“No way. I’m far too loyal to Shannon to let her ruin her life like that.”
“Sometimes being loyal means knowing someone you love is probably making a mistake and being there for them anyway,”he offers, gently pushing the hair back from my forehead. His bicep ripples with the movement.
I don’t like where this conversation is heading. I change the subject.
“Next question,” I say, my attention turning to something more fun. I don’t have the finesse to go fishing for a compliment. I am about as subtle as a batteringram.
“When did you start to likeme?”
“Hmm, let’s see,” he says, lying flat, linking his hands behind his head. He takes the time to think. “I can’t say for sure, but I think it was around the time you tried to tell me SQL stands for Super Quality Leads.”
“Thatiswhat it stands for.”
“You’re still sure about that?”
I shrug, refusing to incriminate myself any further.
“Are you telling me you’ve been trying to lure me in this whole time?”
“I wouldn’t say that, exactly,” he says. “I didn’t think Icouldlure you, honestly. You really snuck up on me. I went from having no idea you existed, to obsessing over your every movement. I never really thought we’d end up here.”
“Why not?”
“I mean, talk about not knowing what you’re thinking,” he says. “It was so hard to get a read on you. One minute I think you’re flirting with me, the next I think I’m crazy to even take a shot with you. The day you reacted so badly to me going out with Carrie was the first time I thought I hadn’t made the whole thing up. Up until then, I was convinced I was cursed to have this demented crush on the girl I sit beside. A very particular kind of torture, let me tell you.”
I can’t believe what I’m hearing. Every revelation sets off areaction inside me like candy popping on my tongue. I’m so overwhelmed I don’t know what tosay.
He rolls back onto his side. “And then of course, you hit on Ben.”
“What? No, I didn’t.”
“You did.”
“I haveneverhit on Ben.”
He gives me a very pointed look. “You asked him if he was single.”
“I wasn’t hitting on him!” I say, indignant. “I wanted to set him up with Carrie.”
I think back to that day, laughing out suddenly. “Oh my god. Is that why he was so weird with me in the elevator?”
Connor’s smile creeps higher. “Washe?”
“Yes! He told me workplace relationships were forbidden and that you’d be mad if you knew we were even talking about it. He said we could get fired!”
“I mean—he wasn’t lying. It istechnicallyagainst company policy.”
“I can see how seriously you take that.”
He grins.
“So you likeme.”
“A lot,” he confirms.
“You like me a lot.” I nod. “But you don’t know whether I like you. Despite the fact you’ve seen me naked.”
“You introduced me to your sister as your boss.”
