Both couldn’t hurt. He’d be happy to oblige if she’d give him the opportunity.
“Are you all right, Emma?”
Her head snapped toward him, a slight frown puckering the area between her eyebrows. Her green eyes searched his face for a moment before she spoke. “I’m fine.”
The hell she was. But pushing her probably wasn’t the best tactic this early on, so he let it slide. He didn’t have to claim victory on the first day. He’d do it soon enough.
“You just seem a little uncomfortable. I assure you none of us bite.” He planted his right hand on the door frame and leaned closer to her to emphasize his words. “You might even find you enjoy your time with us.”
Emma’s face went pale, her eyes focused on his hand and completely ignoring his persuasive charms. When she turned back to him, she flashed a saccharine smile. Sweetly artificial. “Of course. I’m just anxious to get settled in.”
His hand fell heavy at his side. This wasn’t going as well as he’d planned. He wasn’t sure if she was deliberately being difficult or she was just like this normally. Paul had better be rushing that transaction because his wine-and-dine plan might not pan out the way he hoped. He’d just been assigned the only woman in Manhattan who was immune to him. Possibly even annoyed by him.
Maybe it was just the work environment. It was possible she stuck to strict business protocol and the casual interactions he was used to made her uncomfortable. All the better to get her away from the office, then. Give her the chance to let her hair down, kick off those heels and relax. He’d drop the dinner invitation, then leave her alone for the rest of the afternoon to stew over the possibilities. The anticipation alone would do a great deal of the work for him.
He glanced at his watch to lay it on thick. “I’d love to talk to you some more about your assignment, but I’m afraid I have a meeting in a few minutes. Would you be interested in having dinner with me tomorrow night?”
“No.”
Jonah opened his mouth to suggest a restaurant and stopped cold. Had she just said no? That couldn’t be right. “What?”
Her pale skin flushed pink and her eyes grew wide for a moment as she seemed to realize her mistake. “I mean no, thank you,” she corrected, turning on her heel and disappearing into her new office with a swift click of the door.
The following morning, Emma met Harper at the twenty-third-floor coffee bar before work. She’d barely slept the night before and was seriously in need of some caffeine.
“You look like hell,” Harper said, always the honest one. When they’d first met at the sorority house, Emma wasn’t quite sure what to think of her. Now she’d come to appreciate her candor. Most of the time.
“Thanks. Good morning to you, too.”
They got into line and waited to place their orders. “What’s wrong?” Harper asked.
“I just didn’t sleep well last night.”
Harper nodded and took a step forward to call out her customized coffee to the guy at the counter. Emma watched her, her brain trying to decide what she wanted to drink, but it simply refused to function like it should. She hadn’t slept. Of course, she hadn’t told Harper why.
She’d been in a nervous tizzy. Jonah Flynn. The playboy millionaire of the software world had the matching half to her tattoo. Fate had played a cruel joke. There was not a worse match on the planet for her, much less to father her child. It was just as well she’d kept her identity a secret. He most certainly would’ve been disappointed to see who she was beyond the tequila and the mask. And fatherhood for the most elusive bachelor in the five boroughs? Yeah, right.
And yet, as she lay in bed that night attempting to sleep, all she could think about was him. How he’d saved her from the creep. How a thrill of excitement had raced through her when he kissed her for the first time. She remembered his hands running over her body as though he couldn’t get enough of her. After everything with David, it had felt incredible to be desired like that. It was a feeling that could easily become addictive and that meant it was dangerous.
She’d tried to forget about that night and had been mostly successful, but her body remembered. Being in the same room, touching him and breathing in his familiar scent had brought it all back. With a vengeance. In the dark of her bedroom, she could easily recall the sensations he’d coaxed from her body. Not once, in two years with David, had she ever responded like that. It was something raw, primal.
“Ma’am?”
Emma turned to the man at the counter, who was patiently waiting on her drink order. “Hot tea,” she blurted. Although she probably needed the jolt of a black cup of coffee, she knew she wasn’t supposed to have too much caffeine. That was a cruel irony for pregnant women everywhere.
The area was as miserably crowded as any Starbucks, so when their drinks were ready, they took them and their pastries, and went on their way back to their offices.
Harper seemed quite pleased with her new work arrangement. “I can get used to having you working here. I’d finally have someone to talk to. Everyone here is pleasant and all, but most of them have their heads in the clouds or their noses in a computer.”
Emma had noticed that. Software designers were definitely different than most of the people she’d worked with. They were intensely focused, usually not even making eye contact or saying hello in the hallway. They were all on some mission, be it to fix a software bug or beat their nemesis at some video game. That or perhaps they just didn’t know how to speak to women.
“Then why do you stay?” Emma asked. “We both know you don’t need to work.”
Harper narrowed her gaze at Emma, then shrugged. “I get bored doing nothing.”
“You could always help Oliver. He might like having his sister there at the family business.”
“Oliver doesn’t need my help with anything. Besides, this place is fun. You’ll get spoiled quickly. I save so much money with the free food. I was able to drop my gym membership, too, which saved me a bundle. Now I can use that money for Louis Vuitton handbags and trips to Paris, instead. I enjoy having income I earned on my own, not because of my last name. You couldn’t get me to leave here and I hope you’ll feel the same. We do need to make some adjustments to your wardrobe, though.”
Emma looked at Harper’s khaki capris and silky, sleeveless top, then down at her conservative suit and frowned. It was her favorite. She’d always thought the dark green had complemented her coloring. “I can’t help it if everyone here dresses like college students. I refuse to assimilate. And don’t you get your heart set on me being here past a few weeks. The minute I can get out of here, I will.”
They paused at the elevator and Harper pushed the button. “Why are you so anxious to go? Is it that bad?”
It wasn’t, but staying here a moment longer than she had to was courting disaster. Emma wondered how much she should tell Harper about yesterday. Harper was one of her best friends, but she was lacking in social couth. Anything she told her would instantly be passed along to their friends Violet and Lucy, as well. From there, who knows
