efficiently wrote for me.”
I jumped up with a yelp and scurried for the door. At the last second, I turned back, my pulse spiking when I found Elliot still watching me.
“Go,” he ordered, an amused slant to his lips.
“I’m going!”
I left his office at the same time Davida and Ray were heading to the break room. The two of them took one look at me and shook their heads in unison.
“It looks like it all worked out, darling,” Davida said.
“Yes, it did,” I agreed.
Better than I ever could have hoped for.
