Her heart pirouetted in her chest at the prospect of another day with him.
But… “We went out at one today!”
He shrugged. “And?”
“And I have work.”
He waved dismissively. “Take the day off.”
“I can’t. Johara…”
“Will shove you out of the office if she can to make you take some time off. She says you’re a workaholic.”
“Gee. She says the same about you.”
“See? We both need a mental-health day.”
“We already had one today.”
“We worked our asses off for five hours in the morning. Tomorrow is a real day off. With all the trimmings. Sleeping in, then going crazy being lazy and doing nothing but eating and chatting and doing whatever pops into our minds till way past midnight.”
And he’d just described her newfound vision of heaven.
Then she remembered something, and heaven seemed to blink out of sight. She groaned, “I really can’t tomorrow.”
Disappointment flooded his gaze, but only for a second. Then eagerness was back full steam ahead. “The day after tomorrow, then. And at noon. No…make it eleven. Ten.”
Her heart tap-danced. She did her best not to grin like a loon, to sound nonchalant as she said, “Oh, all right.”
He stuck his hands at his hips. “Got something more enthusiastic than that?”
“Nope.” She mock scowled. “That’s the only brand available. Take it or…take it.”
“I’ll take it, and take it!” He took a step back as if to dodge a blow, whistled. “Jeez. How did something so tiny become so terrifying?”
She gave a sage nod. “It’s an evolutionary compensatory mechanism to counteract the disadvantaged size.”
“Vive la évolution.” And he said it in perfect French, reminding her he spoke that fluently, too.
She burst out laughing.
Minutes later, she was still chuckling to herself as she entered h
er apartment. God, but that man was the most unprecedented, unpredictable, unparalleled fun she’d ever had.
She met her eyes in her foyer’s mirror, wincing at what she’d never seen reflected back…until now. Unmistakable fever in her cheeks and soppy dreaminess in her eyes. Aram had put it all there without even meaning to.
Yeah. He was boatloads of fun. Too bad he was also a mine of danger.
And she’d just agreed to another daylong dose of deadly exposure.
Seven
“So how’s my Tiny Terror doing this fine day?”
Kanza leaned against the wall to support legs that always went elastic on hearing Aram’s voice. Not to mention the heart that forgot its rhythm.
You’d think after over a month of daily and intensive exposure, she’d have developed some immunity. But she only seemed to be getting progressively more susceptible.