"This is my office at the end of the hall."
She pushed opened the double doors that led into the room and flipped on the bright lights. There was a beautiful ornate wood desk in the middle with a red leather chair tucked in under it. On the wall was the large white board with lots of writing for what he assumed was a book she was working on. Jordan walked over to study it some more, fascinated with all the colors, lines and notes that seemed chaotic to him. Arrows were drawn from groups of words to other parts of the board. Columns had different colors with some of Charlotte's ideas in red or black. Spots were blank after being erased. "More goes here" showed up in several places.
"So wait," he said as he took in the board in front of him. "You actuallydowrite novels?"
"Yes," she replied. "You seem surprised."
Jordan shrugged. "I assumed you just had someone else write them."
"You wouldn't be the first," she said. "People think the publisher just slaps my name on the cover so they can sell copies, but it's actually all my own work."
He gave her a reassuring smile, a sign that he really did believe her, before turning back to her white board. Two words in purple capital letters near the top of the board stuck out to him.
"What's a meet-cute?" he said.
"A what?"
"It's says 'meet-cute' right here." He pointed up to the words. "What does that mean?"
"Oh, that's when the couple in a story meets for the first time in a cute way."
He gave her a teasing look. "Like if a woman met a man after placing the winning bid to have dinner with him."
"Exactly," she replied. "Although we actually met at the arena when I was waiting for Jack."
Did she think he had forgotten that? "Oh, I know, Charlie. You're not easy to forget." Charlie? Where did that come from? He took a physical step back, feeling like he had gone too far by acting too familiar. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to call you Charlie."
"I don't mind," she said quietly. "I actually kind of like it sometimes. You know, if it's the right person saying it."
She nervously tucked her hair behind her ear, and he decided maybe it was better to not push any further now. Besides, he was keeping his hands to himself tonight. He was focused on the playoffs in a few months, not on a woman now. Ethan would be mad at him for the decision, but he could deal with his brother's wrath later.
To distract himself from over thinking the whole thing, he turned to look at the rest of the room, his eyes immediately drawn to the large windows along the far wall. "Wow. Now that is an amazing view."
He walked over and stood in front of the windows, looking out over the city spread out below them. She came and stood next to him, her reflection in the glass distracting him from the view outside.
"I've been told you can see Canada from here."
"Gorgeous," he said.
He turned to look at her, realizing he wasn't even sure if he was talking about the view out the window or the woman next to him. He couldn't help it. Forget Ethan or his issues or his career. Forget keeping his hands to himself. At that moment, the only thing Jordan could think of was her. His hand instinctively reached for the small of her back, her body leaning in to him as the air began to crackle between them. All he had to do was pull her a little closer...
And then the phone in his pocket rang.
"Dammit," he murmured as his hand quickly left her back to answer it. "Yeah," he said with a bit of agitation as his driver told him it was time to leave. "I'll be right down."
Jordan looked back up at Charlotte, who had stepped a few inches back from him, the phone call also seeming to have pulled her out of the warm haze they had been in. "Well, it seems my pumpkin has arrived."
"Seems so," she said before giving him a polite smile. "Let me walk you out."
Jordan gave her a nod as she led him out of her office and down the hall, her ass looking amazing in that dress as he followed to the coat closet near her front door. He smiled as he took the coat from her and draped it over his arm.
"I really had a great time tonight, Charlotte," he said. "Much better than hanging out with a bunch of rich guys like I did last year."
"I was happy to have you here."
He leaned over to give her a light kiss on the cheek, the heat searing his lips despite the gentle touch. "I hope to see you again sometime," he whispered close to her ear, her warmth lingering on his skin as he slowly pulled away.
"Friday!"
