Page 63 of Fighting the Pull

He grinned. “So you noticed?”

She rolled her eyes.

She noticed.

His grin got bigger.

She frowned at his grin, which only made it even bigger.

She took her attention from his mouth and looked into his eyes.

“So, how long are you in town?”

He was scheduled to leave the next day.

He right then decided to stay the week. His assistants would be pissed at him, but not only did he have a wrong to right with Elsa, he’d made Tom a promise.

And straight up, he was tired of being on a fucking plane and sleeping in hotel suites. It was good to sleep in a bed that was familiar and wake up where he knew the view.

“I leave next Sunday,” he told her.

“The one after tomorrow?”

He nodded.

“You wanna come over for some takeout? My landlord did some pretty rad things with my building. You should see.”

Hale smiled again.

This time, she smiled back.

So obviously, he had no choice.

He kissed her.

When he let her come up for air, he rubbed his thumb along her lower lip and whispered, “Your lipstick doesn’t move.”

“It’s stain. It’s designed to stay there all night.”

“So I don’t have red all over my mouth?

Hazily, still reacting to his kiss, which meant Hale reacted to that, she shook her head.

“I want to walk out there with you on my arm.”

She suddenly appeared alarmed. “Hale, that’s a lot.”

“People know we know each other, baby. Your interview got over three hundred million views.” He dipped his head closer. “And I want you on my arm.”

“Okay,” she said breathlessly.

“Okay,” he replied. “By the way, congratulations on all the awesome shit that went down with you since I last saw you. I’m happy for you. You deserve it. And you should know, Brandi ordered those flowers, but I asked her to. I did it before we had our thing, but it was my idea. And I’d be entirely remiss if I didn’t mention how insanely gorgeous you look in that dress.”

It was then he watched, profoundly fascinated, as her eyes grew bright, and her lips beamed a glamorous smile his way.

And then her hands were back in his hair, hauling his head down.

So that time, it was Elsa who kissed him.