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And she was screwing with his future. Not to mention the future of EA International, which would be short-lived after Dax crucified her matchmaking skills. That would be exactly what she deserved.
How in the world could she get out of this?
A brisk knock on her open door startled her into sitting up. Angie poked her head in, and the smirk on her assistant’s face did not help matters.
“Mr. Wakefield is here,” she said, her gaze cutting to the lobby suggestively.
“Here?” Automatically, Elise smoothed hair off her forehead and cursed. Little square indentations in the shape of keys lined her skin. “As in, here in the office?”
Maybe she could pretend to be out. At least until the imprint of the keyboard vanished and she figured out what she was going to tell him about his match. Because of course that was why he’d jetted over here without calling. He wanted a name.
“I’ve yet to develop hologram technology,” Dax said smoothly as he strolled right past Angie, filling the room instantly. “But I’m working on it. In the meantime, I still come in person.”
Hiding a smile but not very well, Angie made herself scarce.
Elise took a small private moment to gorge herself on the visual panorama of male perfection before her. She’d been so wrong. His everyday suit was anything but ordinary and he was as lickable in it as he was in everything else. And then her traitorous brain reminded her he was most lickable out of everything else.
Her mouth incredibly dry, she croaked, “I thought you were busy this week. That’s what pizza was all about, right?”
He didn’t bother with the chair intended for guests. Instead, he rounded the desk and stopped not a foot from her, casually leaning against the wood as if he owned it.
“I am. Busy,” he clarified, his gaze avidly raking over her, as if he’d stumbled over a Van Gogh mural amid street graffiti and couldn’t quite believe his luck. “I left several people in a conference room, who are this very minute hashing out an important deal without me. I got up and walked out.”
For a man who claimed his company was more important than anything, even contentment, it seemed an odd thing to do. “Why?”
His smoky irises captured hers and she fell into a long, sizzling miasma of delicious tension and awareness.
“I wanted to see you,” he said simply.
Her heart thumped once and settled back into a new rhythm where small things like finding his real soul mate didn’t matter. The wager didn’t matter. The rest of her life alone didn’t matter. Only the man mattered.
And he wanted to be with her.
“Oh. Well, here I am. Now what?”
He extended his hand in invitation. “I haven’t been able to think about anything other than sitting on a park bench with you and watching the world go by. Come with me.”
Her chair crashed against the back wall as she leaped up. She didn’t glance at the clock or shut her computer down, just took his hand and followed him.
Most men took her hints and left her alone, more than happy to let her stew in her trust issues. Not this one. Thank goodness. She could worry about how wrong they were for each other and how she had to find someone right for him later.
Fall nipped the air and Elise shivered as she and Dax exited the building. Her brain damage apparently extended to braving the elements in a lightweight wool dress and boots.
“Hang on a sec. I need to go back and get my coat.”
She turned when Dax spun her back. “Wait. Wear mine.”
Shrugging out of his suit jacket, he draped it around her shoulders and took great care in guiding her arms through the sleeves. Then he stood there with the lapels gripped in his fists, staring down at her as if the act of sharing his warmth had great significance.
“You didn’t have to do that,” she said as she rolled up the sleeves self-consciously. But she had to do something with her hands besides put them square on his pectorals as she wanted to. “My coat is right in—”
“Humor me. It’s the first time I’ve given a woman my coat because she needed it. I like it on you.”
“I like it on me, too.” She hunched down in it, stirring up that delicious blend of scent that was Dax, danger and decadence all rolled into one. She could live in this jacket, sleep in it, walk around naked with the silk liner brushing her skin...
Too bad she’d have to give it back.
They strolled down the block to the small urban park across the street from EA International’s office building. Dax told her a funny story about a loose dog wreaking havoc at one of his news station studios and she laughed through the whole thing. Their hands brushed occasionally and she pretended she didn’t notice, which was difficult considering her pulse shot into the stratosphere with every accidental touch.
