I stood in the hallway for a moment wondering exactly what I was letting myself in for. I was more excited than I’d ever been in my life, but I was also really apprehensive.
I made my way down to the lobby of the building and was surprised to find Dylan standing there waiting for me.
“Abby. ” He walked over to me.
“Yes, Mr. McAllister?”
“You can call me Dylan. We’re going on a flight together.”
“You confuse me with the back and forth, back and forth,” I sighed. I didn’t want us to be on personal terms for this trip. That was the last thing I needed.
“I can take your suitcase for you, Abby,” he said, reaching for it.
“It’s okay. I got it.”
“No, let me help you,” he said. “I like that you’re wearing your hair down.”
“Oh.” Warmth spread across my cheeks. I’d completely forgotten to put it up in a bun.
“And you’re wearing contacts,” he added.
“Well, I’ve got my glasses as well. I’ll be taking my contacts out on the plane because I don’t want my eyes to dry out.”
“You don’t have to be so defensive, Abby. And you don’t always have to make yourself look like a nun. I know you might not believe this, but I can keep my hands to myself even if you’re the sexiest, most gorgeous woman I’ve ever seen in my life.”
“I … What did you just say?”
“Nothing.” He grinned. “Now, let me get your suitcase.”
“Okay.” I handed it to him. My heart was racing. I didn’t understand why he was being so sweet and nice and completely unlike the boss I knew.
It was a nice change, but I didn’t know what it meant. And when I didn’t know what something meant, it made me think about it too much. I didn’t want to get anxious and overthink every little thing between us. After all, he was my boss, and the last thing I needed was to be daydreaming about him becoming something more.
“So, Abby, I have a special surprise for you.”
“Oh, yeah? What’s that?”
“You don’t have to work on the plane.”
“Really?” I looked at him suspiciously.
“You can enjoy the flight, watch a movie, play a game, read a book, sleep.” He shrugged. “Whatever you want to do. No work on the plane.”
“Okay. Thanks, I guess.”
“And we’re going to spend some time in London as well.”
“What do you mean? The layover is only like two hours.”
“I changed the flight.”
“What?”
“Yeah, we’ve got a day in London, and then we’ll go back to Heathrow and catch a different flight to Edinburgh. I thought you might like to see London since you haven’t been before.”
“Wow. I mean, thank you.” I looked at him through narrowed eyes. “I’m surprised that you did that. Why did you do that?”
“Because I’m not the horrible boss you think I am.”
“Really?” I looked at him in surprise as we got into the back of the car.
“Really,” he said. He got in after me. And as the car pulled off, he looked over at me with a warm smile on his face. “I know you think I’m a jerk, and I know I’ve been a little bit hard on you.”
“A little bit?”
“Maybe a lot,” he admitted. “But …”
“But what?”
“But I think you’re a good secretary and …”
“And what?”
“And I just wanted to let you know that.”
“Okay. Thank you, I guess.”
“You’re welcome. So, is there anything in particular that you want to see or do when we’re in London?”
“I don’t really know.” I laughed. “I didn’t even look up anything to see in London.
“But you looked up stuff to do in Scotland?”
“Yeah, a little.” I didn’t want to admit that there were a million different things that I wanted to do when we got there.
“Care to share with me some of the things that you wanted to do?”
“Well, I want to go to Edinburgh Castle and walk down the Royal Mile.”
“Oh, okay.” He nodded.
“And I also really wanted to go to the coffee shop where JK Rowling wrote Harry Potter.”
“That’s in Edinburgh?” He looked surprised. “I thought she wrote it in London?”
“No,” I said eagerly. “She actually wrote it in this small coffee shop in Edinburgh. It was called The Elephant House.”
“The Elephant House? Interesting.”
“Yeah. She wrote the books there, and it’s still open. And, well, you know, who doesn’t love Harry Potter, right?”
“Honestly, I never read any of the Harry Potter books.”
I stared at him in shock. “You never read Harry Potter? Really?”
“I don’t really like to read.”
“No way.”
“I take it you love to read?”
“Of course I love to read.”
“What are your favorite books?”
“Oh wow, I have so many.”
“Care to share any with me?”
“Are you going to read any? Do you even care?”
“Abby, I care,” he said, “or I wouldn’t be asking. I don’t make idle talk, just to talk.”
“I don’t know what to say,” I said.
“You look surprised,” he said softly as he shifted closer to me in the back of the car. I felt like I was barely breathing now.
“I am surprised. You’re being very different, and I just really don’t know what to think about it.”
“How am I different?”
“I don’t know. I just …”
“Don’t think so much about it, Abby. It’s okay. Do you know that one of the most famous Scottish poets was a man by the name of Robert Burns?”
I looked at him in surprise. “You know Robert Burns?”
“Who doesn’t?” he said with a smile.
“I’m just surprised because you said you didn’t like to read.”
“Did you know that he wrote Auld Lang Syne?”
“No, I didn’t know that. You mean the New Year’s Eve song?”
“Yeah. He sang, “May old acquaintance be forgot.”
“Wow. I had no clue.”
“And his most famous poem is one called “Tam o’ Shanter.” He published it in 1791.”
My eyes narrowed as I stared at him. “How do you know that?”
“Okay. I’ll admit it. I looked up Scottish writers.” He laughed.
“Why?” I said curiously.
“Because I know you love English, and I know you love literature, and I thought it would be something to impress you.” He looked away. “That sounds stupid, doesn’t it?”
“No.” But all I could think to myself was, why was he trying to impress me? What was going on? “Mr. McAllister?”
“Dylan, remember?”
“Dylan.”
“Yes, Abby?”