Bri said nothing back, which was a bit of a disappointment. I had the feeling it might be rather fun to have a verbal spar or two with her. She moved past me into the room, and I stepped out of the way. The unintentional side effect being I found myself in the perfect position to ogle her ass.
Unfortunately, she only had to take a few steps before she made it to the table. Once there, she turned around and shot me a look as if she somehow had eyes in the back of her head and was aware of how I’d spent the past few seconds.
“How do you suggest we move forward?” she asked.
“To start with,” I said, knowing full well she wanted my opinion on how to go through the mountain of files before us but deciding to answer her question as if I’d taken it a different way. “You could stop looking at me as if I just ate the last doughnut. Then, after you’re able to do that, you should definitely say yes when I ask you out for dinner.”
Her cheeks flushed. I wasn’t sure if it was because of embarrassment or ire, but I couldn’t remember the last time I’d seen a woman blush, much less been the instigator of such a reaction. Funny how such a little thing like pinkish cheeks could spark my arousal even more.
“That’s not what I meant with that question,” she said, though her voice was low and rough as if she’d had a hard time getting the words out.
I fixed my eyes on hers. “I know; I was giving you a hard time.”
Her gaze dropped to my crotch for the briefest of seconds, but not before I noticed her licking her lips.
“And,” I said, unable to stop myself from doing so once I realized what I’d inadvertently spoken. “That’s not what I meant with that answer.”
The color on her cheeks darkened. “I wasn’t… I didn’t…,” she stuttered.
It was the first time I’d seen her be anything other than one hundred ten percent confident. Even more, it was the first time I knew for a fact that I affected her. Though I’d thought she’d wanted to kiss me when we had dinner, and even though she’d invited me inside when I dropped her off later that night, I wasn’t sure of her reason.
Had it been a way to apologize for running off so many years ago? Or was her invitation something she always ended a date with? I hadn’t been sure, so I’d made it a point to keep my distance.
But today, in the closet turned conference room, there was no doubt in my mind that it was me she wanted. I was the one responsible for the color in her cheeks.
“But,” I said, holding a hand up and putting an end to her stutter. “I could mean it that way if that’s what you want.”
“What?” she asked.
I took a step closer to her. It really was a tiny space to be considered a conference room, but though my steps brought me closer to her, the space wasn’t so small that she couldn’t back away if she wanted. There was plenty of room for her to move if she felt crowded in any way.
She didn’t budge.
I took another step closer. “I meant I can give you the type of hard time you were thinking about if that’s what you want.”
Her lips were pressed together tightly. No way she’d be licking them anytime soon, and she lifted her chin. “This after you brushed me off without so much as a by-your-leave when I asked if you wanted to come inside my apartment after dinner?”
“A momentary lapse of judgment.”
She narrowed her eyes. “The way you haven’t called or sent a text or anything since then?”
“Incorrect assumption on my part that you needed time and space in order to decide if you wanted anything to do with me.” It wasn’t a lie, and I hoped she could see just how truthful my words were when she looked in my eyes.
No one had ever called Bri a pushover when we were young, and the woman who now stood before me wasn’t one either. She wouldn’t believe something simply because. No, she was a bloodhound and would search out the truth.
When her expression softened, I knew she believed me. My shoulders relaxed.
“Why would you think I needed time and space?” she asked.
“Because I was afraid I’d misinterpreted your invitation, and I didn’t want to move too fast and put you in a position to where you did something you weren’t ready for or something you’d regret later.”
Silence filled the conference room as she thought over my words. Her expression was pensive, and then, all at once, her face lit up. “Does that mean if we were in the same position again, and I invited you inside, that you’d agree?”
“Oh yes.” I reached out and stroked her cheek, loving the way she closed her eyes, and her breath hitched at my touch. “I wouldn’t have to think twice about it.”
Her lips parted, and I swallowed a groan.
“What would we do once you were inside my apartment?”
“Whatever you wanted,” I answered, wondering when my voice got to be so raspy. It hadn’t sounded like that moments before. But I couldn’t forget we were in an office building. I didn’t want to start something in a public location where it couldn’t be finished. Not to mention it would not be a good thing for us to be caught doing anything inappropriate.
I took a step back. “But for now, why don’t we dig into these files?”
Chapter 11
Bri
Piers and I spent the better part of three hours trying to determine what the files contained, what we needed from them, and the most efficacious way to organize everything. To say I was on edge for ninety-nine percent of those three hours was an understatement. I thought after those first few minutes in the conference room when he confessed how he’d misread our earlier time together that the sexual tension would continue to build. But Piers seemed to have the ability to shut off that part of himself when he wanted to.
We’d been working for almost three hours when Piers looked at his watch. “I need to leave in about five minutes.”
By that time, I was not only sexually frustrated but also on the irritated side. It didn’t seem fair he could be so calm and cool while I was the exact opposite. I didn’t look up from the file at his statement. “Okay.”
He didn’t move, but I felt his eyes on me. “I wanted to know if you’d be able to have dinner with me sometime this week?”
“Would you have asked me if Mia hadn’t put the two of us working together?” I asked, still not looking at him.
I heard a hard exhale of breath before he answered. “Probably not today, but for certain I’d have called and asked one day soon.”
I’d expected him to say whatever he thought he needed to in order to keep me happy, so I wasn’t ready for his completely honest answer. I turned my head to him and dropped the file in my hand. Fortunately, I’d spent years learning to keep my emotions hidden. It only took a fraction of a second to compose and settle my expression.
“In that case,” I said. “Yes, dinner would be enjoyable. How does tomorrow sound?”
If I’d thought my flippant reply would rattle him, I was wrong. A slight lift of the corner of his mouth was the only sign he’d picked up on what I was doing. “Tomorrow sounds delightful.”
“You make it sound like it’s a date for ice cream or something.”