Hands by my sides?
You know what? Doesn’t matter. What matters is I’m taking a chance. If he doesn’t love me, another bus will be along soon. Shit, my brain is shutting down. That didn’t make sense.
And here he is. Hands interlocked in front of me to accentuate breasts. But play it coolwhileaccentuating breasts.
Will stops in his tracks when he sees me. His head snaps back and his chiseled jaw drops. Then he smiles, then his smile fades. He’s shocked. Is that good shocked or bad shocked? I can’t tell.
“Wow,” he whispers. “You’re here.”
I nod, my entire body going numb.
He swallows hard and shakes his head. “That was … fast.”
Oh, great. Sarcasm. He’s saying I should have come sooner. “Well, it’s not likeyoucouldn’t have come to seeme.” Too defensive.Calm down!
“What? I was joking,” he says in that deep voice of his. “I only just finished the interview a few minutes ago.”
“What interview?”
“On ABN? Never mind,” he says, shaking his head again. “Why are you…? I … I can’t believe you’re here.”
Abort mission! Abort! He has not swept you up in his arms yet. He does not love you.Clearing my throat, I say, “I was hoping you could help me out with a little problem. I bought this yacht, then as soon as the sale went through, I realized I have nowhere to park it.”
He tilts his head and stares at me for an uncomfortably long moment. “So you want me to store your yacht for you?”
“No,” I say, fumbling for the papers on the table. “I… umm…wanted to sell it to you …for a dollar.” I stop and cover my face with one hand, then look up at him. “I’m so stupid. I had this whole thing planned where I’d pretend you were doing me a favour if you took Matilda off my hands. I thought it would make up for me causing you to lose out on the bonus, and at the same time, it would also be irresistibly adorable. But now, I can see it was a terrible idea because you’d never have believed it, would you?”
“Probably not, no.” He takes a couple of steps toward me and gives me a sexy grin. “Why don’t we start over? Neither of us has been making much sense so far.”
I smile back, a wave of relief coming over me. “Yes, let’s.”
“It’s great to see you. How have you been?” he asks.
“Good, yes. Fine, you know.”I’m rambling. I must stop rambling.“And you? Your leg looks perfect. Not that I can see it because … pants, but your foot is aimed the right way and you’re walking.”
Chuckling, he says, “Never better. And you? Have you been enjoying indoor plumbing?”
Oh, my knees just went weak. “Very much, although it’s really not something I should talk about.”
“I suppose not,” he says, taking another step.Oh, yes. Come to mama.“So, you bought my family’s yacht back, but now you don’t want to come out and say it because you’re afraid my giant male ego won’t allow me to accept your generous gift.”
I fiddle with my fingers. “I wouldn’t say your ego is giant. It’s just rather healthy.”
“It’s giant. Although, it has been shrinking lately. A little. Maybe even enough to make room for someone else in my life.”
Now, that sounded promising! “Really?”
“Really. Especially the kind of girl who swears like a sailor when she rappels, can cut a trail through the jungle, and rescue a very hard-headed man when he’s in trouble.”
I step toward him. “But what if she also likes to take long baths and sip champagne and sleep on two-thousand thread count sheets?”
“I could learn to love those things, I think.”
“You could?”
“Especially the baths,” Will says, glancing down at my mouth. “And the sheets sound pretty good, too.”
“I just realized I’ve only given examples of things that could lead to sex. I don’t want to falsely advertise my life to you.”
