Page 60 of Bossman

“I don’t like the waxy feel on my lips. You’re going to have to stop using it soon.”

“Let me guess—because my lips will be smearing it on yours?”

“Exactly.”

“Yet another reason why we could never work,” I teased.

“One of us will get over it.”

I shook my head at his persistence. “So how long did you say you’re staying in Kansas?”

“That’s up to you.”

“Up to me?”

“I didn’t lie when I said I tried to not come. The minute I heard you were going out of town, I wanted to join you. Thought about telling you I wanted to sit in on the sessions, but figured you’d see right through that.”

“So you’re saying you came for no other reason but me?”

He nodded seriously. “Just you.”

“Is this your normal style? Stalkerish chic?”

“Not exactly…which is probably why I have no idea what to do. Avoiding it hasn’t really been working.”

“So what is your style then when you date?”

“How’s this honesty thing working for me?”

I laughed. “Pretty good so far. Go ahead, I won’t judge.”

Chase gulped back the rest of his mimosa. “I haven’t had to work too hard for a woman’s attention.”

“I would have guessed that. Is that what the intrigue is here, then? A man who wants what he can’t have? That’s not a novel concept.”

His eyes went back and forth, searching mine, and I knew he was deliberating saying something. Eventually, he said, “You’re right. I do want what I don’t have. That’s part of it. But not in the way you think. Don’t ask me to explain it, but when I’m around you, I’m happy. That’s all I’m after.”

His answer caught me totally off guard. “Wow. That’s…that’s…incredibly sweet.”

Chase took my half-full mimosa from my hand and chugged it before speaking again. “Now don’t get me wrong, I’d be way fucking happy if you were beneath me at night. But you want to keep some distance between us physically? I respect that. Although, I’m going to be right here…making it hard for you.”

It was my turn to lean in. “Is that in the literal or figurative sense?”

Chase still had my hand entwined with his. He pulled it to his chest and lowered it down his abs, stopping just above the top of his pants. “Keep it up—I’m going to demonstrate.”

***

After landing, we caught a cab to the focus group offices and spent a few hours working with the facilitator who would run things the next day. Chase helped set up, but he deferred to me for decisions that needed to be made where I had more expertise. I liked that in a boss…and a man.

After we’d finished, we stopped by a mall on the way to our hotel since Chase really hadn’t brought an overnight bag and had nothing to wear. Inside Nordstrom’s, I helped him pick out some casual clothes. While he was in the fitting room, I continued to shop on some of the nearby racks. He walked out wearing a pair of jeans and a simple navy polo that fit perfectly across his wide chest. His feet were bare and his hair even more mussed than usual from changing.

I walked over with a button-up I’d picked out, and Chase held out his arms and did a little spin circle. “Good?”

“I seriously doubt there’s anything that looks bad on you.” I held out the other shirt for him to try on.

He reached up over his head, tugged at the yoke of the polo, and pulled it off in that way that only boys remove their shirts. It was impossible not to stare. His body was just so incredibly perfect. Tanned and lean, every muscle seemed carved into his body. The jeans were a bit loose at the waist and hung low, showcasing his deep-set V. I was pretty sure he had the best body I’d ever seen up close.

I had inadvertently licked my lips, and Chase noticed. “You keep looking at me like that, we’re going to wind up in the fitting room.”