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By the time I pocket my phone, it’s just Henry and me and Smuckers. Henry has Smuckers all leashed up.
“What?” he says.
“It’s just really nice. For the memory of your mother. For animals in need. For my friend’s organization.” I feel drained. Confused.
“I want to make this work,” he says. “There’s no reason we all can’t get what we want, right?” He takes a step toward me, extending a hand. “Truce?”
I’m overwhelmed by his nearness, his unexpected kindness, the intense masculine energy that seems to be concentrated in his hand—so much so that I feel shy to take it.
But it’s there before me.
I pause, mouth dry. Slowly, I place my fingers inside his. His hand is smooth and heavy, and it closes over mine, swallowing it up completely. Heat shivers through me.
“You know what we need to do now?” he asks.
“What?”
“Make one of those ridiculous giant checks,” he says.
“That doesn’t seem like the kind of thing that would be in a CEO job description.”
“It’s in the CEO job description if the CEO says it is. I make the operational rules here.” He lets my hand go.
I stand there reeling, trying to untangle the annoyance from the allure when he takes Smuckers’s leash and heads across the tundra of blue elegance. Smuckers trots after him without so much as a glance back at me.
“Hey…” I start after them. “You can’t just take Smuckers.”
He gets into the elevator and claps a hand over the door, eyes sparkling. Henry can do anything he wants.
“Fine.” I get in and I stab the lobby button a few times. Stab stab stab.
“The doors don’t shut faster when you do that,” he says.
“Shows what you know.” I stab it again. The doors shut. “See?”
He rolls his eyes. And we’re alone.
The air between us is thick and heavy.
He turns to me, gaze serious. “We’ll whip out the check at the fabrication facility. It’ll be good for you to see some of the operations beyond the office.”
I nod.
Just then the doors open and two women come barreling in with a giant cart. “Oh, Mr. Locke!” the older one says. “We can take the next.”
“Come on, there’s room.” He rests his fingers on my elbow and guides me back to the corner in order to make room for the huge cart. It’s just a light pressure, fingertips to elbow, but the sizzle burns clear through me.
His eyes rivet to mine. Did he feel it, too? He removes his hand, and I think he did feel it, but no, he’s helping to adjust the cart.
“Thank you,” the other woman says, with a gaze of enchantment.
Henry nods and grabs the bar at the back of the elevator.
The thing stops again and a woman and two small boys get on.
I set my own hand on the bar back there, right near his. His suit sleeve grazes my bare arm. My body hums with his nearness, with the tickle of fine fabric.
“We’ve got the Prime-Valu people on four,” the one woman says, unaware of the strange combustion in our corner. “That room projector bulb issue, but just to be safe…” She seems to wait for his blessing.
