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I blink, stare at the bouquet, and take a quick count. I stop at eight, realizing I’m just over half through. The man thinks he’s going to make love to me a dozen times this week?
No. Oh, no. A dozen times with that man, fueled by fantasies of Noah, and my body will be sore, my mind mush, and my heart… I shake my head.
“What does it say?” Noah asks, sauntering over and reaching out to snatch the card from me.
“You’re nosy. Give that back!”
He ignores me. As he reads the card, I close my eyes, vowing to buy an industrial paper shredder and drag it into my cubicle so he can’t read anything else my stranger writes for my eyes alone.
Noah’s gaze lifts from the card, then drifts over the bouquet with a whistle. “Ambitious guy. Think he can follow through?”
Wishing a vast hole would open and swallow me whole, I swallow and nod. “Yeah.”
“Hmm. You went from red to green, then back to red. Hot and bothered, I get. But sick?”
“I’m not green. I’m fine.”
“Yeah? And I’m the Easter Bunny. Why does the idea of being with Mr. Mysterious make you sick?”
“You may be in the mood to discuss your love life. I, however, am not. Can we drop it?”
“Sugar, if you don’t want this guy, the next time you see him, there’s one word that will take care of him. It’s no. Just say no.”
I feel the red recede in favor of the green again when my stomach flips. How can I explain this? “It’s not that simple. I—He…” I blow out a breath. “He’s very…skilled.”
He chuckles. “Newsflash, Lauren. Sex is meant to feel good. If he’s skilled and it’s hot between you two, be happy. But if he’s hurting you—”
“No. He’s not hurting me.”
“What’s the problem?”
“You’ll laugh.”
“I won’t. Promise. Lay it on me.”
I shake my head. “That’s okay. Maybe we should check in with your assistant to see if the rest of the owners’ committee has come to a decision.”
When I start to walk away, Noah grabs my elbow and pulls me back to him, so close I can see the blue and gray swirling in his eyes as he stares down at me, feel the heat of his body. I gaze at his firm mouth like a half-drooling idiot and wonder what it would be like to kiss him.
“You helped me at lunch,” he reminds me. “Let me help you.”
He looks so sincere, I don’t know how to say no. Maybe he can help me. Heaven knows he has more than enough experience in the bedroom department, if rumors are true.
I sigh. Why not go for broke? “Being with him…it messes with my head. He forces me to feel things I—I’ve never felt. We connected.”
“That’s not a bad thing,” he assures softly.
“I’m not ready.”
“You didn’t say that last week when you reminded me that you and Tim split up almost two years ago. You’ve got to jump into the dating game sometime.”
“With a man who won’t tell me his name? I’ve never seen his face, either. Gary offered to take me to dinner and a movie. That’s more my speed.”
Noah’s expression hardens. “No, it’s not. That gives you too much opportunity to put up barriers. Mr. Mysterious is getting to you. It’s uncomfortable, but if you do it Gary’s way, you’d be old enough to collect Social Security before you ever let a man back in your heart.”
As much as it makes me want to scream, Noah is right. “I don’t want another man in my heart.”
