alternative, I’d want to invite you in if you did, wasn’t appropriate.
‘Of course.’ He frowned, and stuffed cash inside the bill. ‘Can I at least call you that taxi?
She smiled her gratitude at his acceptance. ‘Sure.’
He waited with her for the taxi. Since Sakari was only a few kilometres from the sea she could smell it, and feel the chilly breeze it brought even in summer.
She shivered, and he glanced down at her. Without a word he took off his jacket and laid it over her shoulders. The action brought him face-to-face with her, and gently he pulled at the jacket, drawing her in so that she was pressed to his chest. She felt her breathing accelerate at the feel of his body against hers, at the look in his eyes when they rested on her face.
‘What is it about you that makes me forget who I am?’ he asked, his voice low and husky, and her skin turned to gooseflesh.
‘I could ask you the same thing,’ she responded, before she even knew what she was saying.
But their words only encouraged whatever was happening between them, she thought. Especially as they stood together, frozen in time, looking at each other. Neither of them moved—not away from each other, nor any closer—and Callie could feel the hesitation, the uncertainty that hung between them. She could also feel the want, the need, that kept them there despite the ambiguity of their feelings.
The longer she stood there, the more pressing her desire to kiss him became, and she moved forward, just a touch, so that their lips were a breath away from each other’s. His eyes heated and he leaned down. Callie closed her eyes, lost in anticipation of the kiss...
The sound of a car’s horn pierced the air and they jerked apart. She lost her balance, and was sure she would soon be landing on her butt, but a strong arm snaked around her waist and pulled her upright. Again she found herself in Blake’s arms, almost exactly as she had been a few moments before, but the magic had passed.
She cleared her throat. ‘Thanks for...um...saving me.’
‘Of course.’ His words were stilted. ‘I assume that’s your taxi?’
She turned and looked around and saw that the hoot had indeed come from a taxi. She closed her eyes in frustration and then turned back to him.
‘Yeah, it is. Thanks again.’ She gestured towards the restaurant and felt like an idiot. ‘And...um... I hope you feel more confident about the tour for the proposal now, having seen some of the stops.’
He stuffed his hands in his pockets. ‘I do. I enjoyed today. I’ll see you tomorrow.’
She nodded and smiled, and then awkwardly walked to the taxi, knowing he was still watching her. She lifted her hand as the taxi pulled away, and resisted the urge to look back at him.
* * *
‘Blake?’ Callie pushed open the conference room door and saw him sitting at the head of the table, where she’d found him the first time.
Was that only yesterday? she wondered, and nodded a greeting when he looked up.
‘Morning,’ Blake said, his tone brisk, and immediately Callie’s back went up. ‘Grab a seat and we can start talking about the proposal.’
Callie stood for a moment and wondered if this was a joke. There was no familiarity in his tone, no semblance of the man she’d spent the day with.
The man she had nearly kissed.
When he looked up at her expectantly she walked to a seat at the table and felt her temper ignite.
‘So, I’ve gone over your list of places—including the ones we saw yesterday.’
Oh, she thought, so he did remember it. ‘Yes...?’
‘I have some ideas on how to complement the business side of the proposal with the tour. Have a look at these and let me know what you think.’
Callie took the papers he offered her and began to look through them. But somehow she kept reading the same line over and over again.
What was wrong with him? He was treating her as he had after that welcoming event. Cold, brisk, professional. The aloof and unattainable boss. She knew she shouldn’t expect more from him—or anything from him, for that matter—but she’d hoped that their day yesterday, the things they’d learned about one another, the attraction they’d both felt, would have eased things between them. She didn’t want her spine to feel like steel from the tension in the room. And yet that was exactly what was happening.
She cleared her throat as she built up the nerve to address it. ‘Blake, did I upset you last night?’
He barely acknowledged that she was speaking, but she pushed on.
‘When I told you I didn’t want you to take me home? Or when we nearly—’
‘Callie, I don’t need you to explain anything. I just need you to read through the document and tell me your thoughts on it.’
He continued working on his laptop and didn’t see her jaw drop. Just as quickly as it had dropped, she closed it again. This wasn’t the man she’d spent the day with yesterday, she realised. Now she was dealing with her boss. The one who had made her feel as if she was dishonest and nosy when she’d first met him.
Suddenly all the regrets she’d had about not letting him take her home, about not kissing him, about not telling him more about herself faded away. All the questions she’d wanted to ask him about his mother, his father, the woman he wouldn’t talk about, no longer mattered.
She should be thanking him, she thought. He was saving her, really. She didn’t have to worry about developing feelings for him. She didn’t have to think about opening up to him. She didn’t have to open up to her boss. She could be just as brisk and aloof as he was.
‘Of course,’ she replied, and read through the document, making notes and ignoring the disappointment that filled her.
* * *
Blake threw his pen against the door five minutes after Callie had left for the day. It had been a week since their tour together. Seven days of complete torture, five of which she’d spent sitting across from him, answering all his questions politely, only speaking when it had to do with work.
And he’d done that. He’d pushed her away with his professionalism. The stupid professionalism that he’d prided himself on before Julia. No, he thought. He’d never been this bad before Julia. She’d made him into this cold person. This person who didn’t open up even when he wanted to.
He closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair. That wasn’t completely fair. Julia may have brought it out in him, but he’d made the decision to be cold. Just like now, when he’d decided that after the day they’d spent together—after he’d almost told her too much...after he’d almost kissed her—that Callie was too dangerous to his resolve to stay away from relationships.
So he’d ignored the fact that their day had meant something to him and dealt with her just as he dealt with any other employee. And each time he did, he could sense the animosity growing inside her.
She
