* * *
He caught up to Isabelle in PR. The room was bustling, people typing on keyboards, sketching on whiteboards and huddled around desks, arguing and discussing. The noise level was high, so Wes decided to try out some sign language. He caught her eye and from across the room, she smiled at him. Then she flushed and chuckled when he started signing.
At another desk, a guy named Drake laughed, too, then ducked his head and pretended he hadn’t.
“Something funny?” Wes asked him.
“Um, no, sir,” the kid answered quickly, his gaze darting from side to side to avoid making direct contact with Wes’s. “It’s just that, um, my mother’s deaf. I speak sign language, and, well...”
“Perfect.” Wes sighed and shook his head. “What were the odds,” he muttered. Then he bent low and whispered, “I expect you to forget everything you just saw.”
“Didn’t see a thing,” Drake assured him and deliberately went back to work with a frenzied attack on his keyboard.
Nodding, Wes was satisfied that the kid wouldn’t be telling anyone that the boss had just signed, You look incredible. I want you in bed. Now.
Isabelle walked toward him, still smiling. He took her hand and led her from the room. Out in the hall, he said, “Well, that was unexpected. I didn’t think there’d be someone here who understands sign language.”
She squeezed his hand and let him see her smile grow. “It’s okay. I don’t think he’s going to be telling anyone that you want me in bad.”
He stopped. “Bad?”
Laughing, she nodded. “You’re getting better at signing every day, but it’s pretty tricky.”
No wonder the kid had laughed. “Still, having you wrapped up in bed and bad on top of it isn’t a bad idea, either. I could eat my way down to you and then just keep going.”
Her eyes flashed and she licked her lips, sending a jolt of heat straight down to the one area of his body that hadn’t relaxed since he’d first seen her. Shaking his head, he murmured, “I came to get you so we could take Caro to the zoo. But now...”
She tipped her head to his shoulder briefly, then looked up at him. “Zoo first. Bad later.”
“Deal.”
* * *
They must have walked for miles, Isabelle thought. She and Wes and Caroline had spent hours at the zoo, and she wouldn’t have thought that Wes would enjoy it. But he had. Just as much as he’d enjoyed the amusement park and the ice-skating. Maybe it was the magic of seeing things through the eyes of a child, but he’d been more relaxed and happy in the last few days than she’d ever seen him. In a gray suit, now minus the red power tie, he should have looked out of place at the zoo. But she’d learned that Wes wasn’t a man easily defined. Despite the suit, he carried Caro on his shoulders and didn’t seem to mind when her ice cream cone dripped all over him. On the ride home to Royal, it took only seconds for Caro to be sound asleep in her car seat. After checking on her, Isabelle sat back and turned her head to look at Wes. Her heart did a quick tumble as she stared at his profile. “Caro had a wonderful time today.”
He glanced at her and gave her a half smile. “So did I. Until this week, I hadn’t taken a day off in years. I think Robin is shell-shocked.”
Isabelle laughed. She’d always liked Wes’s no-nonsense assistant. “She’ll recover.”
“How did it go in the PR department?” He paused. “You know, before I got there. You get anything you can use?”
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“Absolutely.” In the couple of hours she’d been with PR that morning, Isabelle had found new and clever ways to hit people up for donations. “Mike actually suggested that I sort of adopt out hospitals.”
“You lost me.” He steered the car into the passing lane to go around a truck.
“Well—” she turned in her seat to face him even though he had to keep his eyes on the road “—it’s like, I print up information on specific hospitals. The kids—first names only—their health issues, how long they’ll be there in that sterile environment. Let potential donors see these kids as real people rather than just another random charity.”
“Good idea.” He nodded. “And you’d send these flyers or newsletters or whatever out to your mailing list?”
“To start, yes, but I could also make more of a splash on my Facebook page. And get more involved in social media. Honestly, I get so busy with the actual work that I forget I also have to get out there and promote what the charity does, too. Social media is so hot right now—”
“Believe me,” Wes said with a tight groan, “I know.”
“Right.” She winced, remembering suddenly that it had been a Twitter attack that had brought them back together. “Sorry. Sore spot.”
“It’s okay,” he said, shaking his head. “Go ahead.”