“Okay, I’ve seen youpartiallynaked, and we’ve shared a fairly decent kiss—”
“Fairly decent?”
“That’s right.” She rolls her lips together.
“You’re calling our kissfairly decent?”
She shrugs playfully. “I’d rate it a five out of ten.”
“A five?” I glance over at Lacee, noting the creases in her cheeks from trying to hold back her smile. “In all fairness, it was on an escalator. It’s difficult to deliver a high-caliber kiss when you’re moving.”
“If that’s the excuse you want to use, then—”
“It’s not an excuse. It’s a fact.”
“I guess I’ll have to take your word for it.” There’s an impassive arrogance about her that’s teasing me and only adds to her appeal.
“You don’t have to take my word for it.”
Lacee turns her head to me, keeping her expression even. “What are you suggesting?”
“Only that I need a second chance to move from a fairly decent kiss to something that you’ll never forget.” I glance at her, adding my most devastating smile. “If the one on the escalator was a five, I’d love to work up to a ten.”
There’s an alarm going off in my brain, warning me that this isn’t a good idea. I have a job to do. But it’s too late. I’m leading with my heart on this one, not my mind.
“I suppose that’s only fair.” She’s working hard to play it cool, but she’s not fooling anyone. “So it sounds like the next step is for you to take me on a date.” Her smile breaks loose on her lips with a flirty tilt that makes my stomach spin like a figure skater on ice.
“I’ve graduated from seeing you socially to taking you out on a date. I think things are progressing nicely.”
“Well, it’s all for a cause.” She lifts her chin. “Since this date is primarily for working our kiss up to a ten, I think we should set some ground rules.”
“Ground rules?” My brows hike up.
“Yep.” She nods. “Things get messy if you don’t have rules.”
“I’m excited to hear these rules.” I throw her a teasing smile.
“You should be. They’re really good.” She sits taller in her seat “First, how about we agree that although we’re going on a date, we’re notdating?”
“Not dating.” I nod like I’m seriously processing what that means before giving her my answer.
“This,” she points between us, “is just a holiday fling.”
“I can’t tell if I’m progressing or digressing.” I frown. “You’ve got our relationship bouncing all over the place. We went from not dating to a fling in a matter of ten seconds. Should I be worried that you’ll have us engaged thirty seconds from now, only to have us break up, then get married a minute later?”
She punches my arm, and the power behind the blow is surprisingly strong. “I’m being serious. I live in Boston, and you live in Chicago, so geographically, nothing could ever happen between us. I’m proposing that whatever happens between us leading up to our level ten kiss is just for practice. Nothing permanent. No attachments. It’s just two people casually kissing through the holidays. That’s it.”
I eye her. “Two people casually kissing through the holidays?”
No single man on the planet would say no to that proposition. Especially a man like me that needs to stay close to Lacee to recover a computer chip.
“That’s right.” She nods. “Those are the rules. When Christmas is over or whenever we reach our level ten kiss, we each go our separate ways.”
“What if,” I hold my finger out as I ask my question, “we reach level ten sooner than we thought, or Christmas is over, and one of us doesn’t want to go our separate ways? I’m only asking because I’m a pretty amazing guy, and you might have a hard time giving me up.”
I have to go my separate way no matter what. Sienna is counting on me. So it’s best to manage Lacee’s expectations upfront.
“That won’t be a problem for me.” She gives me a confident stare. “It doesn’t matter if you’re an amazing guy. Rules are rules, and all’s fair in love and war.”
