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He should’ve said no.
He should’ve cited work as a plausible excuse.
He should’ve remembered every sensible reason he had for pushing this woman away and not getting involved.
Instead, he found himself grabbing his car keys off his desk, placing a hand in the small of her back and propelling her out the door while trying not to grin like he’d just discovered Tutankhamen’s forgotten tomb.
“Lucky for you, I’m in an extremely repentant mood,” he said. “Let’s go get that drink.”
ChapterFour
“Is this one of your regular haunts?”
Beth bit back a smile at Aidan’s dubious tone. She’d been right in her assumption her stuffy boss wouldn’t frequent a place like this.
Though that was unfair. Aidan wasn’t all that stuffy considering she’d basically run a guilt trip on him earlier, not expecting he’d take her up on it. And not only had he gone for her idea, he’d been laid-back, witty, and charming on the way over here, regaling her with tales of his adventures overseas, making her all too aware of how downright appealing he was.
Much easier to think of him as uptight and not her type when in fact his adventurous side matched hers. She loved travelling too, loved exploring, loved finding hidden delights in places she’d never been, and hearing his stories only served to reinforce how much she needed to do well at this job so she could secure the gallery, make loads more money from selling her work, and indulge her passion for travel.
And doing well at this job meant not melting in a puddle at her boss’s feet every time he smiled.
Trying to delude herself into focussing on ‘stuffy’ and not ‘sexy’ she glanced around. The Loft was packed to its steel rafters with patrons draped over the expansive mirrored bar, the low curved ruby sofas and each other, while funky acid jazz spewed out of floor to ceiling speakers designed to wake the dead.
“Don’t worry, Professor, I’ll look after you.” She raised her cranberry martini in his direction while silently cringing for letting that little gem slip out.
His eyebrows shot up. “What did you just call me?”
“Professor,” she mumbled into her drink, using the glass to shield her burgeoning smile at the frown creasing his brow and making him look more professor-ish than ever.
“Why?”
She waved away his question, sloshing some of her drink onto his leg in the process. “Oops, sorry.”
She grabbed at the napkin serving as a coaster on the table and dabbed at the spreading gin stain on his pants.
“Leave it, it’s fine,” he snapped, stilling her frantic hand while she tried not to yank hers out from under his.
If she thought he looked hot, it had nothing on the effect he had on her body when he touched her. It had taken all her willpower back in his office not to lean into him when he’d taken hold of her arms in a purely reflex gesture, the type of rescuing gesture a guy like him would make.
She shouldn’t have invited him for a drink. Flirting with the boss couldn’t end well. What had she been thinking?
She hadn’t, as usual, caught up in living in the moment. Story of her life.
“You didn’t answer my question.” He released her hand before taking a healthy slug of his boutique beer. “Why professor?”
“It’s a term of endearment.”
She raised her martini glass in his direction before draining the rest of her drink. Better to appear a lush than accidentally upend it over his chest. Though if she got a chance to dab at that broad expanse of muscle because of it…
His lips twitched, drawing her attention to their shape. They looked tailor-made for imparting instructions to his employees…or for kissing crazy women not doing a very good job when their dreams depended on it.
“But we hardly know each other. Not to mention I’m your boss and have bailed you up several times today, and you find me endearing?” He shook his head, a slow smile spreading across his face. “You’re full of surprises.”
If he bowled her over with his touch, his killer smile slugged her with its sensual power, and she cast a frantic glance at the bar, wishing it wasn’t inappropriate to get tipsy in front of the boss on the first day.
“So tell me a bit about yourself, something I wouldn’t know from reading your CV.”
Twirling the delicate martini glass stem between her fingers, she decided to have a little fun. If the professor wanted her to do a better job, why not impress him with a little knowledge?
