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“Of course,” she replied. “Just show me where to begin.”
The smile that lit his face had her melting inside, the one that revealed those tiny eye crinkles, and she wasn’t sure which warmed her more, the smile or his confidence in her skills to entrust her with a project like this.
That, and she would be working with him, one-on-one, for long hours until the project was done. She knew she shouldn’t be as ecstatic as she was about it, but it couldn’t be helped. She craved his nearness like her next breath, as unhealthy as that was.
In a thoughtless, momentary lapse, she threw her arms around his neck, hugging him tight with gratitude. She quickly realized it was a mistake, and was going to let go and put some space between them, hopefully managing to play it off like it was a normal, casual thing, but before she could let him go, she felt his arms close in around her body and press her close to him.
She pulled back to look into his face, searching for answers to questions she didn’t know how to ask, and he stared back, seeming to be searching for answers from her, too.
She stole herself away and out of his grasp and looked down to the floor with embarrassment. “Sorry, I got a little over-excited.” She peeked up at him through her inky lashes and a smile creeped across her face.
He chuckled and straightened the frames that rested on the bridge of his nose. “Okay, let’s get started.”
They got right to work, diving into the fine details of the project. They worked straight through lunch and had Chinese take-out delivered in. Part of the day, Farren spent going over some of the system Rayner had already been working on, and part of the day she got his input on how he needed some areas reworked.
She felt alive again for the first time in weeks, and she loved it. It seemed like they would still be able to work together without things being too weird between them, even if the sight, smell, and sound of him were like a hypnotic siren’s call to her entire system. This could be doable.
As they left late that evening, he offered to walk her out since it was dark by then. She would just need to wait for him to lock up. She wasn’t going to turn the offer down, so she waited with him, and it didn’t take long before they were walking out together.
She tried not to read too much into it when his hand went to the small of her back as they walked out the exit together, letting it linger there, awakening all the nerve-endings in her body and lighting them each on fire. She was hyper-aware of him, and she hated herself for it.
As soon as they got out the door, though, the cold night air wasn’t the only thing that struck Farren into silence. She saw someone parked next to her car, and he got out as soon as he saw Farren emerge from the building. He had been waiting for her.
“Paul?” she said in confusion. “What are you doing here?”
“I wanted to see you,” he answered, and looked from Farren to her boss, who had dropped his hand away from her upon noticing they were no longer alone.
Farren looked up at Rogan and saw a hint of skepticism behind his eyes.
“Is everything okay?” he asked, quiet and tense.
“Um, yes, it’s okay. I know him,” she said.
Rogan nodded and then walked around his truck to leave.
“Oh! Don’t forget I’ll be in late tomorrow,” she called to him before he climbed in to the cab of the vehicle.
He nodded, acknowledging what she had said, then waved before his truck roared to life and he backed out to leave.
Damn-it, Paul, your timing sucks, she thought to herself, turning to face him.
“What’s up, Paul? What do you need?” She said with more than a little impatience.
“I just wanted to talk. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you since I saw you at the party this weekend,” he said, moving in close to her.
She took a step back and held a hand up to him to stop him in his tracks.
“Yeah, I’m going to stop you right there. For one, you were at that party with your new girlfriend, or did you forget?”
“She’s not my girlfriend. She’s nobody, seriously.”
Farren rolled her eyes. “Whatever. You were the one who wanted to break up, Paul, remember?” She started moving toward her Chevy Spark, bringing her keys out to unlock the doors.
“I never said I wanted to break up. I just said I wanted to take a break,” he corrected, following closely behind her.
“Really? You’re going to try to play that card? I’m not stupid. I know what saying you want to take a break means. I moved on. You should, too,” she told him, and clicked the keyless entry button to unlock her doors. She reached for the door handle, but he stopped her, grabbing her arms and pulling her toward him.
“Come on, don’t be like that, baby. We had a good thing.” He tried to reach up to touch her face, but she batted his hand away.
