Page 57 of His Reckoning

“Because if someone picked that up without context?—”

“They’d discover adults sometimes have sex?”

His hand tightens around the glass. “That’s not what I meant.”

“What did you mean?”

His eyes flick toward me again, and this time, the look lingers a second too long. Then he drains the glass and sets it down harder than necessary.

“You’re enjoying this entirely too much.”

“Immensely.”

Sawyer shakes his head again, but the corner of his mouth twitches, like he’s trying not to smile. And the tension in his shoulders hasn’t gone anywhere. If anything, it looks worse, which is fascinating because I’m suddenly realizing something.

The man who runs companies, negotiates deals, and intimidates entire boardrooms is completely thrown off by a romance novel.

I tuck the book under my arm. “Careful, Sawyer.”

“Why?”

“You keep reacting like this,” I say lightly, “and I might start using you for research.”

He goes very still. His eyes narrow, and for a split second, I swear the temperature in the room drops.

Then he laughs once. It’s low and dangerous.

Now I’m the one blinking.

Sawyer straightens his sleeves and reaches for his phone. “Dinner will be here in twenty minutes.”

He walks past me toward the living room, but as he passes, his shoulder brushes mine. The contact is brief, I think accidental, but not unnoticed.

Not by him and definitely not by me.

Something tells me dinner tonight is going to be very interesting.

Dinner arrives exactly twenty minutes later, which is unfortunate because the awkwardness in the penthouse has had exactly zero time to fade.

The delivery guy leaves two large paper bags on the counter and disappears as quickly as possible.

Sawyer starts unpacking the containers filled with pasta, salad, and garlic bread.

I slide onto one of the stools at the island. “This looks good.”

“It should,” he says. “It was expensive.”

I laugh. “You sound personally offended.”

“I am.”

“By what?” I raise an eyebrow at him.

“Delivery fees.”

I watch him open the pasta container. His sleeves are rolled halfway up his forearms, which is suddenly very distracting.

This is new.