“Shhh!” Taysom says. He lets go of my hand, only to place a finger to my mouth. His skin is warm against my lips, his manly, musky scent filling my nose. “I’m sure Dr….” he pauses, at warwith himself. “Perbutt…” He tries to rein in a snicker. He fails. “He’s a perfectly nice guy.”
“I bet his specialty is gastroenterology.”
Taysom loses it now, bending over, trying to keep his laughter from getting out of hand.
Now it’s my turn to shush him. “Do you think the emphasis is on the ‘Per’? Like ‘Ribbit’? You know, Perbitt? I would totally insist on that if that were my name.”
“Charlotte Perbutt. I like that.”
“The good doctor and I could name our children Pippi and Bubbles. You know? Like pee pee and Bubble Butt?”
Taysom bends at the waist, laughing, tears forming in his eyes. “Or first name Lily. Middle name White?”
I guffaw loudly and smack a hand over my mouth even louder.
He shushes me and as soon as I take a breath, he covers the hand over my mouth with his own, dragging me closer to him. “I can hear them coming,” he whispers, locking his deep blue eyes with mine. Even in the low lighting, I catch a silvery shimmer in the blue-green flecks. My breath catches.
His heart riots against his chest, reverberating through my own. I squeeze my hands into fists.Please don’t get traded, Taysom Reed.
Voices sound down the hall, along with rolling equipment and carts. One woman is telling a story, loudly regaling every detail. Something about a dentist who asked one of his patients out and then offered to give her a tooth exam on their first date. It’s spotty on how much of the story we’re hearing but we’re getting most of it.
The vacuum turns on again. “Pity,” I say, a little louder so he can hear over the machine. “I really wanted to know what happened with the dentist and his patient. Maybe they fell in love.”
But Taysom’s looking at me so seriously that I stop joking around. His gaze goes through me, straight to the inner machinations of my soul.
And for some reason, I want him to keep looking at me like that.
Chapter 24
Taysom
“Maybetheydid.”Myvoice is husky.
I clear my throat. All this stuff comes roiling up. Feelings—for Charlotte—that I have no business feeling. Thoughts I have no business thinking.
I’m protective of Charlotte – I always have been. Maybe it’s best friend’s younger sister code or something. I’ve got Kyle’sback, so why not Charlotte’s, too? Except this feeling doesn’t extend to his other siblings.
And I’ve always really liked her as a person, you know? But now? Things are different.
My hands slide up her soft-as-velvet arms. Her white skin contrasts against her olive green, short-sleeved blouse. I know what I’m feeling is more than just a desire to protect her from getting caught. Besides, we’re not doing anything wrong, inherently. I mean, I donated a lot of money to this place. No one would bat an eye if I needed to borrow something. Besides, if my facilities contact would just return my text, we wouldn’t even need to be heisting around right now.
I wear my privilege gratefully. I don’t normally try to push the envelope or take advantage of things just because of my career.
But to help out Charlotte when she’s in a bind?
I’m realizing just how much I’m willing to do.
“Taysom,” she whispers. The way she’s gazing at my face makes me want to kiss her, but then her expression crumbles. “I heard them opening some doors.”
Right. Okay. Yes, we’re not here to kiss or stare into each other’s eyes. We’re here to get a…measurement thing, I can’t remember what it’s called, for tomorrow’s event.
I’m having a hard time remembering words right now.
I peek around the corner to see all the office doors on both sides of the hallway lying wide open.
“I think it’s safe to venture out,” I whisper, checking one more time. If I’m not mistaken, there are two vacuums running, both in offices on the far end of the hall. They must have opened all the doors to air out the rooms before vacuuming them. If we’re lucky, we can sneak in and out without being detected.
Charlotte grabs my hand, takes a deep breath, giving me a look like,if you say so, and steps out, dragging me behind her.
