His eyes widen. “You can send a message to my driver telling him to get down here before ten to pick me up.”
“It’s going to take longer to get there in a car. Traffic is hell in Manhattan.” Smiling sweetly, I tilt my head to the side. “Hop on the subway, and you’ll be there in no time flat.”
“What is it with you and the subway?”
Laughing, I shake my head. “I’ve taken it all my life. It’s the best way to travel this city. You have to give it a chance.”
“Fine, but you’re going with me.” He raises a brow. “I need a subway guide, and you seem to be the expert.”
I wouldn’t say that, but I can show him the ropes. The bonus is I get to see the look on his face when he walks into Empire Soaks and sees their new spokesperson.
Today is already ten times better than yesterday.
He starts toward his office door but stops to turn back to me. “Don’t forget to return the fun and done, Isabella. Unless you’d prefer I take the cost out of your paycheck so you can keep it.”
“I’m on it.”
His brows perk as a sexy grin lifts the corners of his mouth. His gaze drifts to my chair. “You’re on it?”
Shit. Today is worse than yesterday.
“I’ll have it sent back before we leave for Empire Soaks.” I reach for the invoice that he left on my desk. “I should get back to responding to emails.”
He nods before he walks into his office, shutting the door behind him.
Chapter 31
Bella
“You lived.” I look up into Barrett’s face as we reach the top of the stairs leading up from the subway platform. “That wasn’t so bad, was it?”
Taking in our surroundings, he brushes a hand over his brow. “You don’t want me to answer that question honestly, do you?”
Laughing, I toss my hair over my shoulder, looking for some relief from the mid-morning heat that’s engulfing Manhattan. “You didn’t tell me that you had a MetroCard.”
“I’m not the subway virgin you think I am.”
It’s hard to imagine him as a virgin in any capacity. I glance down the street to chase the moment away, hoping that he’ll think the sudden pink flush on my cheeks is from the warm air circling us.
“I did take the subway on occasion in Chicago,” he goes on, loosening the knot on his tie. “I picked up the MetroCard after you gave me hell that night outside Axel. I thought I better learn to ride the rails like a real New Yorker before you give me shit again.”
Smiling, I wave a finger at him. “It takes time to become a real New Yorker. This is just the first step.”
“What’s the second step?”
I glance down the busy sidewalk. “Learning where the best cupcakes are. There’s a bakery three blocks from here. We have enough time that we can stop in there and pick up a few for Marcy and her kids.”
He steps back to make room for a woman walking five dogs. He gives her a curt nod when she smiles at him. “It’s a business meeting, Isabella, not a tea party.”
“Who says you can’t have cupcakes at business meetings?” Curling a finger so he’ll follow me, I set off. “I’ll give you a mini-tour of the Upper West Side. The bakery is on Amsterdam Avenue. We’ll take 78th Street to get there.”
“No.” His voice comes out in a strangled whisper. “Stop.”
I turn and face him, noting the heavy exhale that escapes him. He’s digging a finger inside the collar of his shirt. Sweat is peppering his forehead. I can’t tell if the steady rush of people passing us on the sidewalk is making him uncomfortable or if it’s the heat in the air.
“I’ll get you some water,” I offer looking around for a bodega or a drugstore. I could take him to my parents’ apartment. That’s only a few blocks from here, and my mom is a retired nurse, but she might not be home. I do have a key since I lived there for the first eighteen years of my life, but it’s in the purse I usually carry with me. That’s back at my place.
“I’m fine,” he insists with a hand on my forearm.