Maxi sighed. “My condolences on the broken engagement.”
She gave him a compassionate look. As though she’d been there herself?
Fool on anyone who’d let a woman like her slip away. He barely even knew her and yet he felt a bit tight around the collar in her presence, as he had in the conference room when she’d gazed up at him with hope and exhilaration in her beautiful, glimmering eyes.
In fact, just like earlier, he wouldn’t have minded loosening his tie and undoing a few buttons. Maybe then he’d be able to breathe a little easier around this woman. Not get fixated on her lips or her legs. Because all that did was make his cock thicken. Very unexpected, for someone who was usually so in control of his physical responses.
Opting for a quick, clean exit, he told her, “I’ll let you finish your lunch. I’ll check your schedule with Avril for tomorrow and—”
“No time like the present for us to chat,” Maxi contended.
He hedged. It’d be wise for him to back out of the office and better prepare himself for a one-on-one with Maxi. He could smell the hint of her floral perfume and it heightened his arousal. Not a good thing.
“Why don’t you have a seat?” she suggested. “I’ll hack off half of this monstrosity of a sandwich for you. I only took a bite on one side and my fingers never touched the rest of it. There’s a tub of coleslaw, too, that I won’t get through.”
Ryan remained hesitant. Not exactly commonplace for him. He was accustomed to being hired to do massive research and provide solid solutions to whatever issue his clients faced. But, again, this environment was not one he was used to—and he’d sure as hell never operated alongside a woman who turned his blood to magma.
Come on, man. This is a job, not a date.
He nearly snorted over that last word. Again, Ryan had no intention of dating. Not anytime soon. As in, why bother, what’s the point, and who would subject themselves to that kind of living hell, knowing t
he potential for another fucked-up outcome?
But then Maxi smiled invitingly, and he strode closer to her desk.
Still, he clung to his convictions. “I certainly wouldn’t want to impose.”
And there was the matter of a raging hard-on developing.
Because Maxi oozed raw sexuality—and didn’t even appear to know it. That made her all the more enticing.
“Look at the size of this thing!” she declared.
His pulse jumped.
Alas, she wasn’t speaking of his erection. Her gaze was on the sandwich, and she gestured toward it with a manicured hand. “Pastrami piled a mile high. I always have leftovers, since my five brothers aren’t here to devour everything when I turn my back for two seconds.”
Maxi shoved her chair away from the desk and stood, tugging at the hem of her skirt to bring it down the inch she’d lost when she’d crossed her legs. Ryan knew he should avert his eyes, but couldn’t muster the willpower.
There was definitely something bizarre and unpredicted infiltrating his brain and sparking the endorphins.
Maxi strolled over to the narrow wet bar built into the shelving units along the back wall. Ryan watched her every move. The woman had shapely hips that swayed provocatively. And all that silky-looking skin that he suddenly yearned to touch—
Oh, for the love of God!
What was wrong with him?
His professional position with the company was about to become his personal torment.
Yanking off his glasses, he used the lens-cleaning cloth that he kept tucked in the pocket of the inner panel of his suit jacket. Despite the glasses not holding a single smudge. But it was a way to, however briefly, alleviate his laser-focus on Maxi’s stunning body. Though just because she was now slightly blurry, way across the room, didn’t mean the crystal-clear image of her wasn’t burned into his brain.
As he replaced his glasses, she asked over her shoulder, “Do you want bottled water or a soda?”
“Water is fine. Thank you.”
Maxi returned with his beverage, a knife, and an extra fork and plate. She sawed the sandwich in half, setting his portion before him, the cheese still dripping from all sides.
She flipped the top off the coleslaw and dumped a heap onto her plate. She slid the container with the remainder toward him.