“I’m sure there are some exceptions to the rule?” he asked.
“I have yet to meet that exception,” I replied. “And you?”
“Me what?”
“Do you also date losers and idiots?” I asked light-heartedly.
There was silence for a moment. “I seem to date dishonest people,” he said, and suddenly my mouth went very dry. “People who are fundamentally trying to deceive me.”
“That . . . that sounds . . . uh . . . terrible,” I stuttered as a wave of guilt crashed through me. I was fundamentally deceiving him, and how the hell would he react when he found out the extent of it? We finally arrived at the construction site and climbed out of his car.
“Will you be okay to drive home alone?” he asked.
“I’ll be fine. Thanks.”
“Okay, well, I guess that’s it. Thanks again for tonight,” he said.
“Don’t mention it, honestly, it was fun.”
“It was.” He chuckled. “I don’t get to have that much fun these days.”
“Well . . . maybe we should see what we can do to change that.” I didn’t mean to, but as I said it my eyes drifted down to his lips, giving my statement a very flirty feel. Or had that been intentional?Wait . . . was I deliberately flirting with him?Oh my God, I was flirting with him.
And he took it. Hook, line, sinker.
“And what would you suggest we do to have . . . fun?” He took a step closer to me.
My lips prickled and my face went hot. “I’m not sure I know you well enough yet to know what you’d be into.”
There was a pause. A lull in the conversation. I stared at his lips, waiting for him to speak again. Anticipation growing. And then he finally did, and I wasn’t disappointed.
“Well, maybe we can remedy that in some way.” And then he walked away. Back to his car.
I climbed into mine and pulled out. I looked at him in the rear-view mirror, my heart thumping in my chest, and suddenly it dawned on me. No, it didn’t dawn. Dawn implies something gentle and gradual. This was not gentle and not gradual. This was like a brick smashing into the stomach. I was crushing on my boss, Ryan Stark. I was crushing on him hard, because—surprise, damn surprise—I actually liked him.
Wow!
Breaking news. The big headline . . .I liked Ryan Stark. A lot.
CHAPTERSIXTY-ONE
Ryan
Driving to work the next day without picking Doris up felt strange. And when he arrived, it felt even stranger to see her sitting there at her desk. But today he was in a good mood, and it was all her doing. He walked towards her desk and she looked up at him and beamed.
“Morning. Do you want me to bring you a cup of coffee?” she asked.
“Uh . . . no, it’s okay.” Suddenly, the idea of her bringing him a cup of coffee felt strange. “I’ll get one myself,” he said.
She looked at him and nodded her head; the movement made her hair flick from side to side, and he was mesmerized by it. She looked beautiful this morning. Her amber eyes were particularly gold-looking, and she wore something on her lips that made them shine. He’d thought about those lips all night and wondered why he hadn’t just leaned in and kissed them last night when he’d had the perfect opportunity to do so. He wanted to kiss her so badly, but first, he needed to tell her something. He was just about to open his mouth when the phone rang and she answered it.
He walked into his office and sat down. He watched her talk on the phone with a smile, he watched her flick her hair over her shoulder when she hung up, he watched her put her fingers down on the keyboard and type, badly. It was bubbling up inside him, and he wasn’t sure he would be able to contain it much longer. He needed to tell her something. He stood up and walked over to her desk just as someone walked past. He greeted them with a small nod and a smile. They did a double take and almost walked into the wall.
“Miss Granger,” he said formally. He didn’t want anyone to hear they were on first names basis.
She looked up at him. “Yes, Mr. Stark.”
“Would you mind coming with me?” he asked.
