Page 46 of Flirting with 40

“Stop! Stop!” I playfully struggle until I’m on my back and he’s tickling me from above. After a few moments, he lets me pin his hands against my body.

Our breathing is labored, but there is a stillness that screams if either one of us makes the next move, the other will be all in.

I wait for that next second to pass, wait for him to lean in and kiss me. There are a few seconds where I swear time stands still before his breathing slows some and his lips turn up in a smile. “You need to stop worrying, Blakely. It’s simple. We’ll keep it simple.” I release his hands, but he keeps them where they are with one hand on my abdomen and the other on my hand. “We met in a bar. There was instant chemistry, but you walked out, afraid of how strong you felt about me.”

“Is that so?”

His grin widens. “That’s so. And because fate is the funny bitch she is and was determined that we end up together, we just so happened to run into each other on the street a week later.”

“Very creative.”

“And the rest is history.”

“But it isn’t.” I chuckle and rest my head back and look at the ceiling. The mundane white of it makes me so much less nervous than Slade’s face right in front of me while his hand heats my skin beneath its touch. “How long have we been together?”

“We told your ex five months, so let’s stick with that.” He props his head on his hand and settles in beside me without removing his other hand from my stomach. “You don’t owe them any explanations or details. And technically, we aren’t lying. The more lies you tell, the more tripped up you’ll get, and then we’ll be outed, so . . . the fewer details, the better.”

“Why do you have to be so logical?”

I’m still looking at the ceiling, but I can feel the weight of his stare on me, and it’s making me self-conscious.

“I’m sorry it doesn’t have a porch swing?”

“What?” I ask and turn to look at him.

“The cabin. It doesn’t have a porch swing. You said you only did the mountains with a porch swing and wine.” He pats my hip. “I’m sure I can fix the wine problem, but the swing part might be a bit tough.”

“You’re too good to be true.”

And there it is. The thought I’ve been thinking is suddenly out in the open, and I feel like an idiot for saying it because I can’t take it back.

In perfect Slade fashion, he gives me a boyish grin before flopping onto his back. “Don’t hate me when I say this, but she wasn’t as bad as I thought she was going to be.”

“Who? Horrible Heather?”

“Mm-hmm. I think I expected a fire-breathing dragon who talks like a valley girl and spits out chewed nails, but she was seemingly nice,” he says.

“Of course, she was nice to the hot, young heart surgeon who sauntered into the room with a panache most would kill to have an ounce of.”

“Panache?” He starts laughing.

“If I had been in your shoes—interrupt her opening speech and walk in like you did—she would have treated me as if I were a threat.”

“It’s the good looks,” he says with a wink. My sarcastic groan has him laughing. “I’m confused. Why are you a threat if you want a different position?”

“It’s a long and uneventful explanation.”

“Isn’t that why we’re here though? I need more of an understanding of what I’m trying to tackle.” He nudges me with his elbow. “So, start talking, babe.”

“At Glam they have both a VP of sales and a VP of marketing position. They are supposed to have equally weighted responsibilities to drive the success of the products. We share the success, the failures, the bonuses.”

“As opposed to having an outside marketing company?”

“Exactly. It’s great in the sense that we have that whole side of our business working together, but it’s bad when the two leading positions are at odds.”

“And she’s the VP of sales? Who is the current VP of marketing and shouldn’t they be here at the retreat?”

“Debbie—the current VP—is retiring for health reasons. She’s a great lady, but she hasn’t been present much. We all knew she was hinting toward retirement before she got sick, but she just made the announcement that she’ll officially step down once the board has a candidate to take her position.”