Page 90 of Hard to Resist

“Oh. Right.” I force myself to relax. “Nothing’s happening at the moment. We’re waiting for the vote, but I’ve heard the application won’t pass.”

“That’s great.”

“Yes. It is.”

Chloe writes an answer on the sheet as if she didn’t nearly give me a heart attack. She can’t know what’s happening between Eric and me. She’d ask questions I’m not ready to answer and point out how messy this is. I can’t spend my nights in his bed and my days fighting his company as if the two have nothing to do with each other.

My gaze returns to my phone. There are still no messages from him.

Trivia ends just after nine. Chloe hugs me outside the wine bar, reminds me about salsa on Friday, then walks toward her apartment. I wait until she reaches the corner before heading the other way. My phone stays in my bag for half a block. Then I give in and take it out. I could send Eric a text, but instead, I find his name and press call.

“Hey,” he answers.

The warmth in his voice makes me smile. “Hi.” I step around a couple moving too slowly in front of me. “We never decided what time you’re coming tomorrow.”

“Seven?”

“Seven works. We also didn’t decide what we’re eating.”

“What do you want?”

“Surprise me. You’re bringing it, by the way.”

“I assumed I was.”

There. I had a completely normal reason to call, and I handled it in less than a minute. I should say good night and hang up.

Instead, I ask, “How was your evening?”

“Good. I had dinner with our partners from Singapore. They left about twenty minutes ago.”

Relief comes so quickly that it’s embarrassing. He was working. There was no beautiful woman laughing across a table from him.

“Did it go well?”

“Very. They were impressed by the tree inside Voss Park. We spent several minutes standing around and looking at it.”

“Sounds thrilling.”