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“I’m sorry. I didn’t realize it was a crime to want to hook up with a woman I found insanely attractive. Maybe you should try letting people in, then you wouldn’t have such a stick up your ass,” he bites back, eliciting a resounding gasp from my lips.
“I do not have a stick up my ass. And for your information, I’ve hooked up with plenty of men,” I tell him, hoping my voice comes off as more assured than I think.
He finds me insanely attractive?
“Is that so?” he growls, his voice lowering dangerously as he takes a step closer. I’m sure he’s doing this on purpose.
I quickly step back as I ask, “What are you doing?”
“What?” he asks, feigning confusion as he takes another step closer, forcing me to press my back into the wall.
He’s so close to me that our chests are almost touching. My heart is skittering, but I aim a defiant look up at him anyways. He doesn’t say anything, grinning confidently, his body casting a shadow over me. He revels in my discomfort.
You’d think after him finding out who my dad is, he’d do anything in his power to keep his distance. But for some reason, he enjoys playing with fire.
“Are you nervous, Maria?” he asks, letting his head bend lower to mine, his warm breath just barely ghosting over my face.
“No,” I tell him, but I can’t fully hide the quiver in my voice as I try to deny it.
“Someone who gets plenty of men shouldn’t be nervous, right?” he asks, the smirk on his face growing more and more irritating by the second.
“Good thing I’m not nervous,” I tell him, my voice sounding stronger as I keep a steely gaze on him.
He moves his body closer until his chest is only a hair’s width away from my own. Why is this elevator taking so long? Maybe I should ask my dad about it, you know, for productivity’s sake.
“Are you sure?” he asks, this time bringing his lips down right by my ear, causing my mouth to part open.
I look over, seeing his eyes peering into mine, our faces so close I could just lean up and kiss him if I wanted.
But I don’t. Not at all.
The sound of the door opening snaps me from my thoughts, and Tyler dutifully steps back from me.
“I think you can take it from here,” he says with an easy smile, gesturing out the open elevator door.
I don’t say anything as I snap my head away from him, turning my nose up as I exit the small enclosure.
And for the first time since I got in that elevator, I’m able to breathe.
CHAPTER3
TYLER
“So, you’re sure you didn’t choose this office space to be close to me?” I ask, sitting in Jared’s new office that still has several boxes that need to be unpacked.
“Yeah, Tyler, it isn’t like this is the business district or anything.” He tosses a french fry in my direction, and it lands on his desk in front of me.
Of course, I pick it up and eat it.
Jared landing an investor for his company was huge. Not only was he able to hire three new people to his team, making a total of six people in his company, but his new office space is a step up from using the spare bedroom in his apartment. And he’s close enough that with the hour-long lunch breaks I take, we can easily eat together if we want.
“Anyway, don’t change the subject,” Jared tells me after setting down his burger. “You didn’t recognize her as your boss's daughter when we were in the bar?”
I huff at the question. “I don’t make a point of staring at his family photos. Anyway, the girl in his photos was much younger than Maria is now,” I explain, still not quite comprehending how I’ve managed to get myself in this pickle.
“I can’t believe you were hitting on your boss's daughter.” Jared laughs, seeming to find my inner turmoil hilarious.
“I’m glad you’re amused. To make it worse, now I have to hang out with a bunch of preschoolers once a week,” I explain, grimacing at the thought. “Monica was already a handful at that age. Now I’m expected to hang out with, like, twenty of them.”
