He resigned himself to not hearing from her. At least not personally. They’d be working together, and this was a signal as clear as the night sky around the Mount Graham Observatory. Elissa didn’t want to date him. He couldn’t blame her, he’d fucked up big time. He was disappointed, but he’d deal.
Finally, Friday rolled around. Taking the lead on all the office manager crap kept him on his toes, and pulling together all the files the accountants needed familiarized him with the filing systems. It went quicker than Ryan expected.
“It’s like you planned this, Val,” he said as she looked over the files he’d pulled.
“No, Mr. DeMarco, I’d never be that sneaky.” A wide grin spread over her face.
The office had opened an hour ago, and someone was covering the front desk while Val ensured Ryan hadn’t missed anything. It was her last day, and his dad was treating the whole office to lunch.
“Looks like everything is here. Why don’t you call Karina and let her know it’s ready?”
Val loaded the files into banker’s boxes, which she’d labeled with the company’s name, date, and general description of the contents. Ryan walked up front, letting the young woman from marketing return to her own job. He found the accounting firm’s number and dialed.
“JMS Accounting,” a male voice answered. “How may I help you?”
“Karina Jansen, please,” Ryan said.
“I’m sorry, she is out of the office today. I can transfer you to her associate, Elissa Wright.”
Ryan’s heartbeat quickened at the mention of her name, and his mouth was suddenly dry. Licking his lips, he croaked out, “That’s fine.”
Soft hold music played for a moment while he willed his heart to slow down and took a sip out of the water bottle on Val’s desk. No, his desk, now. What would Elissa think when she recognized who it was? Would she bring up that he’d slipped his number into her bag? Would she hate him, think him creepy? And why, for fuck’s sake, was he at all worried about any of this?
“Elissa Wright.” Her voice sent a shiver along his spine.
His words stuck halfway up his throat. All that came out was a weird creak. Great, now she would think him a heavy-breathing creep.
“Hello?”
Ryan cleared his throat and tried again, but his voice was rough and barely audible.
“Hello, Elissa.”
“Hi,” she said, all business. “How can I help you?”
He cleared his throat again, and his voice came out normal.
“This is Ryan DeMarco, over at DeMarco Property Management. The files Ms. Jansen needs are ready.”
It was her turn to clear her throat. The sound of it gave him a stupid amount of satisfaction.
“Yes, um, yes, thanks. When can I pick them up?”
Now, he wanted to say. Instead, he said, “When would be convenient for you? We’ll be closed this afternoon for Val’s going away party, but later this morning or early next week will be fine.”
“Let me check my calendar.” A long pause. “Will Monday afternoon work?”
“That will be fine. Any particular time?”
“I’ll head over after lunch, so one o’clock?”
“I’ll be here. Have a nice weekend, Elissa.”
“Thank you. You, too, Ryan.”
A current rushed straight to a part of his anatomy that had no right to be so excited during the workday. He ended the call, chugged down half of his water, and counted to ten slowly. If her voice over the phone could do this to him, what the fuck was going to happen when he saw her in person on Monday afternoon?
For a moment, he allowed himself to hope she hadn’t seen the number, and that was why she hadn’t called. Ridiculous, but she seemed just as thrown by him as he was by her. Perhaps, given their need to work together, he could convince her to see things his way. Convince her to agree to another date, a real one where he acted like himself, and not some rich, entitled asshole.
