“Stay out,” I barked.
I heard the unmistakable voice of Miles Harrington, my CTO, saying “Sorry,” from the other side of the door before he shut it.
“I’ll be out in five,” I called out, remembering in frustration that I had scheduled a meeting with him.
Lexi’s expression was petrified, and I ran my hand over my face. What the hell was this woman doing to me? Would I ever get over her if we kept playing this ridiculous game?
“Go out with me,” I said, in a low voice, still rough from kissing her. “One dinner. We’ll get rid of this stupid tension once and for all.”
Her expression shifted fast, like I’d shocked her. She shoved her hands against my chest and stepped back, eyes blazing.
“Never,” she snapped.
The word hit me hard. I exhaled hard, my chest tight with frustration.
I ran my thumb over her lips, and I could see them tremble slightly. “What was this, then? This kiss? This crazy tension you obviously feel around me?”
She paled, visibly shaken, and then after a moment, she said clearly, “I can put up with it, I can avoid you, but I simply can’t go out with you.”
“Whatever the problem is, I can make it disappear.”
“I don’t doubt it,” she said, casting a glance around the lavish office. “But you haven’t earned the right to know about my life or my problems. So, my answer still stands. It’s a no.”
“Lexi,” I called as she stepped back toward the door.
She tossed her red-gold hair over her shoulder and gave me a pointed look.
“How many times did you come by my floor today?”
There was no point in avoiding the truth.
“Four,” I admitted. “I’m not done with you, Lexi. Go out with me. Just one dinner.”
She groaned, bringing her hand to her head. “Stay off my floor,” she breathed. “I can’t risk losing my job over you. Stop being interested in my life. And stop wasting your time by keeping track of who I talk to at work.”
She turned to head for the door, but I caught her hand. “Miles is waiting outside,” I reminded her. “I’ll leave first, and move our meeting to a conference room. You can follow after a few minutes.”
I strode out, and when I told Miles we’d be meeting down the hallway, his eyebrows shot up in surprise. Still, he followed without question.
As we walked, one thought consumed me. What had come over me? Why did I want her so badly?
14
LEXI
Hours later, I still couldn’t forget about the kiss. Damn him for reminding me how good he was at making me go weak in the knees with just his touch. I knew how good he was in bed, and I’d still turned him down.
I was an idiot, but I could deal with being an idiot in my personal life, as long as I was responsible for Evie.
Thoughts of steamy sex with Jonah plagued my entire evening, and I forced them out of my mind, partly because the stiffness in my back that had been nagging me all day was getting worse.
At five p.m., I picked up Evie and the two of us stopped for dinner at McDonalds before taking the subway home. Sasha was spending the night with her fiancé, so it would just be me and Evie at home tonight. An hour later, as we walked toward our apartment, Evie was skipping down the sidewalk, singing a song she’d presumably learnt at preschool when she slipped, going down hard, face first.
She let out a sharp cry, clutching her mouth, and to my horror, I saw blood flowing from her lips. My heart dropped.
I bent down, and scooped her into my arms, forty-eight pounds of trembling limbs, and carried her up the stairs to our apartment. Each step sent a jolt through my spine, but I pushed through it, focused only on her. When we got inside, I calmed her down enough to take a look and discovered, to my relief, that she had only bitten her lip and it was already starting to clot.
I cleaned her mouth as much as she would let me, dabbing around the raw skin with a clean cloth and holding her tight until she felt better.
