Page 58 of Naughty Heart

Worst of all, there was no way for me to hide it from him, especially not with his latest move.

First, it had been the cupcakes. Then it was the Christmas tree. Now, it was this—a new office chair.

My eyes shot open when I heard Malcolm’s low, rumbling voice right beside me. “Does it feel good?”

What was he doing to me?

My fingers curled tightly around the armrests as I slowly craned my neck in his direction.

“Did you want me to get any actual work done here from this point forward?” I asked him, quirking a brow.

His lips twitched.

“Why would you buy this for me?”

Tipping his head to the side, his eyes roamed over my face. “Don’t you remember what you told me?”

My brows pulled together. It was difficult to concentrate with the chair still massaging my body. I couldn’t think of a single thing I would have said that would make him buy me a new chair. “No. What did I say?”

“You told me you had walked to the spa before you came into the coffee shop the day I met you and that your Christmas wish had been to know what it was like to feel like a queen just once. While I realize this isn’t the same as someone using their hands on you, I wanted you to know you should feel like a queen every day.”

He remembered that?

“Malcolm…”

My voice, already a whisper, trailed off. I didn’t know what to say.

Was he being serious? Was everything he was doing genuine?

It seemed like a lot of trouble to go through when I’d already promised him I was going to do whatever he needed me to do for us to continue working together and so that he could secure his position within the company.

Malcolm smiled at me and set the remote on my desk before he stood.

After moving to the door, he offered a wink and said, “Enjoy yourself today, Evelyn.”

Then, he was gone, and I still had to fight the urge to moan. Only, now it had nothing to do with the massage I was getting from the chair and everything to do with the way he was speaking to me.

15

MALCOLM

Baffled.

That was the best way to describe my mindset the moment I looked up the staircase at the Westwood Hotel.

All week long, I’d felt myself growing more and more confident with where things stood with Evelyn.

While there’d been a few instances when she’d found herself softening toward me and would pull back, the progression over the course of the week had all been in the right direction.

And I enjoyed every minute of what I’d experienced with her this week, too. I liked the excitement I felt; I looked forward to seeing her reactions to anything special I tried to do for her.

Every smile or laugh she gave me made me happy, made me believe it had been worth it. In fact, seeing her fall back into that comfortable place with me again only made me want to do more of what I’d been doing—giving her something to look forward to each and every day.

There was no denying we were in the best place we’d been in since meeting one another.

I believed tonight had the power to change everything, though. Because it was Saturday evening, the night of the Westwood Christmas party, and I’d decided to put an end to the way things were.

I’d become so attracted to Evelyn, and I just didn’t want to hold myself back any longer. I wanted her to know the truth about how I felt for her.