She snapped her fingers. “I totally forgot that Keighleigh wanted to talk about some…something.” She started to push back from the table, but Daniel stopped her, capturing her wrist.
“Samiah, wait.” She looked down at his hand, then back to his face. He let go. “Look, do you want to maybe do something one day?”What in the hell was he doing?“Something other than lunch?” he clarified.
Shit, he was asking her out. On arealdate.
“I’ve read about how great the scenery is around here and how there are all these great trails to explore, but I haven’t had a chance to venture out. I just thought maybe…I don’t know. Maybe you could join me.”
“Trails? Do you hike?”
“Yeah.” He nodded. “I haven’t been able to do much lately. Do you hike?” he asked. That hadn’t been in her dossier.
“I do.” A soft smile replaced the panic that had been in her eyes a moment ago. “I know it doesn’t sound like something a girl from inside the Loop in Houston would be into, but I love it.”
“Do you want to go hiking one of these days?”Don’t say it.“Maybe this weekend?”
Shit.
He’d pushed too hard. He could tell by the caution that entered her eyes, as if just realizing that, apart from their coffee bar encounters, they didn’t know each other all that well.
“Not this weekend,” Daniel corrected before she totally shut him down, which she would have every right to do. “Why don’t we grab lunch a few more times. I can tell you about my Philly upbringing, and you can tell me what it was like growing up in Beyoncé’s backyard. Then, maybe, by next weekend you’d feel more comfortable hiking through the woods with someone who you’ve known all of three weeks.”
“Was it that obvious?”
“You’re smart to be cautious, Samiah. And I’m not here to make you feel uncomfortable. I just thought…maybe,” he said with another shrug.
“I’ll think about it,” she said.
Daniel couldn’t curb the smile that spread across his face if his life depended on it. “That’s a start.”
He pushed away from the table and gathered the remnants of their lunch, depositing the food in the compost bin and the recyclable containers in their proper place. Then he held the door for her to exit the restaurant.
As he walked alongside Samiah on the way back to their building, alarm bells continued to ring out through his brain. He chose to ignore them.
He liked her. He wanted to get to know her better. If there was a rule against it at Trendsetters, he hadn’t come across it. As for FinCEN? As long as it didn’t get in the way of him doing the job he came here to do, why should it matter who he became involved with?
Yeah, tell that to the boss.
Chapter Eleven
You’re not ready?”
Samiah looked up from her computer and experienced a sudden flush of warmth throughout her body. Daniel leaned against the wall just inside her door, looking like a midday snack. The least he could do was try not to be so damn gorgeous all the time.
It was the cheekbones. She was supremely jealous of those high, angular, pronounced-without-being-too-pronounced cheekbones. And don’t get her started on his deep brown eyes or that flawless warm, golden skin. His African American and Asian makeup forged a medley of the most scrumptious features.
So. Un. Freaking. Fair.
“Am I ready for what?” she asked.
He made a point of looking at his watch as he pushed away from the wall and strode into her office. “I do believe we’re supposed to have lunch.”
“Oh, really?” She propped her elbows on her desk, folded her fingers, and rested her chin on them. “I don’t remember agreeing to lunch today.”
“Didn’t we establish this already? Me and you. Lunch. Until you’re comfortable enough with me to explore some of the hiking trails around town?”
“But we had lunch yesterday.”
“Hey.” He held his hands up. “I don’t know how they do it in Houston, but up in Philly we tend to eat lunch every day.” He shrugged. “Maybe it’s a regional thing.”
