She didn’t want to be. God help her, she couldn’t let him walk away forever.
“I have more fun with you than with anyone else I’ve ever spent time with. If we can’t be lovers, what’s wrong with continuing to be friends?”
He let his hands fall to his sides. “That’s what you want?”
“No, Dax. It’s not what I want. But it’s what I can offer you.” She met his slightly wounded gaze without flinching, though her insides hurt to be so harsh. But what choice did she have? “Go back to work and if you still want to hang out as friends, you know where to find me.”
* * *
Friends.
The word stuck in Dax’s craw and put him in a foul mood for the remainder of the day. Which dragged on until it surely had lasted at least thirty-nine hours.
What did Elise want, a frigging engagement ring before they could have a simple dinner together? He’d never had so much trouble getting a woman to go on a date, let alone getting her between the sheets. He must be slipping.
“Dax?”
“What?” he growled and sighed as his admin scurried backward over the threshold of his office door. “I’m sorry. I’m distracted.”
It wasn’t just Elise. The Stiletto Brigade of Former Girlfriends had been brutal, digging barbs into him with military precision. He treated women well while dating them, with intricately planned evenings at expensive venues, gifting them with presents. A woman never left his bed unsatisfied. So why all the animosity?
“You don’t have to tell me. I needed those purchase orders approved by five o’clock.” Patricia pointed at her watch. “Past five o’clock.”
“Why can’t Roy sign them? He’s the CFO,” he grumbled and logged in to the purchase order system so he could affix his digital approval to the documents. Why have a chief financial officer if the man couldn’t sign a couple of purchase orders?
“Because they’re over five hundred thousand dollars and Roy doesn’t have that level of purchasing approval. Only the CEO does. As you know, since you put the policy in place,” she reminded him with raised eyebrows. “Are you okay?”
“Fine.”
He was fine. Why wouldn’t he be fine? It wasn’t as if he’d lost anything with Elise. They hadn’t even slept together yet. A couple of really amazing kisses weren’t worth getting worked up over.
Actually, to be precise, he and Elise had shared a couple of amazing kisses and a few good conversations. More than a few. Several.
“Why don’t you go home?” Patricia asked.
To his lonely, industrial-size loft? Sure, that would fix everything. “Thanks, I will in a few minutes. You’re welcome to leave. You don’t have to wait on me.”
She nodded, backing away from him as if she expected a surprise attack any second, and finally disappeared.
Dax messed around until well after six o’clock, accomplishing exactly zero in the process, and tried not to think about the Vietnamese place where he’d intended to pick up dinner before going to Elise’s house. Vietnamese food warmed up well and he’d fully expected to let it get good and cold before eating.
So Elise hadn’t been on board with taking their whatever-it-was-with-no-label to the next level after the run-in with the Stiletto Brigade. They’d freaked her out, right when he’d gotten her panic spooled up and put away.
Fine. He was fine with it.
Elise wanted all her check boxes checked before she’d commit to dinner. It was crazy. She’d rather be alone than spend a little time with a man who thought she was funny and amazing and wanted to get her naked.
Actually, that wasn’t true. She was perfectly fine with being friends. As long as he kept his hands to himself and didn’t complain when she made astute, painful observations about his relationship track record.
He fumed about it as he got into his car and gunned the engine. He fumed about it some more as he drove aimlessly around Dallas, his destination unclear.
Dax shook his off morose mood and focused on his surroundings. The side-street names were vaguely familiar but he couldn’t place the neighborhood. He drove to the next stoplight, saw the name of the intersection, and suddenly it hit him.
He was a block from Leo’s house.
House, fortress, same thing when it came to his former friend. Leo had excelled at keeping the world out, excelled at keeping his focus where it belonged—on success. Dax slowed as the car rolled toward the winding, gated drive. The huge manor skulked behind a forest of oaks, bits of light beaming between the branches stripped of leaves by the fall wind.