Sentinel Timepieces?” Michael asked, referring to the watchmaker she’d tried to entice away.
That hadn’t been what she’d had in mind, but she shrugged. “Perhaps. I go after what I want and I usually get it. Sentinel was an anomaly.”
He looked slightly amused. “Is that your polite way of telling me to watch my back?” He wagged his eyebrows and added, “I’d rather watch yours.”
She rolled her eyes, even as his juvenile comeback had heat curling through her belly. “Suit yourself, but don’t cry foul when your preoccupation with my posterior results in a mass exodus of clients from Grafton Surry.”
“Preoccupied goes a little too far. Your butt, as fondly as I remember it, isn’t going to stop me from spending a little one-on-one time with the folks who are signed with Bradford.”
The gloves were off, which was fine with Sam. She liked this better. Work, rivalry— they were straightforward.
“Unlike your clientele, mine is loyal, which I think you’ve already found out.”
“I’ve only called a couple so far.”
“Then I’ll save you some time. I offer them what they want and I deliver the market. None of them is looking to switch.”
“Sure about that? I can deliver the market, too.” His lips curved. “And I can do an even better job of it than you.”
Sam snorted. “God, you’ve never been short on confidence.”
“Neither have you.” He’d been smiling, but now he sobered. “You know, even more than your butt, I always found that to be an incredible turn-on.”
Sam tucked some hair behind her ears and moistened her lips. Laugh in his face, she ordered herself. At the very least deliver an emasculating comeback. All she came up with was, “Me, too.”
As soon as the words were out, Sam wanted to throttle herself. Why did she have to go and admit something so potentially volatile? It was bad enough to think it. After all, she’d been trying to sift out all of the softer emotions she had when it came to Michael. Here was a doozy and it was threatening to whisk her back in time.
She blamed the wine, even though more than half a glass remained. Most of all, she blamed Michael. He’d been the one to bring it up. Glancing at him now, she found a modicum of comfort in the fact that he looked as out of sorts as she felt, as if he too were wishing he could snatch back his words.
“I think I should call it a night,” Sam said, reversing her earlier decision to have him leave first. “I have an early flight.”
“Yeah. Same here.”
With her luck they would be on the same plane, seated next to each other and then stuck on the runway during an extended delay.
After the waiter came with their check, Sam paid the bill. Michael insisted on leaving the tip, though she’d told him she had that covered, too. They argued back and forth, neither one backing down. Just like old times. In the end, the waiter wound up with one whopper of a gratuity.
They walked out of the lounge together yet not together. Sam groped for something to say as they stepped into the elevator, and the awkward silence stretched. Even when the bell dinged and the doors slid open on the tenth floor, nothing came to mind.
She chanced a glance in Michael’s direction as he got out. There’d been a time when she could read every one of his expressions. She didn’t recognize this one. His smile was tight as he reached for the doors to prevent them from closing.
“See you back in New York,” he said, which was unlikely. They’d managed to avoid each other for more than a year.
“Sure,” she nodded. “Maybe I’ll bump into you at the office of one of your clients.”
“Now, Sam.” He tipped his head to one side and made a tsking noise. “Be good.”
“Oh, I’m better than good and…” She blinked. The words were a joke, an old and very private one between the pair of them. Her rejoinder usually ended with the sensual promise: “I’ll prove it to you later.”
Michael’s smoky gaze told her he remembered the joke, too. He leaned forward and for one brief moment she thought he was considering kissing her. A bell chimed then and the doors jolted his elbow in their effort to shut. He released them and stepped back. But the last thing Sam saw before they closed completely was Michael reaching out as if to stop them.
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