There was only one person she wanted to share this news with.
She clicked up her email and [email protected] the address box just as a commotion broke out up front. A few people made loud exclamations. Maybe it was someone’s birthday. Usually free cake got people excited.
She looked up, but what she saw wasn’t real. She knew that on a bone-deep level.
Maybe a disgruntled barista had spiked her dark roast with LSD as a joke. Because there was no way—no way—that Tor Gunnar was standing outside her cubicle holding so many roses that he looked like a damn bush.
She closed her eyes. Counted to three.
Still there.
“What are you doing?” she whispered.
“We need to talk,” he replied. “And it’s important. So I figured if I said it here, it would go in the papers.”
Sure enough, curious reporters were drawing in, keeping their distance but within clear earshot.
“Speak of the devil. I was just trying to reach out to you.”
“Guess I beat you to the punch. But here’s the thing. I don’t always have the right words, and it’s not always that easy for me to express how I feel in a relationship, but I can’t go another hour without you hearing this... I love you, Neve Angel.”
She covered her mouth as the world tipped off its axis.
“Oh my God.”
That shriek wasn’t hers. An intern had whipped out her phone, no doubt recording this for Facebook Live or something.
“That’s right. Crazy in love.” He turned around. “Are you jackals getting this? I am in love with Neve Angel. I have been for a long time, but I was too much of an idiot to know what was staring me in the face. I don’t want to skulk around the edges. Or hide from rumors. I’m here on the up-and-up. Because dating a reporter might be unorthodox, but I’m ready to figure out a way to make it work. I work a dream job, but I’m a greedy man, and want my dream woman too.”
Knock her over with a feather.
She rose to her feet, ignoring the slight tremble to her legs, but the moment her gaze locked his warm blue eyes, she went still, as if a calm, tropical wave had washed over her.
“I guess we both have more in common than you can guess. Because I just so happen to be greedy too, and wantmydream man, andmydream job.” She looked around. “Where’s Scott hiding?”
“Mmmph.” Her boss stepped forward in a hideous purple tie that clashed with his yellow shirt, still swallowing the greasy-looking fast-food burger he was holding. He took a swig out of the sixteen-ounce soda he was holding in the other hand before snapping, “What?”
“I quit.” Neve’s simple sentence was met with an audible gasp from the other reporters.
“Neve, no.” Tor stepped forward. “I didn’t come to ask you to leave your job and—”
“I know that,” she said with a wry smile. “You think I’d love you so much if you had? I am quitting for me. Because, Scott, let’s face it, you kind of suck. You’re a bully. Plus at least half your jokes would make the hair of anyone in Human Resources stand on end and frankly, I deserve better. So as of today I’m the head of public relations for the Denver Hellions, and I’m tendering my resignation here at theAgeeffective immediately.” She glanced over to Tor. “I was just writing to tell you the news, but you scooped the story.”
“Angel.” A slow, devastating grin spread across his face, creasing the skin in the corners of his eyes and making her heart pound. “You telling me we’re on the same team?”
“Looks like it.” She arched a brow. “And my job is to make you look good.”
He smirked. “Tall order.”
“I think I can handle it.” She didn’t care that everyone was watching. All she cared about was getting Tor’s mouth on her as soon as possible.
She jumped into his arms and he spun her around. The smell of roses washed over her and she knew that forever after, that scent would bring her back here, to this second. The velvet softness of his tongue. The feel of his arm clamping her lower back and hauling her to meet his hungry mouth. She wasn’t all bushy eyebrows and a strong jaw. She wasn’t a tough-as-nails reporter. She wasn’t even the new kick-ass head of PR for an NHL team. She was just a girl, kissing the man she loved, a man who had just declared his love for her to the world.
“I love you,” she said, pulling back.
“I already knew that.” His brows rose. “I could tell.”
She shook her head. “You really are insufferable, you know that?”
