She snorted, but let her cheek rest on his shoulder – only briefly, once she realized how comfortable it was, the perfect height for her. “No. Don’t do that. You’ll threaten him, lose your temper, and do something stupid.”
“I won’t.”
“Of course you will. He has always upset you. And this isn’t your fight, it’s mine.”
“You asked me for help, so it’s ours.”
“Yeah, maybe,” she murmured, inhaling his man-and-paper scent again. It calmed her. “But we’ll do it the right way, okay? As long as we can, we’ll only use the legal route. Promise me you won’t go over there and pee on the side of his house to mark your territory, okay?”
“I’m not stupid, and I’m not a dog, Hazel. I can stand. I’d pee on his desk, so the smell would linger, and a lot of paperwork would be unusable.”
She laughed again and closed her eyes for a few seconds. Only because it was so warm in his arms could she pretend for a moment that he was keeping all her worries at bay with his ridiculous muscles. It had been ages since anyone had held her, and she’d admitted to herself that sometimes it was nice not to have to do everything alone. Not…
“Hazel?”
“Mm hm?”
“Have you calmed down?”
“Mm hm.”
“Can I let you go then?”
Oh, shit.
“Sure!” she said hastily, taking a step back. “Sure, sure. Um…cool.” She smiled – a little too broadly – and brushed an imaginary piece of lint off her skirt. “Thanks! Initial panic attack over.”
Gareth was still looking at her, but she couldn’t interpret his gaze. He was, as always, too intense, a little too hot, and much too transparent, but also…soft. As soft as his lips that had brushed her temple.
She cleared her throat and glanced away. She was allowed to fantasize about sex with him but not about loving gestures that…that…
“Okay, I have to go to the office, see you…” She raised her hand and hurried to her car when something else occurred to her. “Oh, yeah. Have you talked to Blake yet?”
Gareth blinked. “No. I…”
“Oh, come on! I’m gone for the next three days. Talk to him. Otherwise, I won’t talk toyou!”
She waved and got into her car.
She took a deep breath, banishing Gareth’s scent and replacing it with that of her car.
Man. No more long hugs. They were too…heady. She’d add that to her contract.
Chapter Seventeen
Social conduct for hate-free inter-colleague teamwork
Short: SCHIT
Additional clause X-4:
Parties A and B meet at least three times a week to fulfill the contract, promptly at 7 p.m.
Leon’s agent wasn’t happy.”
“He won’t be Leon’s agent much longer, so that’s fine.”
Cravitz cleared his throat as he hurried down the hall beside him. “You can’t know that.”
