Page 14 of Fierce- Royce

“What?” she asked, lifting her hand up.

“Let me get it,” he said. “Things get stirred up in the air during the work.”

She stood there as his hand went to the ends of her hair on her back, pulling off what he saw. His knuckles brushed against her and it felt as if a match had burned right through her sweater, the spot was on fire so much and it took everything she had to not gasp.

5

Has Its Moments

Jesus, Royce thought. What was wrong with him?

He could have just let it go that Chloe had sawdust in her hair, but he’d want to know if he was talking to a client and had that on him.

To him, it was like having food in his teeth and no one cluing him in on it.

But of course she couldn’t find it and he had to remove it for her and then he touched her body and it felt as if the sweater she was wearing was soft as a cloud.

“Thanks,” she said.

“Not a problem,” he said. “I didn’t know you’d never met my father. I would have introduced you.”

“It’s fine. I like watching Grant and Garrett blame the other for their faux pas.”

“It’s got to be interesting working with them all the time,” he said.

“It has its moments,” she said. “They are great employers though.”

“They are great people,” he said. “I’ve seen the two of them go at it. Nothing like Elise and I.”

“Your sister?” she asked. “I’ve never met her but have heard of her.”

“Most have. She’s pretty vocal.”

“Unlike you?” she asked.

“I’m vocal,” he said. “When I want to be.”

He turned his head when the elevator dinged again and was thrilled for the reprieve. It was hard to be vocal when he was trying to roll his tongue back into his mouth.

Not only was he shocked that Chloe was here, but she was wearing jeans that fit her body too damn well with a pretty sweater. She had boots on her feet. Not high heel ones but ones that went well with her jeans with a smaller square sole.

She knew she was coming here today and probably didn’t want to be in pumps and nice clothes were his guess, but she still looked mouthwatering to him.

“Let’s go meet the new clients,” he said. “Should be interesting.”

“This is my first time. I’ll just be listening. I’m excited to be included.”

He had no clue she’d never been on a client meet before. He’d always talked with her, but that was different than when services were trying to be sold.

“Since this is all news to me I’m not sure how far into the process they are.”

It wasn’t like his father to not clue him in on things so he was guessing this wasn’t anything set in stone and maybe just a quick walk-through.

But thirty minutes later he realized that it was a done deal.

The clients knew what they wanted, how much space and what they wanted it to look like.

They even had pictures on a laptop they were showing to him and Chloe. She had her phone out and was typing in notes. He was jotting things on paper. He was old school that way.