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Just like that, the big, skilful hands were gone from my skin and a moment later the couch dipped. I slowly opened my eyes to find William sitting right next to me.
He cleared his throat. ‘Let’s look at this so we can send it out.’
I kept my grin as small as possible. ‘I told you I was good at flirting.’ I got a pillow so I could put the laptop on my lap so we could both see the screen. My back wasn’t into that idea whatsoever.
‘You didn’t even say anything. What are you talking about?’
‘I’m that good. I don’t even need words to flirt,’ I said in a serious tone and smiled when I heard his laughter. ‘You can lie to yourself, of course. I know the truth and that’s what matters. Okay,’ I started, turning my eyes back to the screen. ‘Since you don’t want to flirt with your friend, let’s finish this so I can take my baby home.’ I brought the cursor to the paragraph he wanted to go over.
‘Okay, let’s do this.’ He leaned towards me so he could get a better look at the screen, but I leaned back. ‘What’s wrong?’ he asked, eyes on me as he tilted his head.
‘The glasses.’
‘So?’ He took them off, and we stared at them for a second, then he put them back on. ‘Sometimes I need to wear them if I’m working late.’
‘William…’ He met my gaze. Did I really want to say what I was about to say out loud? I probably didn’t, but also kinda did. The honesty thing. I could always blame the honesty thing. ‘You never wore them at the office. Tonight is the first time I’m seeing them. I’m trying really hard not to crush on you right now. And just so you know, it’s a real struggle.’
He gave me a long look and stayed quiet for a few more seconds after I’d ended my confession.
‘I’m trying to understand if you’re flirting with me to prepare for your date or if you’re being honest.’
I gave him a small smile. ‘If I tell you something it’s because I’m being honest. Flirting or no flirting. Your glasses are really throwing me off.’
His eyes didn’t let me look away. ‘You like how I look,’ he guessed.
It wasn’t a question, because he already knew I liked how he looked. I had this sudden urge to reach up and touch his messy hair, but I balled my hand into a fist at my side to stop myself.
Since he wasn’t looking away, my heart started to beat a mile a minute again, and I had to force myself to glance away. ‘You already know,’ I murmured, shifting in my seat to reach for the laptop. Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath and then slowly let it out to balance myself, because it was fine. I was just fine. I slowly opened my eyes to focus on the statement, since we had to send it to the CEO tonight. It was still too hot in the room and suddenly too bright as well. I didn’t look at him, but I could feel the weight of his eyes on my skin all the same.
Flirting with William was not sensible, ‘Okay, that might have been a mistake on my part. No more flirting, I think.’ Clearing my throat, I started changing the paragraph to first person as fast as possible.
‘Why did you change your mind? I thought you wanted to practice?’
I ignored him.
‘Okay, how about this?’ I turned the laptop so he could see the screen better, but he scooted closer until our shoulders were almost touching. First, I couldn’t put space between us because Pepp was a heavy weight settled right against my thigh. Second, it would look weird. I sat up straighter and tried to act like his closeness wasn’t affecting me at all.
‘Charlie, I believe that’s the wrong paragraph.’
I was looking away from the screen, but as soon as he spoke up, I realized my mistake. ‘Ah, I’m so sorry. I’ll change that back to what it was. One sec.’ I clicked ‘undo’ and then started on the actual paragraph he wanted me to change.
‘That’s not first person. What are you doing, Charlie?’ William whispered against my ear, and I had to stop typing altogether. ‘Are you affected by me?’ A slow shiver worked its way down my spine, and I curled my fingers around the edge of the laptop.
We were working. We had a time limit. The company was waiting to hear back from us. I wasn’t supposed to get lost in what I was feeling. What he was making me feel.
‘Just a second,’ I whispered and closed my eyes to get myself together. It wasn’t just his eyes, his hair, his arms, his chest or even his glasses, his closeness, his voice that was throwing me off, it was his cologne too. ‘I think I should go…’
