Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 66453 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 332(@200wpm)___ 266(@250wpm)___ 222(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66453 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 332(@200wpm)___ 266(@250wpm)___ 222(@300wpm)
“Better things to do than my job,” I replied, glad that my voice came out so cool even as heat was spreading through me.
“I’m the boss. Your job is my job.”
I turned to scoff and was startled to realize he’d leaned forward. We were too close. If anyone walked in, they would know. Or they would suspect anyway, and that was just as bad. I should lean away, scoot my chair over. I shouldn’t have sat so close to begin with. A dozen ways to correct the situation presented themselves. I ignored them all.
“Do you have trust issues with all your associates, or am I special?”
Dominic’s eyes gleamed the color of old silver. “You’re special,” he said in a low voice, his eyes dropping briefly to my lips.
The words sent a bolt of lightning straight into my heart. I had to look away to keep him from seeing how deeply his words affected me.
“Rather, Mrs. Kloss is a special case,” Dominic said in his normal voice. He was trying to walk back the energy crackling between us and return to the pretense that this was all about work. From an outside perspective, it might have worked. He’d leaned away just a few inches, enough that it wasn’t so obvious. He wasn’t speaking in that low, intimate voice that liquified my insides. But I still felt like I was in a lightning storm. I could hardly hear his words, just the energy beneath them.
“Mrs. Kloss is special,” I said, trying to sound as normal as he did. I pulled up the budget software and opened her file. “She’s the kindest woman I’ve ever met. She wants to throw my sister a baby shower, and this Christmas ball means everything to her”
Dominic reached out and angled the monitor so that he could see it better. I hoped he would stay on the overview, where it clearly showed that we were staying well within the parameters of the budget he’d set. “She can’t afford a baby shower,” he murmured, clicking further in. He threw me a sideways glance as he saw some of the more creative ways I was mitigating the expenses. “You checked that this can still be a tax write off?” he asked, pointing to one of the line items.
“I triple checked.”
Dominic looked through every piece of the budget, his eyes narrowing now and then, challenging a few of the write-offs. I always had ample support to back them up though. Even before I knew Dominic was going to pull out his fine-tooth comb, I’d prepared this budget as if the IRS would be looking at it through a microscope.
Finally, he sat back. His expression was bland, but I thought I detected a shadow of discontent on his face.
“So?” I couldn’t help letting a taunting note slip into my voice.
Dominic’s eyes slid from the screen to my face. The surge of heat knocked the boast right out of me. I stared back at him in helpless fascination, like a rabbit cornered by a wolf. A rabbit with a wild, unmanageable desire to be eaten.
“You’re good,” he said quietly.
“I know,” I whispered. Sometimes, I wished I wasn’t. If I wasn’t good at the work, I could justify not liking it so much. I could justify trying something else. This project, though, was different. It didn’t feel soulless. Maybe it was because the client was Mrs. Kloss, or maybe it was because the cause was needy children. Whatever it was, it gave me the energy that working for my other client drained.
“Jake told me you were.”
Dominic said the name casually, but I still had the impression of a gauntlet being thrown down between us. Jake. Our connection. Our obstacle.
“Jake is a good friend,” I said neutrally.
“He’s a good nephew, too.”
I knew Dominic had brought up Jake to put some psychic distance between us. He was trying to use him like a wedge. A reminder. But the thing was, Jake wasn’t really an obstacle in my eyes. We’d always been better friends than we were anything else–we’d just found ourselves single at the same time and thought, should we?
And the answer had presented itself almost immediately.
We should not.
I wished I had the same clarity with Dominic. I wished I didn’t have the perverse desire to dispel this illusion he had that Jake was still interested in me. But I couldn’t stop myself. “Jake is only a friend,” I said quietly, staring at the budget that was still on the screen rather than meet Dominic’s eye. “We’re not–he’s not–”
I broke off. My heart was in my throat. So many emotions were running through me it was hard to know what exactly I was feeling. Nerves, excitement, heat, trepidation, longing all balled themselves up into a knot that made it hard to breathe.
“Not what?” Dominic was watching me intently. I could feel it even as I resisted the urge to turn my head.