I was worried about those red spots on his cheeks and what it would mean if someone else saw them.
“Hey, boss,” Ace said casually, walking into the room.If there was a vibe to pick up on, he didn’t seem to.“I’ve got sponsors on the line right now wanting to put a new Ridley Angus deal in place.It would match the same amount we were getting from the non-alcoholic people and some, and it won’t be touched by any of this controversy, but we’ve got to move on it today.”
Olly turned around – and my heart caught in my throat.
He looked… normal.Absolutely normal.Cold and unruffled and unemotional.His face was completely blank as it almost always seemed to be.“Is the deal a good one?For Ridley?”
“Yeah,” Ace grinned.“They only want half the social media commitment the other guys did.If anything, this is an upgrade.This scandal might have actually done us a favor.All the vultures are swooping in to get a good deal, not realizing I’m actually charging themmore.”
“Good.”Olly nodded once.“You can handle it.”
Ace’s eyebrows lifted.“You’re going to let me do this on my own?”
Olly tilted his head.“Aren’t you ready?”
“I’m absolutely ready, and you know I am,” Ace beamed.“Born ready.Can I borrow Keaton to get the paperwork done?”
“No,” Olly said, and his eyes blazed.“You’re never borrowing Keaton again.I need him.”
“Uh, okay,” Ace said.He glanced back and forth between us.I wrenched my eyes back to my computer screen and prayed to any hope I had in the entire galaxy that my face wouldn’t give me away.“Well, I’m not waiting for you to change your mind.I’m going to go finalize the deal.Thanks, boss!”
And he was gone.
Leaving Olly and me alone again.
Except that Ace hadn’t actually closed the doors behind him, so we were far from being in a private space.
I got up from my desk, scrambling over to shut them – and paused with my hands on the door handles.
Did I really want this?After I had just gotten my job back, did I want to risk it again in order to have one more kiss?
The answer that surged through me almost shocked me with its strength.
Yes.
For a kiss like that, hell yes, I did.
I closed the doors and turned back to face him.
Olly was still standing on the other side of the room with his back to the bookcase and his hands in his pockets.He was watching me carefully, the way you might watch a stray dog to figure out if it was going to bite you or come home to lay at your feet.
He didn’t need to worry about which side I was going to come out on.
“He can’t borrow me ever again,” I said, biting my lower lip.
Olly’s eyes were drawn down to the motion of my teeth.“No,” he confirmed.
I took a few steps forward.“You need me right here,” I said.
“I do,” he replied.He waited for me to come to him.He just stood there – immovable, immutable, silent.The same Oliver Harvey I had met when I had walked through the doors of this office for the first time, and yet so very different.
Because now there was a possibility –morethan just a possibility – that he was mine.
“Well,” I said.I swept my tongue over the place I had been biting and stepped again, almost closing the distance between us entirely – but not quite.“I’m here.”
He didn’t need another prompt.
Olly surged forward and caught me in his arms, enveloping me in another crushing kiss that was anything but overpowering.It was comforting, somehow, to have all that strength engaged only in showering me with affection when it could have bruised me instead.His hand slipped back into my hair and caught on my curls and tugged just slightly, tilting my head up higher and opening me up to him.His tongue slid into my mouth and mine rose to meet it, every nerve in my body dancing with electrified heat as his other hand slid around my waist.Both of mine landed on his solid, warm chest, feeling the thick muscles of his torso underneath them.
