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He holds my gaze without flinching. “I didn’t tell Calvin anything.”
“You didn’t?”
“I didn’t.” His jaw grows tight. “You honestly think I need Calvin to solve my problems for me?”
“I...I don’t know.” I flounder a little. “I don’t know what you would or wouldn’t do.”
“Yet you knew enough to think the worst of me.”
“Yes,” I whisper. Tess The Hypocrite is a surprising addition to my character flaws.
His eyes burn into mine. “You’re a problem I can deal with on my own.”
I have to look away from the intensity of his gaze. “I’m a problem?”
He lets out a soft, humorless laugh. “When you’re being so unbelievably stubborn, yes.”
There’s a long stretch of silence.
“I’m sorry,” I force out, my cheeks burning. These are words I ought to have said a while ago. “I truly am sorry.”
He waits a beat then touches my forearm. The touch is so brief and light I’m convinced the very lightness of it carries weight. “Thank you.”
In a move that takes me by surprise, he silently holds out his hand. I stare at it in confusion.
“Let’s start again,” he says softly.
“Start what again?”
“Us. Our working relationship. Let’s have a new start.”
I grimace. “We can’t.”
“Yes, we can.” The look in his eyes is so self-assured I want to believe him, but it feels as though the air between us is cluttered with so many unpleasant memories neither of us can make a move without bumping into one.
He’s still patiently holding out his hand, waiting for me to shake it.
I’m still frowning dubiously at him. “So, start at a place where I didn’t click the cat video?”
He responds with a pleased nod. “And where I didn’t single you out in front of the entire company.”
“Let’s skip the part where I called you a pretty boy.”
He gives an amused head shake. “I took that as a compliment.”
Finally, I reach over and shake his hand. His grip is warm and firm. Heat curls in my stomach.
I say, “Let’s scrap the memory of you guessing my password.”
“Nope.” He offers me a smile, so tiny and fleeting I’m almost convinced I imagined it. “You as my minion is a memory worth holding on to.”
I scrunch my nose in thought. “What else do we keep?”
He holds my gaze and I realize he’s still holding my hand. “Let’s keep the reality that you’re a woman who constantly surprises me, challenges me, and makes me laugh.”
The air between us thickens with...something. I don’t dare give it a name.
Carefully, I remove my hand from his grasp.
