Page 39 of Wrecked By You
I huffed, but inside, a nugget of warmth set up home within my chest. I’d forgotten how much fun banter could be, especially with a worthy opponent.
“Are you free or not?” I deadpanned.
“Wow. How could I refuse such an enthusiastic offer?”
I swallowed the beginnings of a chuckle, an occurrence rarer than a lottery win. Or trusting a woman.
“What about Chloe?”
“I’ll ask Ginny if she wouldn’t mind babysitting, but I’m sure she’ll be fine. If there’s a problem, I’ll text you. She goes to bed at seven thirty, so I need to be there for that.”
“I’ll pick you up at eight.”
I spun on my heel and returned to my office, triumph mingling with the beginnings of a flicker of excitement.
It wasn’t a date. I didn’t date.
But the feeling in the pit of my stomach wasn’t listening. It was too busy looking forward to the night ahead.
* * *
“You look… nice.”
I suppressed a curse.Nicewas the kind of word used to describe the banal, the boring, when the occasion called for politeness, something I wasn’t all that familiar with.Nicewas not the word to describe Ella Reyes.
She’d piled her midnight-black hair on top of her head, leaving a few tendrils to grace her elegant neck. A light application of makeup enhanced her natural beauty, but didn’t overshadow it, and she’d poured her curves into a topaz-blue dress that, while not designer, didn’t need to be. Ella could wear a trash bag, tie a piece of string around the middle, and still look like a million bucks.
“Nice? Wow. You’re being a bit extravagant with the compliments. I’d dial it back if I were you.”
Every day that passed, Ella’s confidence grew, along with my infatuation. The day we’d met, she’d been nervous as hell, given me the impression she was ready to run at a moment’s notice, and had come across as meek and submissive.
How wrong I’d been in that assessment.
In the early days, there had been flashes of bravado, such as when she’d tackled me over an imagined assault, but it was since I’d hired her as my assistant that the true metamorphosis had begun.
I’d started to think my attempts to convince myself that I wasn’t interested in anything more than a business relationship had been doomed from the beginning.
“If you’re looking for compliments, you’ve picked the wrong companion for the evening.”
And with comments like that, I’ll be lucky if I keep her as an assistant.
“I didn’t pick you for a companion. You picked me.”
Goddammit. She had an answer for everything. I wasn’t used to people answering me back, but the way my dick swelled, it enjoyed her snark as much as I did.
“Shall we go?” Without waiting for her, I spun on my heel and returned to my car. I got in, without even opening her door for her.
Minus points for chivalry.
I snapped my seat belt in place, and once she’d situated herself, I pulled away from the curb.
“That color suits you. It goes well with your eyes.”
I caught sight of her in my peripheral vision, her head slowly coming around. “You were right.”
I frowned. “About what?”
“You are terrible at compliments.”