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I blinked. “What?”
He kept his gaze steady on mine. “It must be almost lunchtime. I need to eat. I’m guessing you need to eat. So… If we ended up at the same place to eat at the same time, it’d only be economical to save table space and, you know, eat together.”
I couldn’t tell him no. First of all, I didn’t want to say no. And secondly, it just seemed awful of me to deny him anything after the way I was treating him with all my running and evading business.
So I bobbed my head up and down. “Okay.”
For some reason, I couldn’t remember a single reason why I’d ever thought I needed to stay away from him.
CHAPTER TWELVE
As soon as I acquiesced, Ezra rose from the chair he’d been sitting in. He held a hand down to me. I took his fingers and had to bite the inside of my lip at the thrill that raced through me when his
warm touch made contact with mine. Not even glancing down at all the dust no doubt covering my slacks, I continued to gaze into Ezra’s blue-blue eyes as I brushed my knees clean.
His smile widened as if he thought my antics were amusing. He kept staring into my eyes and holding my hand as he started toward the exit of Brick’s office.
My stepbrother was still on the phone when we entered the hall. He paused talking, and dropped one end of the cell from his mouth so he could rubberneck, his shocked gaze darting from our clasped hands to our faces. I could only imagine how brightly my cheeks were glowing. It felt as if I were under a spell that made me unreasonably content.
“Uh…” Brick said, his gaze narrowing on Ezra. “Where do you think you’re taking my new secretary?”
“We’re going to lunch,” Ezra informed him, stepping protectively closer to me as he eyed my brother distrustfully.
Brick blinked, then pulled the phone away from his ear so he could check the screen. “But it’s not even nine a.m.”
“Then we’re going to breakfast,” Ezra correctly smoothly.
I pressed a hand to my stomach where my guts were stirring with ecstatic anxiety. “I haven’t eaten anything today,” I offered, which was true. “I’m starving.”
Ezra glanced at me, his gaze sharp as if he didn’t like the idea of me going hungry. So he sent Brick a decisive nod and pulled me toward the elevator. “She’ll be back later.”
My stepbrother had no answer for that. He merely stared after us as we continued down the hall. Ezra pressed the button for the elevator doors, and they slid open under his command. Then he motioned for me to enter first.
I stepped inside, my heart doing jumping jacks in my chest as he followed me in.
As soon as the doors closed, Ezra turned to me. I had no idea what he had in mind, but I had a bad feeling it would be more tempting than I could handle resisting, so to diffuse whatever he had planned, I blurted, “I’m glad we’re having this breakfast actually, because…”
With his blue eyes so extremely intent on mine, my brain short-circuited and words drifted silent.
Had I been talking? I had no idea what I’d been saying.
“You are so damn cute,” he murmured, his eyes squinting slightly with how big he was grinning.
Oh, boy.
I cleared my throat and glanced away. There. Connection broken. I could talk again. “Because… Because, well, yeah. I need you to understand that nothing between us can ever happen. Ever. And furthermore—”
He leaned in and set his mouth against mine.
When he pulled back a second later, I sucked in a breath and tried to reorient myself.
“I, uh...” I shook my head and blinked him back into focus before tugging my bottom lip between my teeth so I could get more of the taste he’d left behind. It was like coffee and chocolate and cookie. My chocolate chip cookies. Oh, damn, he tasted good. I shook my head again and pointed at him. “What was that?”
“That was me disagreeing with you on the we-can-never-happen-again point you were trying to make.” He shrugged. “I mean, I might’ve been more inclined to listen to your argument if you didn’t kiss me back whenever I kiss you. But you do. Every. Single. Time. So from my perspective, it seems like we could happen quite nicely.”
“Yes, but…” I sighed. “That’s another thing we need to discuss. You really need to stop kissing me, no matter how I respond. Because… Because…” When I didn’t readily come up with a reason, he grinned and lifted an eyebrow, smugly waiting for me to continue. I scowled and sniffed. “You know, there’s more to a relationship than just chemistry, and kissing, and… And…”
“Is there?” he asked with the utmost interest, as if he were vastly intrigued to hear exactly what made up a relationship.
