confirm my hypothesis
Ryan was proud of himself. He’d been polite and hadn’t even allowed his eyes to roam her body. Instead, he counted the freckles on her nose and traced the outline of her delicate mouth with his eyes. He was becoming a professional after two weeks. Then he realized what he’d just thought about himself and mentally slapped his forehead. Dumbass, this isn’t what you want.
Carefully balancing the tray of beverages, Ryan opened the door to the conference room and stopped dead in the doorway. All eyes turned to him, but it was all he could do to avoid dropping the damned tray and rushing over to where his brother hovered over Elissa. What the hell he was going to do once he got there was a mystery. Fight his brother over a woman who wanted, rightly, nothing to do with him? Ryan placed the tray at the far end of the table and took the water to her first. At least he could put some distance between them.
“Excuse me, Alex.” He would not allow the strange brew of emotions seething inside him to show.
Alex took two steps back, and those emotions went from almost boiling over to a slow simmer. He placed the water to her right and gave her a quick grin. When her eyes met his, he could’ve sworn a hint of relief flashed as Elissa began to return the smile before she recognized who it was, exactly, she was smiling at. Ryan stepped away.
God, she smelled fan-fucking-tastic. A soft, powdery scent had lingered in the air around her and activated some part of his unconscious mind. Heat headed straight to his groin, and he turned to prepare the coffee before anyone noticed. Focusing on the minutiae of his job, he carried the tray over to his aunt and Karina Jansen. Ryan set the cups in front of the two women and left the sugar and cream on the tray, which he placed between them. He took his seat next to Val and grabbed a pen and a pad of paper from the middle of the table, ready to begin.
Alex had stayed those two steps away from Elissa, and Ryan forced himself to pay attention to the conversation. He wouldn’t compete with his brother for a woman. He couldn’t, anyway. Whenever given a choice, they always went for the sophisticated heir apparent.
“Don’t hesitate to call if I can help in any way,” his dad said. “I know we’ll be meeting once you have a draft, but I’m available whenever you need.”
“Thank you, Alessandro. Alex, it was good to see you.” Karina shook his dad’s hand again.
“It was nice to meet you both,” Elissa said in her pleasant, professional voice. It was not the same voice she’d used with him. She’d been passionate, though irate. He missed that Elissa.
His dad murmured something polite, but Alex took a step toward Elissa. Ryan’s arms tensed and his legs inched him away from the table before he could stop them. His brain flooded with all kinds of neurochemicals that made him itch to hit his brother. He forced himself to sip the water he’d brought instead. This was getting ridiculous.
“Karina, Elissa, a true pleasure.” Alex shook Karina’s hand with professional ease. But when he shook Elissa’s hand, he enclosed it in both of his. The primitive part of Ryan’s brain didn’t like it one bit. He glared at Alex as his brother crossed the room.
Alex clapped him on the shoulder. “Good luck, Ryan.” He exited with a wink.
Good fucking riddance, but why in the hell did his brother wink at him.
“Let’s get down to business,” his aunt said once the door had closed behind Alex.
As they discussed the upcoming tax season, Ryan relaxed into his role. He took detailed notes of all the forms and files he’d need to hand over, looking to Val for clarification when necessary. His eyes roamed over to Elissa from time to time, but she was furiously taking notes, too. In different colored pens with a variety of highlighters arrayed in front of her. She switched between them efficiently, hardly breaking pace with the conversation. Fuck, he was attracted to a nerd.
Ryan’s handwriting worsened as he futilely tried to keep pace, but paying attention to the conversation was difficult enough with his ADHD. He’d figure out what he wrote later.
An hour passed, and he suppressed a sigh of relief when Karina called for a break. He finished writing and looked up to see Elissa’s gaze slide away from him. He looked down at his notepad and quashed the smile trying to force its way onto his lips. Ryan cleared his throat, put down his pen, and stretched his arms, lacing his fingers together. Annetta smiled at him as she rose and excused herself.
“Coffee in the same place as usual?” Karina stood and stretched.
Val nodded, and Karina left, carrying the coffee mug with her.
“Do either of you need anything?” Val rose, too. They both shook their heads in the negative. “I’ll go check at reception, make sure nothing’s come up. You’re doing great, Ryan, so you can start without me when Annetta and Karina return.”
Val exited the room, leaving the door open. Ryan felt Elissa not looking at him. Her gaze seemed to float everywhere in the room, but when it came around to him, it would suddenly dart to anywhere else. He plastered a polite smile on his face, hiding the wide grin he wished he could give her, and leaned back in his chair.
“I never got to tell you how much I liked your shoes at the Sandpiper,” he said, trying to break the awkward silence. Those eyes finally locked onto his face, widening in surprise, and pink tinged her cheeks at his compliment. “Where did you find them?”
The pink in her cheeks turned to red.
“I made them,” she mumbled.
It was his turn to be surprised. But he shouldn’t have been. He’d noticed her appearance was at odds with the passion he detected under her calm exterior, much like a strong current in a wide river. A current that would drag him under if he let it, and fuck, he was tempted to let it.
“Are you wearing them today?”
She shook her head and tucked an errant strand of hair behind her ear. A tiny pearl earring caught the overhead light, its pale pink hue matching the color of her cheeks. The corners of her lips twitched before she could force them into a serious line.
He pushed all the way back from the table and tried to look under it to see for himself. The angle was all wrong.
“What are you doing?”
