Lexi blinked. “Why didn’t you tell people?”
“I didn’t need to humiliate the guy on his way out,” I said simply. “Even if he didn’t offer me the same courtesy.”
She stared at me for a long moment. Then her defensive posture slowly relaxed.
“Well,” she said, voice quieter now, “that’s … surprisingly decent of you.”
I gave a slight shrug. “People don’t need to like me. They just need to trust I know what I’m doing.”
Kacie’s voice crackled over the intercom. “Mr. Walkers, the board members are here for the morning meeting.”
I never took my eyes off Lexi, who stiffened at the words.
I pressed the button. “Make them wait.”
Releasing it, I kept my gaze locked on hers.
“I should go,” she breathed out, just as I wondered if I’d ever see her again.
We both wanted to pretend that this was something we could forget, but the tension crackling in the air said otherwise.
I stepped closer, close enough that she had to tilt her head back to meet my eyes. “I wonder,” I mused, my voice lower now, “if I gave you another chance, what kind of e-mail would you write then?”
She lifted her chin. “You’re not getting another e-mail.”
My lips curved into a smile. “That’s what I was hoping you’d say.”
She gave me a victorious smile as she headed for the door. “I’m never one for following orders, Mr. Walkers,” she said, pronouncing my name with mock formality.
But then, just as her hand reached for the doorknob, she paused and tugged at her collar, pulling it aside.
For a second, I wondered if she had lost her mind, before I noticed a glimpse of navy lace beneath the fabric.
The Carine Gilson bra.
The one I’d bought for her that night after her dress was ruined.
I felt the air leave my lungs as I registered she was teasing me.
“This?” she said with a mischievous look. “I’m planning to wear this on my next date.”
I stepped forward, frustrated at the idea of another man seeing her underwear. At seeingmygifts to her.
“If you wear that for another man, Lexi?—”
But before I could finish, she was gone, the door shutting in my face.
I dragged my hand through my hair, letting out a pained groan.
It shouldn’t be possible to want someone this much while simultaneously wanting to throttle them. Why didn’t this anger just kill my sex drive?
At this rate, one of us was going to kill the other.
11
LEXI
“He sounds like a jerk,” Sasha fumed over a glass of cheap merlot. “An older, arrogant jerk.” She shook her head and gave me a warning look. “Thank goodness it was just a one-night stand. Age gaps aren’t so fun when you’re looking to date seriously.”
