After I’d received Lexi’s phone number, I couldn’t wait to call her.
But I forced myself to wait, needing to evaluate whether this was just a passing infatuation. I waited all day Thursday, and on Friday morning, at eleven a.m., after pacing my office for the better part of an hour, I finally gave in. I dialed the number she’d given me.
“Lexi.”
“Jonah?” There was surprise in her voice, and I could hear her lowering it, as though aware of her colleagues around her.
I tried to keep my emotions steady, but hearing her say my name sent something electric through me.
She’d come in to work that morning, though I’d nearly missed her arrival. I’d been watching the main doors since eight-thirty, but she must have slipped in during the morning rush. I only caught sight of her as she emerged from the left wing, where the company preschool and café were located, and made her way to the elevators.
The timing puzzled me. What business could she possibly have in that wing? She had no reason to visit the preschool, and the café there was barely more than a coffee cart.
“You don’t waste any time, do you?” she asked, her tone playful. “It’s only been one day and fourteen hours since I gave you my number.”
I felt the tips of my lips curve up at the realization that she’d been counting the hours as well. “Nope. And I wanted to make sure the massage helped.”
“It did. Thank you. That was... incredibly thoughtful.”
The relief in her voice made my chest tighten. “Good.” I paused, then took the leap.
“After I met you last Friday at Aurelius,” I said, “I planned to go back again. Every Friday until I met you again.”
“Oh?”
“I was hoping I’d see you there again,” I continued.I didn’t need attachments in my life.But I wanted to feel her touch on me again. I needed her.
“I would have liked it, too, but I wouldn’t have gone. Someone else would have been there.”
My voice was heated when I spoke. “No one else would make do.”
“That’s a bit much,” she said quietly. “But thank you for the compliment. You’ll get over it. Beautiful men like you don’t need to wait long before someone else shows up.”
“But even if I’d spent months waiting for you at Aurelius without running into you, I would have been only mildly disappointed, Lexi. But not devastated.”
“Why?” she asked, her voice betraying a fleeting vulnerability.
“Because I’m pretty sure I could scour the city for you.”
“Without my last name?” she asked. “I doubt you’d have found me.”
I didn’t laugh. “I’d have found you, Lexi. I’ve never failed to do anything I set out to do before. Until the day I met you again. It hurts to know how close you are to me at work, and that I can’t have you.”
Her breath hitched.
“What are you thinking?” I asked.
She spoke without hesitation. “I’m overwhelmed, actually. In my past, there was so much that I wanted and couldn’t have. I’d made my peace with that. But you? God, how badly I wish we could have a night together again.”
“Then have dinner with me.”
“Jonah—”
“Not anywhere we’ll be seen together. Just... dinner. Tonight.”
She paused, and I could hear the doubt in her voice, when she spoke again. “Tonight?”
“Yes,” I paused. “Does tonight not work for you?”
