The ride down was short, but it did what short elevator rides with the right woman always did. Tightened the air. Closed the world down to breath, scent, and the quiet awareness of how close two bodies were standing without touching.
By the time we stepped into the garage, my whole body was too aware of her again.
Her heels clicked lightly beside me as we walked. Her perfume moved warm around us in the cooler air down there, and every now and then she glanced over at me with those amber eyes, still bright, still holding more than she let her mouth say first.
That was becoming a real issue.
When we got to her car, she turned, one hand already on her keys.
A chirp brought my eyes to the vehicle behind her. A Caviar black Lexus RX sat under the garage lights, polished and quiet in that way expensive things got when they didn’t need to announce themselves. The deep red leather inside fit her too well. Pretty. Particular. A little dangerous if a man let himself think too long about being invited in.
“This was nice,” she said.
“Nice?”
Her mouth curved. “You want a better word?”
“I do.”
She laughed softly and leaned one shoulder against the driver’s door. “Okay. This was worth leaving my notes for.”
“That’s better.”
“I thought so.”
For one second, neither of us moved.
Then she looked at me and said, “Try not to say anything out of pocket when you see me tomorrow.”
Tomorrow.
I leaned one hand on the roof of her car, not boxing her in, just close enough to make the moment answer for itself.
“No promises.”
Her eyes lit and there it was again. That spark. The little gold-brown flicker that made me feel like I was standing too close tosomething I’d stop handling carefully if she gave me one more minute.
She opened the car door before I could test that theory.
“Go back to work, Micah.”
“That sounds like a dismissal.”
“That sounds like me trying to preserve your reputation before four o’clock.”
I laughed.
She slid into the driver’s seat, then looked up at me once more.
“Tomorrow,” she said.
“Tomorrow.”
The door shut.
I stood there long enough to watch her back out, lift one hand in a small parting wave, and disappear up the garage ramp before I headed to valet to get my own car.
On the drive back to the office, I realized I was smiling like an idiot and didn’t care enough to stop.
