He tipped his head in acknowledgment. “Living among royalty, huh?”
“She is the Queen Bee.” Samiah laughed. “And she still does a ton for her community. Much more than you see in the news.”
“Does your family still live there?”
“Mom and Dad do. My older sister moved here last year. She and her husband both teach middle school math with the Austin ISD. Independent School District,” she tacked on.
He took a sip from his bottle of ramune. “Must be nice to have family here with you. I haven’t lived near mine for a while. My mom said she’ll disown me if I’m not home for Thanksgiving.”
“You’d better buy that plane ticket now.” Her sly grin was so lovely it hurt. “Angry mamas are to be avoided at all cost. Especially around the holidays.”
“Speaking from experience, huh?” Daniel chuckled.
“Oh, yeah. I’ve gotten ‘the look’ on more than one occasion.”
“If it’s anything like the look from a Korean grandma, you have my sympathies.”
“Oh, your grandma is in Philadelphia too?”
“Philadelphia?” His brow rose. “How did you know that? You’ve been checking me out?” Her cheeks immediately darkened with her blush. It was the most beautiful thing he’d seen in years. Everything about her was the most. The most enchanting smile, the most engaging laugh, the most captivating eyes, the most intriguing mind. With every additional moment he spent with her, he became more entranced by her.
He was within an inch of falling over the edge. He needed to take a step back. Shit, make thatseveralsteps back. He had to walk a fine line between playing a role in a casual, lighthearted office flirtation that he could possibly convince his supervisor back at FinCEN was necessary for pulling off this undercover job, and plunging head first into lust with this woman.
The first would get him a reprimand, but it was survivable. The second would be career self-sabotage.
“Well, the fact that you seem to own sports gear from every single Philly sports team was my first clue,” she finally answered. “But, yeah, I asked about you,” she added with a rueful smile, as if she knew she’d been caught and didn’t care. She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth and Daniel’s breath arrested in his lungs. He’d give anything to have just one taste of those lips.
Fuck.
He shifted in his seat, trying to stave off the images that usually came to him in his dreams. Annoyed by the route his brain had taken yet again, he settled his elbows on the table and tried to recapture the relaxed, lighthearted mood of a few minutes ago.
“It’s not as if I’m trying to hide anything,” he said. “I’m proud to be Philly born and raised.”
“So what brought you all the way to Austin? Was it the job?”
He nodded, returning to his poke. “I’d been hearing a lot about Trendsetters, so I kept my eyes open. Job openings are like unicorns at that place.”
“We have an extremely low turnover rate. We even have a few people who left Silicon Valley to come here.”
“Cost of living alone would do that, but I understand the appeal.” Going with the story they’d set up back at FinCEN, he said, “I’d never visited Austin; the Thursday before I started at Trendsetters was the first time I’d ever stepped foot in the city. It’s great here. And you can’t beat the weather.”
“That’s because it’s unusually mild as we head into the fall this year. Just wait until summer rolls around,” Samiah warned. “You’ll see how you like those jogs along the river when the thermometer is nearing three digits.”
“Aw, don’t tell me that.” Daniel groaned. “Just the other day I had to stop in the middle of my run and peel my shirt off.”
Her gaze dropped to his chest. “That must have been nice.” Her horrified eyes shot back up to his face, wide with dismay. “I said that out loud, didn’t I?”
He coughed, a feeble attempt to dislodge the desire clogging his throat. Daniel could feel the heat on his face rising. “Yeah, you did,” he said.
A potent, electric charge sizzled in the air between them, a sensation so strong he felt it on his skin. It put to rest any hope that this could remain something between friendly coworkers. He wanted to be more than just a friend, and he didn’t give two fucks about being her coworker.
But that’s all he could be to her. Anything else would jeopardize everything he’d worked for.
His fingers clenched the napkin he’d picked up. Daniel had never resented his job more than he did at this very moment.
“Umm…wow,” Samiah said with a nervous laugh. “Well, okay. Umm…we should probably head back. I’ve got a ton of work on my desk.”
“Samiah—”
