Hell yes!“No, of course not. We’re grown adults and all of that is in the past.” The lie slipped so easily off of my tongue. Hoping to sell it more, I made the mistake of stepping closer, now practically into his arms. His chest was hard against me, and I felt something else I forced myself to not think about. Bringing one of my hands to the front of his suit, I dragged my manicured nails down the front of it. “I was actually hoping we could start over.”
“Start over,” he said a few times as if he was digesting what I had said.
I kept a smile on my face, one that betrayed my own feelings, and then finally took a step back. “My name’s Mackenzie Broderick, and it’s very nice to meet you, Mr.?” I paused, then extended my hand out to him.
He instantly clutched it with his. “Courtland, but please call me Jonas.”
I had a few other choice things to call him, but I needed to remember this was all a charade. “Jonas, it is then.”
There were a few moments of silence between us before he spoke again. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. I hope we see a lot of each other over the next few days. In fact, I’m serving drinks on the rooftop deck tonight so you should bring the woman I saw you with earlier.”
“The pleasure’s all mine,” I told him while keeping a forced smile on my face. “Drinks sound lovely. I’ll let her know.”
Jonas released my hand, and I ignored the goosebumps that ran up one length of my arm and down the other. “I’ll see you in an hour.”
With those final words, he walked back inside. I waited until he completely disappeared from view before releasing the breath I’d been holding inside. My skin still tingled from his touch and I realized now that I might be in over my head.
“He walked inside grinning like a Cheshire cat. Do I even want to know what you did to him out here to put it on his face?” Reece asked when she joined me.
I hadn’t even heard my friend come outside, but I was glad she did. “It was nothing. He invited us up to the roof for drinks and I accepted.” It all sounded so simple, but when I turned to go back inside with Reece, I knew this was about to get a lot harder.