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He nodded, and I detected a note of relief on his face. Then he tipped his head thoughtfully. “Then maybe my dress did freak you out. That was honestly my first time, and I doubt I’ll ever wear one again. Same for the shoes.” He shrugged before charming me with a rueful grin. “At least until I lose another bet.”
I had to crack a smile in return. He was just too damn adorable…in the sexiest way possible. “The dress didn’t freak me out. The shoes neither. They actually probably drew me to you more. They were… Fun.”
“Then, was it my—”
“No,” I had to say before he could try to blame something else on himself. “You did absolutely nothing wrong. You were…” I shook my head, not sure how to describe him without making myself look like a giddy schoolgirl with a raging crush, right before I blurted, “Amazing,” totally making myself look like a giddy schoolgirl with a raging crush.
His expression brightened and his lips tipped up in pleasure before a thoughtful frown seemed to catch him unaware. “So… I did nothing wrong, yet you ran away before I could even get your name, and then this morning, you went and hid behind a filing cabinet in the dust to avoid me.”
I glanced down and immediately flushed when I found a host of dust bunnies dry humping my knees. Nasty little critters.
Quickly wiping them away, I cringed at Ezra. “Yep. That all sounds about right.”
He chuckled quietly before asking, “So then why do you keep running?”
“What a good question,” I stalled, flashing him a quick smile.
With a nod, he agreed. “It really is, isn’t it?”
“Yes, it is.” I nodded too.
When he said nothing more, my stalling tactic fell dead. We had a short stare-off before he grinned big and lifted his eyebrows, letting me know he wasn’t leaving until I answered him.
“Okay, here’s the deal,” I burst out. “I can’t… Shouldn’t… I mean, ugh! Let’s just say you could have done absolutely everything right—which you basically did—and I still would’ve run. I’m so sorry, but there are other, extenuating circumstances keeping me away that—” I held up a finger to stop him when he opened his mouth to speak. “—have nothing to do with me working here, or you being anything less than perfect.”
“All right,” he said slowly, studying me intently as if trying to pry his way into my head and figure out my extenuating circumstances. When he had no luck reading my mind, he let out a breath. “Are you by chance going to tell me what those circumstances are?”
“Um, well. I can’t. Not really.” I gave a helpless shrug. “So, sorry. Again.”
He narrowed his eyes, not amused. “Can’t or won’t?”
“Huh.” I thought it through. “You know, it may be a won’t, but it really feels like a can’t.”
“You told me Carmichael wasn’t your boyfriend.” He sounded almost accusative. We both glanced at the back of Brick’s head on the other side of the glass wall. He was still on the phone, so we turned back to each other
“He’s not,” I assured.
“Is anyone your boyfriend?”
I shook my head no.
“Husband?” he tried.
Huffing out my exasperation, I stated, “I have no significant other at all.”
He growled before jerking his hands into the air with defeat. “You’re impossible.”
I sent him a heartfelt sympathetic wince. “Not purposely.”
His lips twitched and eyes softened. I could tell the moment he decided to forgive me for aggravating him so much with my evasiveness. His entire expression changed as if he just couldn’t make himself stay mad at me, as if… As if he’d missed me.
Or that part was probably just me projecting my own feelings off onto him, because I’d definitely missed him. I hadn’t even realized it until that moment, when I met his gaze and everything shifted into place as if I were home.
But that was crazy, right? You couldn’t miss someone you didn’t even know and hadn’t even spent a full hour with.
Could you?
“Do you want to get out of here?” he asked, jerking me from my daze.
