A beat of silence. We were alone together in a sumptuous office decorated in burgundy leather and mahogany furniture. It smelled faintly of fresh lavender.
Winston smiled, his hands propped on his hips impatiently. “Well?”
“Do you feel like canceling your afternoon?” I asked, holding my breath.
“I could make that happen.” His smile widened into a boyish grin. “For the right reasons.”
“Then let’s take this off,” I said, drawing close and slowly loosening his tie. I could sense him holding his breath. “This, too.” I tugged gently at the lapels of his jacket. His eyes turned dark, smoldering. I stepped to the side and removed his jacket, then hung it on the back of a chair. The tie landed on top of it. “This will do,” I added, undoing the top two buttons on his shirt. “Let’s go.”
I led the way, not stopping until I reached the elevators. I heard him say, “Rose, cancel my afternoon. I’ll be out of pocket.” Waiting for the elevator, he switched off his phone.
The elevator ride was short and shared with a couple of his employees. They seemed relaxed around him, engaging with him freely. Not fearful or stressed, as I’d witnessed with other powerful men like Winston.
“So, what’s the verdict on the South Henderson site?” one of them asked, leaning casually against the wall.
Winston gave a small, thoughtful nod. “Final approval came in this morning. We break ground next month.”
“Nice,” the employee said, grinning. “I owe Jen lunch. She bet me it wouldn’t clear before the weekend.”
Winston chuckled. “Then you better take her somewhere good.”
The exchange was easy. Familiar. The kind that shouldn’t have felt remarkable—but did.
Climbing into the passenger seat of my Beemer, he buckled up. “Where to?” He seemed excited, but a little nervous, with a trace of uneasiness. Probably because he was married, and he was about to spend the entire afternoon with me. Perhaps he was afraid someone would see us.
I shook my finger. “Uh-uh. This, we don’t discuss. Everything else is game.” I peeled off and turned on the music, set to the Pulse, my favorite satellite-radio channel. “What do you like?”
He turned a little sideways to face me. “If I remember correctly, today is about whatyoulike.”
“All right, then,” I said, cranking up the volume as “It’s My Life” blasted through the speakers. I sang along—off key, shameless, drawing out the high notes just to make myself laugh.
By the time we crossed the Colorado River at the Hoover Dam, he was singing along with me, his voice deep, but just off enough to make me grin.
“Dancing with my eyes closed ... in the dark ... something, something heart.”
I burst out laughing. “What? That’s not even close.”
“Sure, it is,” he argued. “That’s the line. It’s ‘Dancing with My Eyes Closed,’ right?”
I shook my head, barely holding back a smirk. “Nope. The artist should sue you.”
He scoffed. “Why? It’s close enough. It’s about dancing and feelings. Give me half a point.”
“No chance.” I grinned. “But I’ll let you redeem yourself. Name the next artist before the chorus.”
A new song started, and he leaned forward, listening intently. “Oh, I got this. Sabrina Carpenter.”
I arched a brow. “And how exactly do you know that?”
He shot me a sideways glance, all mischief. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
We both laughed as the next song queued up, the game continuing, the miles slipping away like they didn’t matter. I found myself wishing the trip were longer. But after about an hour, we arrived. Two WaveRunners were waiting at the Temple Bar Marina, just as I’d arranged. His face lit up when he realized what I had planned for us.I pulled the Beemer into a parking spot close to the ramp and reached into the back seat.
“This is for you,” I said, giving him a small shopping bag. “You’ll probably need some privacy to put them on,” I added, laughing at his reaction. He pulled the swim shorts from the bag slowly, his eyebrows raised, his mouth slightly gaping. “I think you’re a large, right?”
“You’re amazing, you know that?”
Getting out of the car, I looked at him over my shoulder, flipping my hair and laughing. “Yeah, I know.”And you haven’t seen anything yet,I said to myself.
