“No, I’m free,” she said, sounding taken aback. “But I thought?—”
I waited for her to complete that sentence, but after a moment’s hesitation, she seemed to change course.
“I already work for your company. This can only end badly, Jonah.”
I paused. “That night at the hotel, you were tender and soft, like you showed me something no one else could see. A few days ago, in my office, you were an angry, beautiful storm. The thing is, I like both. The soft you and the fiesty version of you. I know you’re worried about the complications at work. How about a one-time thing that involves dinner?”
“That’ll only make it worse,” she said, though I could hear the yearning in her voice.
I could bet it had been ages since someone had taken her out to dinner. Correction: ages since she’d allowed someone to takeher out to dinner. I bet a lot of men had tried and she’d been her usual guarded self.
“Well, what if I promise to be a terrible date, and you’ll be really relieved at the end of the night to be done with me?”
“Are you ever capable of being bad at anything, Jonah Walkers?” she asked ruefully, even though she knew the answer.
I chuckled. “You’re right. I can’t be anything but the best. So, come on. What do you think about having dinner with the best date you could possibly find? Just once.”
She hesitated. “If you can promise me that this stays out of work,” she said before I could say anything. “We have to keep these two worlds separate.”
The weight of what she was asking hit me. There would be so much in my life I couldn’t share with her, so many places I couldn’t take her. But after a moment, I nodded, even though she couldn’t see me. She was right.
“No one can find out about this,” I said finally.
She hummed in agreement. “I can’t lose my job over this.”
“And I can’t have the board find out about this while I’m still the interim CEO.”
“Are we really doing this?” she whispered.
“Too daunting for you?” I teased.
“Well, it’ll be just once, so you can’t screw it up too bad,” she teased back.
16
LEXI
That evening, I was halfway through doing my hair when the doorbell rang.
I’d slipped into my red sheath dress that stopped just at my knees and hurried to answer the door, hoping it wasn’t Jonah arriving early. I’d told him I was running late at work, and he had agreed to give me an extra hour.
Instead, I found Rhea standing on my doorstep. The same woman who had brought me a dress at Aurelius, Jonah’s personal shopper. This time, she wasn’t carrying just one garment. Three designer shopping bags hung from her arms.
“Good evening, Lexi. Mr. Walkers personally selected these dresses for you,” she said with a professional smile. “They’re yours, and he’d love for you to wear one tonight.”
My pulse skipped when she emphasizedpersonally. Jonah had picked them himself, not just delegated the task to someone else.
After Rhea left, I carried the bags upstairs, curiosity mounting with each step. I set them carefully on my bed and untied each one, revealing designer outfits I’d never have been able to afford. A midnight-blue chiffon dress, a light pink satingown with delicate silver embroidery, and a red lace dress with intricate beading along the neckline.
A folded note lay tucked beside them. I opened it, my heartbeat drumming in my ears.
I know this might be too much, but I saw these and couldn’t help picturing you in them. Only if you want to, of course. You’d be beautiful in anything.
—J
Thirty minutes later, I heard a car pull up outside. I said goodbye to Evie, who would spend the night in Sasha’s capable hands. Sasha shot me a look of cautious concern but nodded reassuringly. She wasn’t thrilled about my date with the much older Jonah, but she’d voiced her concerns once and then let it go, trusting my judgment.
I knew what this was, and I wasn’t worried, because I wasn’t getting my heart involved. So I hugged them both, threw a jacket over my shoulders, and stepped outside. Looking down at the street, I saw a gleaming black luxury car waiting at the curb, a uniformed driver standing at attention beside it.
