So she pulled back, forced herself to act professionally. She made the right sounds when the food was served, agreeing on some dishes, asking for variations on others. She made polite conversation with Blake about the weather, about work, about the event preparations that were coming along nicely. She had almost congratulated herself on surviving when the waitress brought out dessert.
‘We’ve prepared a variety of dishes for you to taste,’ said the pretty blonde, who had been incredibly helpful throughout the tasting.
Callie wondered if she had been warned about who she would be dealing with.
‘Chocolate mousse, strawberry cheesecake with berry coulis, pecan pie, and a cream cheese and carrot cake trifle.’ She pointed at the individual dishes, which were lined up on a long plate. ‘You can choose three of these desserts to be served at your event. Please do let me know if you have any questions.’
She smiled brightly at them and then moved to join her colleagues.
Callie frowned as she looked at the plate in front of them, and her stomach dropped when she realised that the waitress wouldn’t be bringing out a second. And then she saw the spoons on the table—two of them—and mentally kicked herself for thinking that the restaurant must be encouraging romantic dessert-sharing.
‘I suppose we start at each end and move in?’ she said, hoping to sound logical about it.
His lips twitched. ‘Yes, let’s do that.’
She frowned slightly, but chose to ignore him, and instead took a bite from the chocolate mousse. She closed her eyes as it melted in her mouth. She had never tasted anything like it, she thought, and greedily dipped her spoon into the small dish for another bite.
But as she lifted it to her mouth she realised Blake was watching her, and she felt heat flush through her body when she saw the desire in his eyes.
She put the spoon down slowly and said huskily, ‘I’m sorry, I suppose I’m being selfish by taking another bite.’
She cringed at her words, knowing full well it wasn’t selfishness that had caused her to pause.
He didn’t respond, but reached over and took the spoon from her plate instead. ‘I don’t mind you being selfish,’ he said, and lifted the spoon to her mouth.
She opened it on a reflex, though her eyes never left his, and felt a thrill work its way through her body. The mousse melted in her mouth, just as it had the first time, but she didn’t taste it now. No, she was remembering the way he had tasted when they’d kissed, the way his eyes had heated just as they did now, the electricity that had sparked between them.
The sun was setting behind him, and it cast a glow over them that made everything seem a little surreal—as if they were in a romantic film and about to shoot the perfect ending. She wished it were that which made Blake look like a movie star, but she knew that Blake’s looks were not an illusion. Her handsome, gorgeous boss was all too real, and with each moment she spent with him she wanted him to become a part of her reality. She wanted that heat, that electricity, his taste to be hers.
And, even though it couldn’t be, for once she didn’t fight showing how much she wanted it.
His eyes darkened at what he saw in hers and he placed the spoon down on her plate again and leaned over to kiss her. She felt it right down to her toes...the slow simmer of passion although his lips were only lightly pressed against hers. The taste she had longed for only a few moments earlier was sweeter than the dessert she had just eaten, and it wiped away the memory of it.
She wanted to deepen the kiss, to take more, but the sane, rational part of her brain—the part that was half frozen by his kiss—reminded her that they were in a public place and she pulled back, feeling embarrassed and needy from what she knew had only been a brief kiss.
She reached for her glass of water at almost exactly the same time he did and she drank, grateful that the glass hid the smile that crept onto her face for one silly moment.
He cleared his throat. ‘I can tell why you wanted another taste of that.’
She looked up at him in surprise, and bit her lip to stop the bubble of laughter that sat in her throat. But nothing was funny about this, she realised, and the thought banished her lingering amusement.
So she just smiled at him politely, and said, ‘We should probably finish the tasting and get back to the hotel. There are a couple more things I need to do before tomorrow.’
And just like that the mood between them shifted.
* * *
‘Are you done for the day?’
It was like déjà vu, Callie thought as she looked up to see Blake at her office door. It was only a few hours since she’d last seen him there, before they’d gone for the tasting. Before they’d tasted each other. She shook her head at the thought, resenting her mind for reminding her of the part of their afternoon that she really wished she could forget.
‘Yeah, just about. Why?’ She looked down at the papers in front of her, taking care not to look him in the eye.
‘Great. Connor’s asked me to take you home. He said something about your car breaking down yesterday?’
She was going to kill Connor. ‘Yeah, it did. But he said he would drop me at home.’
‘Something came up.’
Blake didn’t seem nearly as concerned as she did about spending time alone together in a car. Even after the tension that had mounted between them on their way back to the hotel. And the awkward parting they’d shared when they’d arrived.
‘It’s fine. I’ll call a taxi.’
Blake placed a hand on her own, which was reaching for her phone. ‘Callie, I’ll take you. I don’t mind.’
‘It’s really okay, Blake. I don’t want to put you out.’
‘This is the second time you’ve said no to my offer of taking you home.’
She looked at him in surprise when his words were spoken in a terse voice.
‘Why won’t you accept my help?’
‘Because you’re my boss,’ she said, grasping at the one thing that she could cling to. The very external thing that she held on to instead of admitting the real reasons she was pushing him away. ‘It isn’t appropriate.’
‘Can we both stop pretending that’s still a factor here?’
‘Excuse me?’
‘It’s the card you pull out every time you want to put distance between us, Callie. We both do.’
She stared at him as he walked into her office and closed the door.
‘I know I messed things up between us that night on the boat. I used our professional relationship as an excuse because I was scared. We were getting too close...and my judgement has failed me before.’
He didn’t look up at her, but for some reason she could tell his expression
