Page 16 of Wilde Abandon
He didn’t think that was what she was really going to say.Rich was probably the word she was going to use, and it gave him pause.“Um…thanks.I need to go.Did you need something?”
She stood perfectly still.A look came into her eyes that said she did in fact want something as her gaze swept over him again.Since he didn’t want to hurt her feelings by not reciprocating her feelings, he ignored it.
He often missed social cues and meaningful looks like that because he was preoccupied with other things on his mind.Like Melody.He couldn’t stop thinking about her.But he quickly gave himself a mental kick in the ass to pay attention to why Amy had come looking for him in his office.
“You.”
Uh oh!
She took a step closer.“You didn’t come down for lunch today.I know you get caught up in your work, but you always make it to lunch with the others to check in on their progress.”
Oh.Okay.That was easy.He’d deviated from his normal behavior.And she’d noticed.Hmm.“Yeah.Not today.I have a date.”
Her brilliant blue eyes went wide.“You what?”
“I have a date.I don’t want to be late.”He patted his pockets again, found his keys and phone, then touched his ass.“No wallet.Going to need that.”He pulled it out of his top desk drawer.When you sat as many hours as he did each day, a thick wallet could be a real pain in the ass.Literally.
“With who?”Amy sounded dumbfounded.
“An old friend.”Someone he’d spent nearly every waking moment thinking about since he got to town.Not that she was ever far from his mind on any given day for the past seventeen years.
“Really?Here?”
“I lived here a long time ago.Melody was my best friend until—”
One golden eyebrow rose on Amy’s face when he didn’t finish his sentence.“What happened?”
“Too much to talk about now.Being late is a dick move, especially on a first date.”He tried to rush past her, but she grabbed his arm and pulled him to a stop.
“You can tell me anything, you know.”
He only shared his past with a very select few.And he and Amy didn’t know each other that well.But he didn’t want to hurt her feelings either.“Thanks for being a good friend.”
The hand not holding his arm landed on his chest, her palm over his heart.“I’d like to be more.”
He stepped back and tried to let her down gently.“Listen, technically, you work for me.I don’t want to cross any boundaries.”
She gave him a seductive look.“I don’t have many of those.”
Wow.Okay.He wasn’t expecting that overshare.“Unfortunately, this is a business.I need to maintain a professional distance.”He started out the door again, hoping she dropped it.
Most of the time, he worked in his office alone for long hours.Now there were students, teachers, a chef, and a financial advisor at the center, all wanting to connect with him because he headed it all.
Don’t even get him started on how many people worked at his company in Boston.Thankfully most of them were like him and stuck to email and text messages.
He missed his administrative assistant gatekeeping his office door.
All he wanted right now was to be with the one person he’d been waiting to see forever.
“Fox,” Amy called out to him before he got to the stairs that would take him down to the first floor and out to the street.
He reluctantly turned back, wondering what she’d say next.
“You should be careful.You’re a great guy.Don’t let anyone take advantage.Everyone wants something.And you havea lotto give.”
He thought the comment strange, especially the way she emphasizeda lot.What did she mean?Maybe he didn’t want to know.
Melody didn’t want anything but his companionship.He hoped it stayed that way.Because he’d been disappointed in the past by other women and didn’t want to count Melody among the people who only saw him for what he was worth, not who he was.