Page 23 of The Hang Up
“Absolutely.” He nodded and did his best to return her smile. “We can just pretend it never happened.”
“Good plan.” She grinned again and dropped her hands to the sides, then pulled out her gloves and tugged them back on. “Ready to head back?”
“Yeah.” He scrubbed a hand over his chin, an effort to wipe away the tingling effects of that kiss, but he only succeeded in drowning his senses with the scent of her perfume.
As he turned away, he knew one thing for damn sure: there was no way in hell he could pretend that hadn’t happened.
* * *
Two days later,Miriam switched off the blow dryer, then wrapped the cord around the handle. She stashed it in the cupboard before nudging the door closed with her knee. A glance at the clock told her it was nearly 8 p.m.
She stood downstairs in her guest bath instead of in the master bath upstairs because the showerhead down here was better for rinsing out the deep-conditioning treatment she’d just done on her hair.
Okay, that was only partly true.
Honestly, she’d liked the idea of standing there on the same cool tiles where Jason had stood ten days ago, feeling the water sluice over her naked body as she thought about him with rivulets of water threading through the fine hairs on his chest, sliding down, down, down…
Was that so wrong?
“Mrow.” Phuzeei nudged his head against her bare calf, answering the question Miriam hadn’t spoken aloud.
Miriam looked down at her pet, then bent and scooped him into her arms. She planted a kiss on his kitty forehead as she walked out of the bathroom. “What do you know, anyway?” she muttered. “You lick your own butt.”
“Mrow,” Phuzeei replied, not arguing, but clearly not helping matters, either. He struggled to get down, never one for affection, so she set him gently on the couch and pulled her robe tighter around her. She glanced outside to where some neighborhood kids were playing Frisbee at the playground down the street, enjoying the extra hours of daylight on a summer evening. It was Monday in June, and fifty-three hours had passed since she’d talked to Jason.
Not that she’d been counting.
It was better this way. They’d agreed to keep things strictly business between them, and Miriam planned to stick with that. No good could come from locking lips with a client.
That’s not the only reason you shouldn’t get involved with him.
True enough. The last thing she needed was another daredevil outdoor adventurist who took risks and lived dangerously until he stopped living entirely. Hadn’t it been hard enough losing her dad?
Phuzeei jumped onto the arm of the sofa and bumped her elbow with the top of his head, jarring Miriam back to the present.
“It’s better this way,” she told her pet. He looked at her with disdain and nudged her with his head again.
“Right,” Miriam said.
She padded to the laundry room to see if her favorite Lululemon yoga pants were dry yet. She yanked open the door of the dryer, and a pink glove tumbled out onto the floor. Phuzeei bent down to sniff it, and Miriam picked it up.
Jason’s glove. The one he’d loaned her in the cave.
She’d wanted to wash them before returning them to him, and she’d nearly forgotten about it. Of course, she’d see him Wednesday at the First Impressions office when the Urban Trax team came to meet with them again, but what if he didn’t want anyone else to know they’d gone caving? As the new CEO of a prestigious company, it seemed possible he wanted to keep his personal time private.
Miriam fished into the dryer for the other glove, weighing her options. He’d pointed out where he lived the day they first met. Blue duplex, white shutters. It wouldn’t be hard to run the gloves over, maybe tuck them in his mailbox or leave them on the doorstep with a note?—
Liar. You just want to see him again.
True enough. Was that so wrong? At least this way she’d spare them both the awkwardness of having their business colleagues know they’d been hanging out together socially.
Hisbusiness colleagues, she amended. Holly already knew all about the cave outing and the kiss, since Miriam had told her every last detail the moment they’d returned.
“I can’t believe he kissed you in a cave,” Holly had said.
“I can’t believe he stopped,” Miriam muttered.
“Well, what did you want him to do, take you from behind up against the wall of the cave?”
