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“Taylor,” he said, his voice gruff.
He was looking at me like that again. The intensity in his eyes almost made me believe he truly had feelings for me.
I couldn’t fall for it. Harley told me this was a repeat of last Christmas. He’d taken some sales executive home, slept with her, then snuck out in the middle of the night, never calling or speaking to her again. He’d no doubt do the same with me. It was a pattern with this guy.
“It’s fine,” I said.
I turned back to stare at the strip of road in front of me. I knew there wasn’t a chance in hell that the rideshare driver would show up right now. It would be too perfect if he did.
“I just met you twelve hours ago, and I know it’s crazy.” He stepped a little closer to me. “If you tell me to fuck off, I’ll leave you alone, but I want you to hear me out first.”
My eyebrows arched, but I continued to stare straight ahead. If this was supposed to be some sort of grand gesture, he had an interesting way of wording it. Fuck off?
“I know I have a reputation around town, as do a lot of my colleagues,” he said. “Some of it’s deserved. Some of it’s not. But no man I know is going to marry every woman he sleeps with. Same with most women. That means some hearts are going to get broken and some feelings are going to get hurt. Some pride is going to be wounded. You get my point.”
I looked over at him. “I’m not sure I do.”
“I’ve never in my thirty-six years met a woman who made me feel the things you do. Everything about you just feels right to me somehow. I don’t want to scare you off, but I also don’t want you to run because you think I’m just in this for sex. I’d be fine spending time with you, talking and getting to know you. Maybe holding hands.”
I turned to fully face him, but I crossed my arms over my chest. It was a protective measure.
“I’m not like a lot of women,” I said. “I can’t just sleep with a guy for fun. My feelings get involved.”
It was almost laughable, considering I’d never slept with a guy before tonight. But I’d known all along that this would happen. I couldn’t even kiss a man unless I was seriously attracted to him. There was no such thing as a purely physical relationship for me.
“I’m just scared of getting hurt,” I said.
I was surprised how easy it was to open up to him about this. With any other guy, I would have hidden my feelings and talked to my friends about it. So why was it different this time?
Maybe it was because this was the real deal.
“That makes two of us,” he said. “There’s a reason it’s been years since I’ve been in a serious relationship. I got hurt. It was the last time I let myself be vulnerable to anyone. I swore I’d never let a woman that close to my heart again. And then I met you.”
His words were working their way into my heart. It was more than what he was saying. It was the look in his eyes. The intensity was gone, replaced by a warmth and sincerity that hadn’t been there before.
This wasn’t about lust or attraction. This wasn’t about him thinking I was beautiful or wanting to take my clothes off. This was about a connection. And it was a connection I felt when he turned to look at me in Dr. Maloney’s office.
“Don’t break my heart,” I said, looking him in the eye. “And I won’t break yours. Deal?”
He smiled. “Deal. Now, it’s freezing out here. What do you say we go inside and hang out for a little while?”
I smiled and put my hand in his. He led me into the building.
Once we got inside, I canceled the rideshare. I had someone who would give me a lift home now…and for the rest of my life.
EPILOGUE
JONAH
“Is this everything?” I asked as I hoisted the box full of gift bags and refreshments from the trunk of our SUV.
Next to me, Taylor nodded. “One gift for each employee, plus the cookies we baked yesterday.”
She reached up to close the trunk door, but I beat her to it. I gave her a look, balancing the box on my knee and pressing the button myself.
“I can close trunks,” she said. “I’m pregnant, not a delicate piece of china.”
“To me, you’re more valuable than any delicate piece of china…or anything else. As long as I’m around, you don’t have to lift a finger. Even if a finger is all that’s needed to close this trunk.”
