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Preston had none of those reasons for being here, for volunteering to help with any of our past events or this one,other than his parents putting him up to it. He’d never acted like it was a chore, though, even though I knew how much time it took away from things he’d much rather be doing. No one in their junior year of college was dying to spend hours putting together an event for a mostly older crowd.
I printed the list that Sasha had marked with Preston’s name and then sent it to his email as well. It wasn’t like this was our first time working together, but it felt different now.
Preston reached for the printed papers before I could. “Thank you.”
As he scanned the long to-do list, Iscanned him. His chestnut-colored hair was swept back from his face in a perfectly polished way that, along with his very Upper East Side attire, said he wanted to be taken seriously. Dark brows pulled together as he read over the list. My eyes trailed down his face and locked on his full bottom lip.
Beforethatnight, I’d never really looked at Preston before. Not that way. Obviously I’d noticed he was a good-looking guy, but only in the way that you’d appreciate someone as you passed them on the street. He’d always been so well mannered when I saw him, even when he was at my house with Serena. More on the quiet side, no hint of the immoral behavior his group of friends were known for.
Though we were who we hung out with, weren’t we?
And after thatnight, it was clear Preston wasn’t just a shy, deferential type. Not with that wicked flicker he’d had in his eyes when he walked in here tonight.
I was so fucked.
Needing something to do with my hands, I clasped them on the desk in front of me and tried to remain unaffected by the change in energy I’d felt since he arrived.
“Does that work for you?” I said. “If you’d prefer to hand this event off to someone else, I’m sure I could find?—”
“No.” He looked up at me. “I can handle this.”
I should’ve been relieved, since he was one of the people I could count on to get things done, regardless of his age, but having him in such close proximity, working together on this for the next few weeks…it would be complicated.
Unless it didn’t have to be.
“As you lock down quotes, I’ll have you report them to Sasha, and she’ll go over them with me?—”
“Wait, I’m not reporting directly to you?”
I gestured to my meticulously stacked, but at capacity, desktop. “As you can see, I’m a little busy.”
A hint of a smirk crossed his lips. “Riiight. A little busy for me, you mean.”
“That’s not what I?—”
“You’ve never been too busy before.”
It was all I could do to keep my calm, because he knew exactly the why of it all, and I wasn’t going to spell it out for him.
Keeping my hands clasped, I kept my tone friendly and casual. “This is the event of the year for the Elysium. I’ll have to delegate if I want things to flow smoothly.”
“You mean you’ll have to delegatemebecause you don’t trust yourself to be alone with me.”
My breath caught in my throat as my gaze bounced from the open door of my office back to Preston. “Excuse me?”
“What? Worried someone will hear?” He moved to the edge of his seat and slapped the papers on top of the desk. “No one else is around. You can be honest with me now.”
There was no way in hell I could be honest about what I was thinking, and definitely not about what I was feeling. But the fact he was calling me out on it meant I was in a world of trouble—because he was feeling it too.
“Look, I’ve had a long week, and I’d really like?—”
“Me to leave? To stay? To kiss you again?”
“That’s enough.” I pushed to my feet in an effort to regain some control of the situation. “I think you should leave.”
Preston slowly got to his feet, his gaze unwavering as he eyed me across the desk. “I’ll leave if you’ll be honest with me.”
“This is ridiculous.”
