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Stunned and excited, she blurted out, “Please don’t feel obligated to ask me out because of Mrs. Koeppel. It really isn’t necessary.”
He smiled. “I don’t feel obligated at all. We both have to eat, and it would be nice to get to know you a little better. What do you say?”
She couldn’tsayanything. Her mouth flopped open and quickly closed, before opening again.
Gray’s smiled widened. He raised a brow, cocked his head, and patiently waited for her to respond.
Taking a shaky breath, she responded, “I would like that very much.”
“Excellent.” He pulled his phone from his pocket, tapped a few times and said, “What’s your number?”
She quickly responded, but her mind was whirling. She watched his fingers deftly add her to his contacts and was impressed at his speed. He glanced up briefly and asked, “Where’s your phone?”
She lightly shook her head and blinked. “On my desk.”
Reaching into his shirt pocket, he pulled out his business card and handed it to her. “Put my number in your phone as soon as you get back to your desk.” One side of his mouth hitched up. “I’ll pick you up at seven tonight. Once you have my phone number in your phone, please text me your address.”
Recovering from her stupor, she nodded.
He turned, opened the door, and stood aside to let her precede him. Gathering her thoughts as she walked down the hall, she realized there would be a whole afternoon of questions and smirks from Jessie. She stopped in front of the conference room door and motioned with her hand that this was his stop.
He paused before turning the doorknob, and silkily said, “I’m looking forward to seeing you later.”
Oh, my God, so sexy.Her lips trembled. “I’m looking forward to seeing you as well.” Her heart hammered in her chest, and her knees slightly trembled. It had been more than thirty years since she’d been on a date—before life had beaten her up. This was a whole new game now.
“Don’t forget to text me your address or Iwillcome looking for you when my meeting is finished.” He winked and disappeared into the conference room.
Holy crap! There was no way she’d make it through the whole date. She was so befuddled around this man, she found it difficult to speak—let alone form complete sentences.
2
After answering a million questions from Jessie, Sam returned to her office and put Gray’s number into her phone. She tapped out his number to text him her address. Feeling a bit spunky, she added,Don’t be late or I’ll need to come looking for you when my day is through.Before she could change her mind, she hitsendand was immediately nervous that perhaps she’d been too forward.
Is there a way to retrieve a text message once it’s sent? She’d need to check on that. So far, it seemed like being around Grayson Kinkaide made her behave like a complete and total idiot, not to mention it made her a little queasy and hot. She felt the burn of embarrassment again as she thought about it. This probably wasn’t a very good idea.
Around three, Jessie knocked on Sam’s office door. “Do you have any errands?”
Sam smiled. “Nothing today, Jess.”
She hesitated a moment before asking, “Are you excited about your date or are you nervous?”
Sam looked up from her paperwork and asked, “What do you think?”
Jessie grinned. “You seem nervous and look like you might run away.”
Sam huffed out a breath. “I thought I could easily text Gray and tell him that I had a family issue that needed to be tended to. That would probably make him feel better since he was obviously only asking me out because Mrs. Koeppel made him feel like he should.”
“Why would you think such a thing? My God, Sam, he couldn’t keep his eyes off you. I thought he was immediately taken by you. When Mrs. Koeppel started in on dating and such, he had such humor in his eyes. He probably wanted to hug and kiss her for giving him aninto ask you out.”
Sam frowned and whispered, “I suppose so.”
But she didn’t believe it.
Jessie soberly looked at Sam and asked, “You’re going to go, aren’t you?”
It took Sam a while to decide what to say, and Jessie spoke in a tone that brooked no argument. “You’re the one who’s been saying the dating pool is very shallow and you hadn’t seen anyone anywhere that you would even consider dating. Now, this gorgeous man walks right into our office, which, by the way, you said had to happen for you to know that God wanted you to date, and you’re considering not going?” She gratefully took a breath and shoved her blonde bangs from her forehead. “I’m so shocked that you would throw this opportunity away. I could shake you! Geez, Sam, haven’t you learned anything from watching me wade through this dating pool? I’ve kissed more frogs than I ever dreamed a girl would have to do, all hoping to find love, and you have this chance here, and you might not take it?” She planted her hands on her hips. “Well, I’ll tell you what, you WILL go. If I have to show up at your house, drag you into the shower, and get you dressed, you will go!”
Jessie turned and stomped out of the office. Sam’s thoughts were all over the board; she must have walked through some time continuum or something last night. Today was certainly the weirdest day she’d ever had.
