The Dealmaker (Sex & Bonds 1)

I give him the knucks he’s seeking. “Masterclass in sales will do.”

“Oh. Right. The dude thing,” Nicky replies. “Sorry.”

Typing in my username and password, I say, “Theo put in a good showing too.”

Ian’s suddenly appeared at our desk, one elbow resting on the edge of Theo’s screens. “Don’t tell me y’all are getting along now.”

“Would that be so bad?” Theo arches a brow.

Ian’s cheeks go pink. “Yes. No. It’s great, of course, but . . . c’mon, y’all’s fighting was super entertaining.”

“Better than Netflix,” Brooks adds.

George arrives at his desk next to mine. He starts unzipping his vest but stops halfway through. “California agreed with you, huh?”

My face is starting to hurt from not smiling. “It did.”

“You’re glowing.”

I look at him. His eyes are unusually bright for a Monday morning, and he’s grinning. “So are you.”

“Good weekend,” he says, averting his eyes as he resumes unzipping his vest. “Snow days are fun.”

“Shut the fuck up,” Ian says. “You didn’t touch a single snowflake.”

George slides into his chair. “Never said I did.”

“He was shacked up in the great indoors,” Brooks says. “Which begs the question—”

“How much frozen pizza I ate,” George replies with an easy smile. “Less than you’d think.”

Nicky giggles. “What did you eat, then?”

“For the love of Christ, don’t answer that,” Brooks says.

George clearly spent the weekend with a lady friend. Not a rare occurrence for him, but the fact that he’s being so coy about it is interesting. It’s none of my business, so I don’t ask, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t curious about this girl who’s putting so much pep in his step today. Maybe because now I know what it takes to make someone glow like that: epic, excellent sex with a partner who lights you up.

I glance around my screens and lock gazes with Theo through the gap in our towers. The smile that’s been trying to break free finally does, and my heart dips. That look he had in his eyes all weekend—the softness, the glint of mischief like we’ve got a shared secret—deepens when he sees me smiling, and he’s doing absolutely nothing to hide it.

Certainty descends like a warm, gentle wave in my center. Whatever Theo’s faults, whatever stupid games we’ve played in the past, he’s not playing games now. Not with my career, and certainly not with my heart.

I look away, a delicious ache filling me in the wake of that certainty. Falling for Theo is not part of the plan. He’s fucking everything up. But instead of hating him for it, I want to kiss him. I want to go home with him and, per his suggestion, ride his face. Then I want to finish The Gilded Age and hang out with his sisters and ask his mom how she raised such a stand-up guy.

I want to do everything with him. The idea that I can—that he’s not out to break me, but to make me happy—is overwhelmingly sweet.

My phone vibrates in my purse. I reach down to grab it, seeing that Theo’s sent me a text. You know what I ate this weekend.

Goddamnit, I need to stop smiling already. But I can’t. And considering how much the men in my life have made me cry, all this happiness is a welcome change of pace.

I don’t trust it, but I want to. Theo’s a man who knows what he wants and isn’t afraid to say it. It’s refreshing. And easy. I type back, I made a meal out of you too.

Speaking of meals, when lunch rolls around I get another text from Theo, saying he left me something on the top shelf in the copy room. I find a to-go box from my favorite diner uptown. Inside is an omelet topped with avocado and a note in chicken scratch that says Breakfast for lunch. Probably not as good as brunch at the Four Seasons, but still better than a dumbass salad. –Teddy

Yep. Definitely riding his face tonight. Turning toward the door, I’m still smiling at the note when I run headfirst into a sharply tailored brown suit and matching scarf.

“Nora!” Aiden says. “You made it back. A relief indeed!”

I look up and wait for my stomach to plummet the way it always does when I get this close to him. Instead, I feel . . . nothing.

That’s not true. I feel annoyed, same as I did when he called me that morning in Santa Barbara. Annoyed he’s turning on the charm, annoyed he’s suddenly appeared after being absent all morning. I don’t know where he was, but I want him to go back there.

I want to forget I ever fell for his brand of bullshit.

“Aiden. Hey.”

“What’s that you’ve got there that’s making you smile like a loon?”

My face flushes with a searing rip of heat. I crumple Theo’s note in my hand. “Nothing. I was just grabbing some lunch.”