Page 57 of Brighter Together

“Definitely not,” I say.

Her mouth curves. “Good. Because Lord Grumpiness was becoming exhausting.”

“He’s retired.”

“Excellent.”

I smile, but the easy part of this conversation is over.

“I’m still your boss, though.”

“I know.”

“And that means it’s not that easy.”

There’s no defensiveness in her face, just patience, which somehow makes it easier to say the rest.

“I like you too, Tommy. Quite a lot actually.”

I’ve never wanted to kiss anyone as much as I want to kiss her right now.

“But, of course, I know it’s not that easy.”

Her expression turns serious.

We could spend the next hour listing every possible complication and still not know whether there’s anything between us worth complicating our lives for.

Ella seems to reach the same conclusion because she settles back slightly and says, “What if we use Manchester to find out?”

I raise an eyebrow. “Find out what?”

“Whether there is actually something between us.”

My pulse kicks harder.

She gives a small shrug, although there’s nothing casual about the way she’s watching me.

“We’re away from Greenview Manor. Nobody from work is here. We’ve got two days together.”

“And several architecture meetings.”

“Yes. I remember the actual reason we’re going,” she snorts.

I laugh.

“So we do the meetings,” she continues. “We stay professional when we need to. And outside that…”

She trails off and glances towards the windscreen.

I wait.

“Outside that?”

Her gaze comes back to mine.

“We stop pretending we don’t want each other.”

There goes any chance of my dick behaving for the rest of the drive.