with
us—” Lacey started to protest.
“And even if that doesn’t
happen,” I overrode her, putting my foot down so hard I was
surprised the floor didn’t crack, “I would be stressed
about it happening all the time, and I would be miserable. It’s
off the table. It’s not even on the floor next to the table.
It’s in another room, on a different floor, in a separate
building, in a country halfway around the world where they don’t
even use tables, that is how far off the table it is.”
Lacey pouted, but she nodded in
reluctant agreement. “Fine. Well, all right. But I’m
still going to think of something to help you. Best friends!”
“Best friends!” I agreed,
and we clinked our paper coffee cups together.
There was a knock on the door, and
Lacey’s assistant entered timidly. “Excuse me, Miss
Newman, Miss Jameson. I know you said not to be interrupted, but
there’s a gentleman here who’s getting very insistent.
Something about a not-to-be-missed opportunity for Miss Jameson…?”
I started to get a sinking feeling in
my stomach. Or was that excitement? “This guy wouldn’t
happen to be, I don’t know, about six one with curly dark hair,
green eyes, smirk that could knock your panties off at twenty paces,
and an entitlement complex the size of Manhattan?”
“Wow, you know me so well,”
a deep voice came from behind her. “It’s like looking in
a mirror.”
The floor completely failed to open up
beneath me and swallow me forever as Asher Young strode into the
room, hands in his pockets as if he didn’t have a care in the
world, smirk on his face like it had been sculpted in marble.
“You really need to work on your
timing,” I told him, trying to still the traitorous butterflies
in my stomach. “Unless you’re actually actively trying to
enter conversations at the worst possible moment, in which case,
congratulations, you have this timing thing down pat.”
He raised an eyebrow. Oh, that should
not be doing the things it was doing to my southern regions. And
there went that dimple—winking in and out of existence like a
star as he smiled, those deep emerald eyes almost hypnotic as he
lounged against Lacey’s desk at just the right angle for his
jeans to hug his crotch and legs like a dream come true.
“I want to show you something,”
he said simply.
Well son, I want to see something,
so stop talking, step out of those pants pronto, and give me a little
shimmy, I valiantly restrained myself from saying.
“I don’t know what you
could have to show me that I could be interested in seeing,” I
said coldly instead. I didn’t have time for flirting today. I
was trying to get my life back on track, and Asher would get me so
far off-track I’d be in a country with no railroads.
Lacey kicked me under the table. I
looked at her, confused, and she cut her eyes at Asher, then back at
me. When the message still didn’t come through, she gave Asher
her most blinding smile and said. “One moment, please.”
Then grabbed my arm and pulled me to
the window at the other side of the room.
“The hell, Lacey?” I said,
not bothering to lower my voice. I’d just finished explaining
that this guy was the worst news for my health since microwave pizza
was invented, so why wasn’t she immediately kicking him out of
her office?
Lacey rolled her eyes. “Go with
him,” she whispered. “He obviously has something to show
you.”
“Yeah, and he wants to show it to
me in a discreet hotel bedroom—”
“Katie.” Lacey put her hand
on my shoulder. “You are hot. I am not denying this, because it
is true: you are super-duper ridiculously hot, to the extent that I
am near-constantly jealous of you. But not every dude you meet is
planning to trick you into sex, and it is possible for a guy to have
the hots for you and still admire your brain and your business sense.
I know you’ve been hurt, but you’re using it as an excuse
to avoid going after your dream, and I can’t stand by and
us—” Lacey started to protest.
“And even if that doesn’t
happen,” I overrode her, putting my foot down so hard I was
surprised the floor didn’t crack, “I would be stressed
about it happening all the time, and I would be miserable. It’s
off the table. It’s not even on the floor next to the table.
It’s in another room, on a different floor, in a separate
building, in a country halfway around the world where they don’t
even use tables, that is how far off the table it is.”
Lacey pouted, but she nodded in
reluctant agreement. “Fine. Well, all right. But I’m
still going to think of something to help you. Best friends!”
“Best friends!” I agreed,
and we clinked our paper coffee cups together.
There was a knock on the door, and
Lacey’s assistant entered timidly. “Excuse me, Miss
Newman, Miss Jameson. I know you said not to be interrupted, but
there’s a gentleman here who’s getting very insistent.
Something about a not-to-be-missed opportunity for Miss Jameson…?”
I started to get a sinking feeling in
my stomach. Or was that excitement? “This guy wouldn’t
happen to be, I don’t know, about six one with curly dark hair,
green eyes, smirk that could knock your panties off at twenty paces,
and an entitlement complex the size of Manhattan?”
“Wow, you know me so well,”
a deep voice came from behind her. “It’s like looking in
a mirror.”
The floor completely failed to open up
beneath me and swallow me forever as Asher Young strode into the
room, hands in his pockets as if he didn’t have a care in the
world, smirk on his face like it had been sculpted in marble.
“You really need to work on your
timing,” I told him, trying to still the traitorous butterflies
in my stomach. “Unless you’re actually actively trying to
enter conversations at the worst possible moment, in which case,
congratulations, you have this timing thing down pat.”
He raised an eyebrow. Oh, that should
not be doing the things it was doing to my southern regions. And
there went that dimple—winking in and out of existence like a
star as he smiled, those deep emerald eyes almost hypnotic as he
lounged against Lacey’s desk at just the right angle for his
jeans to hug his crotch and legs like a dream come true.
“I want to show you something,”
he said simply.
Well son, I want to see something,
so stop talking, step out of those pants pronto, and give me a little
shimmy, I valiantly restrained myself from saying.
“I don’t know what you
could have to show me that I could be interested in seeing,” I
said coldly instead. I didn’t have time for flirting today. I
was trying to get my life back on track, and Asher would get me so
far off-track I’d be in a country with no railroads.
Lacey kicked me under the table. I
looked at her, confused, and she cut her eyes at Asher, then back at
me. When the message still didn’t come through, she gave Asher
her most blinding smile and said. “One moment, please.”
Then grabbed my arm and pulled me to
the window at the other side of the room.
“The hell, Lacey?” I said,
not bothering to lower my voice. I’d just finished explaining
that this guy was the worst news for my health since microwave pizza
was invented, so why wasn’t she immediately kicking him out of
her office?
Lacey rolled her eyes. “Go with
him,” she whispered. “He obviously has something to show
you.”
“Yeah, and he wants to show it to
me in a discreet hotel bedroom—”
“Katie.” Lacey put her hand
on my shoulder. “You are hot. I am not denying this, because it
is true: you are super-duper ridiculously hot, to the extent that I
am near-constantly jealous of you. But not every dude you meet is
planning to trick you into sex, and it is possible for a guy to have
the hots for you and still admire your brain and your business sense.
I know you’ve been hurt, but you’re using it as an excuse
to avoid going after your dream, and I can’t stand by and
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