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I winced. There was nowhere to hide from them after this. Not that I was sure I actually wanted to hide anything.
I moved my surprised and slightly astonished gaze to William, but he looked absolutely serious as he gestured to my laptop with his chin.
‘Please, show me the statement you prepared.’
I made sure not to look at him the entire meeting, but he made it almost impossible for me with every touch of his knee against my thigh. He was one of the most hardworking guys I’d ever met in my life and knowing that he was struggling to stay away from me or to hold himself back from me caused my heart to give a little extra kick.
In the middle of the meeting, right after I’d made my speech to Mr Dunne about considering changing some of their policies on people they hire and the trainings they should go through and the positive reaction it would get from the public following the firing of their pilot, Stan and Rick took over the conversation from me. It was right then that William put his hand on my thigh – just as he had done in his mom’s house and only a few days ago at another meeting. But then there hadn’t been so many people around us.
And now, after having had his skin against mine the night before, the burn I felt from his hand was not comparable to anything I’d ever experienced. I was seconds away from combusting. His hand slowly moved higher, pulling my knee-length pencil skirt, which had a slit in the middle, with it. I cleared my throat and focused on the laptop in front of me. He stopped midway and I dared a glance at him. The tension in the room was palpable. I didn’t understand how nobody could feel what was happening, how nobody could hear my thunderous heartbeats.
Our composure didn’t falter because he was the perfect picture of a team leader who was following every word of the meeting, whereas I couldn’t even count to ten if someone had asked it of me, or even tell them my name.
Charlie, who?
I was thankful that his hand had stopped. I wasn’t sure how I’d react if it had kept moving another few inches, because I was bound to embarrass us both if a moan or groan escaped from my lips. My gaze dropped to my lap and I saw his open palm, the back of his hand still burning a permanent spot on my leg. I bit my lower lip, trying to catch up on who was saying what, as there was a roar in my ears. Both my hands were poised on my laptop, but I moved one down and fitted my palm against his waiting hand. Agonizingly slowly, he laced his fingers through mine. My breath caught in my throat when he gave my hand a squeeze and didn’t let go. We sat like that for the next ten minutes with his hand holding mine, my emotions running wild in my chest.
And it felt so right.
So beautiful.
Just as the meeting was coming to an end, he leaned towards me, our shoulders brushing. ‘Have lunch with me?’ he asked softly.
I smiled, and replied just as softly. ‘I have to get on a call with Nora. I can’t.’
The meeting wrapped up and before we could say another word to each other Gayle scooped him away to discuss another account, and Rick pulled me away to prepare for another meeting. I dared to look over my shoulder and watched his eyes burn as they followed me all the way. I turned around so I wouldn’t walk into a wall and realized I was already missing his touch. And how was I supposed to survive in California, so far away from him, when I’d just got him to myself?
Even though I’d skipped lunch myself I went out and got him something, leaving it in his office with a note.
How can I be missing you like crazy when I’m looking at you from across the room? You’ll make me go insane.
* * *
‘How could you not tell me?’ Gayle pressed for the hundredth time ever since I admitted to her that, yes, William and I were actually, maybe, quite possibly now dating.
‘I just told you half an hour ago.’ I exited the bathroom after washing my hands.
‘You only told me because I pushed.’
I headed straight towards my office. Not only had I not had time to go out for lunch after my call with Nora, I hadn’t even had extra time to sit down. ‘Let’s not fool each other, you already knew.’
‘Of course I knew. I won a bet, thanks to you two.’
That stopped me in my tracks.
‘Excuse me? Did you say you bet on us?’
She snorted and kept walking. ‘Do I look like an amateur? Of course I did. Easy money.’
