Wow. “All this swearing,” I said while I tried to search his face for whatever was going on with him. “I don’t think my ears will ever recover, Blackford.”
One of his hands went to the back of his neck. His head fell back, reminding me a lot of that moment I hadn’t been able to forget. When he had followed that with wonderful laughter. When he had smiled freely. As brightly as one could smile. But he didn’t do any of that now. He just gave me a tug of his lips, tiny little wrinkles in the corners of his eyes.
“You are cute,” he said matter-of-factly. “But don’t think you can play that card now. I’m still mad.”
Cute? Cute as in cute or cute as in small and funny and something you smiled at with fondness? Or perhaps cute as in—
I stopped myself. Closed my eyes for an instant, so I would just stop thinking.
“Are you feeling better? Think you can stand?”
Opening my eyes, I nodded my head. “Yeah. No need to carry me around again.” Although the lurch in my chest at the thought reminded me how comfy I had been up there. “Thanks.”
“I can if I—”
“I know you can, Blackford,” I interrupted him. If he offered again, I might take him up on it. “Thank you for doing it earlier, but I got it under control.”
He nodded, stretching out his hand in front of me. “Come on. Let’s go. We’ll grab your things and get you home.”
I didn’t reach out for it with mine. “I can—”
“Cut it out, will you?” He stopped me. God, we both were so freaking stubborn. “Now, you can let me walk you out and drive you home”—he paused, like a total drama queen—“or I can carry you out of this building and into my car myself.”
Holding his gaze, I lifted my hand and held it in the air, just a few inches away from his. I measured his words. Assessed my thoughts. Vaguely ignoring the way I’d love nothing more than to see him trying option number two. And what was far more disturbing than that was, I didn’t think it was for the pleasure it would bring me to fight him on something like that.
“Fine,” I said, wrapping my fingers around his as well as I could, considering the size difference. “No need to get your panties in a bunch, Blackford.”
He sighed. But then he pulled me up, doing something with our hands. Something that somehow changed the positions of our palms, which were now against each other.
A flutter took flight in the middle of my chest. And as we exited the office, I realized it’d soon no longer be Jeff’s, our boss. This would become Aaron’s office.
Soon enough.
Which should have been reason enough to immediately drop his hand and run in the opposite direction. It should have been enough to stop myself from welcoming the warmth of his palm or letting him take me home.
It should have. But ironically, I hadn’t seemed to be listening to a whole lot of should haves lately. So, what was a couple more?
“Hello?” A distant male voice stirred me back to life.
Un poquito más, I silently begged as I fought to fall back into oblivion. Un ratito más.
“I’m Aaron.”
Aaron?
Eyes shut and every thought sticky and heavy, I halfheartedly tried to make sense of what was happening. Why was Aaron’s voice sounding right beside me? I wanted to go back to sleep.
I vaguely recognized the characteristic dull vibration of an engine. Am I in a car? A bus? But we weren’t moving.
A dream. Yeah, that made sense. Right?
Confused and overexerted, I buried deeper into the warmth of my bed and decided I didn’t care if I dreamed of Aaron. It wouldn’t be the first time anyway.
“Yes, that Aaron.” The male voice was no longer distant. “Yes, I’m afraid so,” he continued. Every word bringing me more and more awake. “She’s asleep right now.”
I felt a featherlike caress on the back of my hand. And my skin flared back to life. Feeling way too real for this being a dream.
“No, everything is fine.” Aaron’s baritone texture reverberated through my ears, and I found a weird comfort in recognizing it. “Okay, I will tell Catalina to call you back.” A pause. Followed by a chuckle. “No, I’m not one of those. I love meat. Roasted lamb in particular.”