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“I mean it, Bree.” Ant once again reaches across the table and takes my hand in his. “You have absolutely no idea how incredible you are, do you?”
I don’t know what to say to that so I just stare back at him, my loss for words apparent.
“You always did doubt your self-worth, I guess I just never understood why,” he admits, clearly questioning if he should have said the statement out loud.
“I can give you a million reasons,” I blurt, wishing I could pull the words back in.
“Don’t do that.” His thumb runs circles across the back of my hand. “You may not see the amazing girl I do, but one day, Kingsley, one day I’m gonna make sure you do,” he promises, his words holding more meaning than I think I’m really equipped to process at the current moment.
“I already agreed to let you stay with me,” I joke, pulling my hand away in an attempt to lighten the mood. “What the hell more do you want?” I cross my arms in front of my chest and give him a pointed look.
“Well, there is one thing.” I know instantly he can tell I’m shutting down, and he switches gears from serious to joking with ease.
“Uh oh.” I smile, thankful for the shift.
“I’ve got this really bad knot in my left shoulder blade.” He reaches around and rubs the spot he’s talking about, clearly just messing with me.
“Now that’s where I draw the line,” I laugh, shaking my head. “The only massaging that will take place is if you’re massaging me.”
“Is that so?” The look he gives me sends heat straight through my body and I physically squirm in my seat, hopeful that he can’t tell what he’s doing to me.
“That’s how it works.” I shrug, uncrossing my arms to grab my beer.
“I just so happen to be the world’s best masseuse.” He smirks.
“Among everything else,” I quip.
“You haven’t seen anything yet,” he promises, and again I can’t tell if he’s just messing with me or if he’s trying to feel me out and gauge my reaction to his clear flirting.
“You talk a big game, Treadway.” I play his card and call him by his last name.
“Oh, but I can back it up too; don’t you worry that pretty little head of yours about that.” He winks.
“Oh my God,” I laugh, shaking my head. “Does that actually work on girls?” I call him out, deciding that’s he’s just messing with me, and a little disappointed by this fact.
“What?” he questions cutely. “Not impressed?”
“I mean, maybe if I had no sense whatsoever,” I kid.
“Ouch.” He flattens his hand over his heart. “You wound me, Kingsley.”
“You’ll recover.”
“And she’s cold as ice.” He forms a fist over his heart like I’ve just stabbed him.
“I just don’t know what to do with you,” I say through my laughter.
“I can think of a few things,” he quickly adds.
“You’re relentless. My God, I can’t take you anywhere.”
“That may be true,” he admits.
“So back to the matter at hand, tell me more about the job offer.”
His eyes sparkle under the dim lighting, and it’s clear he knows exactly what I’m doing. Even still, he doesn’t question it. He shifts back into our previous conversation without missing a beat. He spends the next thirty minutes telling me everything he’s learned about the company so far, and, based on what they’ve told him, exactly what he’ll be doing.
Normally, I might be underwhelmed listening to someone talk about work, but with Ant, I swear he could read me the phone book and I’d still be hooked on every word.
