“I know. I did my homework.” I tilted closer as we opened the take-out bags side by side. Her skin flushed, and her fingers faltered for a second. I loved her reaction. This tension between us was undeniable, but it felt so damn good that I just didn’t want to stop. I barely kept myself from reaching out and touching her smooth skin.

“What’s with the huge boxes next to your desk?” I asked.

“I had some stuff delivered. I’m having some work done to my house, but I didn’t want to have them sent there. They’re too big to fit into a delivery box, and it’s a pain to collect them from the post office. Tried to bribe the delivery guy into bringing them to my car, but he wouldn’t hear of it.”

“I’ll help you bring them to your car.”

“That’s okay, I can handle—”

“I’ll bring them to your car,” I said in a definitive, no-argument-accepted tone.

She tilted her head. “Is this part of your plan to convince me you’re nice?”

“I’m not nice, Sienna. But I think you know that.”

I held her gaze. She didn’t reply.

“What’s in the boxes anyway?”

“Some materials for renovations. I’m working on that every evening. Progress is slower than anticipated, obviously, since I’m here so late. I need to have everything ready in a week, when some new furniture arrives. This weekend I’m painting my walls.”

“I’m handy with construction. I can help you this weekend.”

“Wow. Thanks. You want to paint my walls? Why?”

“I feel guilty for keeping you here so late.”

Her face opened up into a huge smile. “Well, then, bring it on, boss. What can I do to also get you to sand my floors?”

“Sassy again?”

She shrugged one shoulder. Her smile didn’t dim. I loved the positivity and playfulness she carried with her all the time. I wanted more of it—all of it.

I wanted her.

“I am officially upgrading you from boss from hell to dictatorial and grouchy.”

“You what?”

She grinned. “You said you liked my honesty.”

“I do.” I just wasn’t sure that dictator was an improvement.

“I have to warn you. I like doing housework while watching Christmas movies in the background.”

“You’re joking.”

“No. It keeps me distracted.”

“I’ll keep you distracted.” I shifted in my chair until there were just a few inches between us. This time, I couldn’t resist touching her. Just a light scrape of my fingers on her wrist. The fine hair on her arms stood on end. When I looked up at her, she bit her lower lip before opening a new document on her laptop.

“How?”

“You’ll see.” I winked at her before turning to the screen. We still had a few hours of work ahead of us. She’d run the stats on the reward cards, and we laid out the pros and cons of cutting off sales.

Branding required a lot of number analysis, and Sienna was excellent at it. We created half a dozen graphics, but I wanted to mull it over for a few days before deciding on a course of action.

“I feel like my brain is fried,” she said after two hours.

Tags: Layla Hagen The Bennett Family Romance
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