Page 52 of IRL: In Real Life
Amber in the mixer had been one thing. Amber in daylight was something else. Warmer. Clearer. More alive somehow. The kind of eyes that didn’t just meet yours, they held you there a second longer than you meant to stay. Even when she was smiling, there was thought in them. Heat too, if you caught the right angle. They kept getting me. Quietly. Thoroughly.
She said something brief into the phone, still looking at me.
“Okay. Bye.”
Then she set the phone down beside the laptop and leaned back in the chair like she had all the time in the world, even though I knew she didn’t.
I walked the rest of the distance between us.
Up close, the situation did not improve.
It got worse in bright light.
Her skin. Her mouth. The way the knit held her. The fact that I could still catch something warm and expensive on her even in a lobby full of hotel air. And those eyes again, amber and steady, with that little flash in them that told me she was amused before her mouth ever bothered to confirm it.
She looked me over once, from shoes to face.
That did something immediate to me.
“You came.”
“You thought I was joking?”
“I thought you were bold for midday.”
“I am.”
That got a laugh out of her.
“There you are,” she said.
“There who is?”
“The man who thinks fifteen minutes is enough to satisfy his curiosity.”
“It’s not,” I said. “That’s why I came in person.”
That made her mouth soften just a little.
Then she glanced at the open laptop and lifted one shoulder. “Okay. You’ve got twenty-seven minutes before I have to get back to pretending I care about follow-up notes.”
“I appreciate the generosity.”
“I’m a giving person.”
“That’s not what I’ve heard.”
Her eyes narrowed a little with amusement. Even that got me now, the way those amber eyes seemed to brighten when she was entertaining herself.
“From who?”
“My instincts.”
She laughed again and closed the laptop, sliding it aside before motioning for me to sit.
The server came fast. She ordered an iced tea. I got a coffee I did not need. The moment we were alone again, she leaned back in the chair and looked at me like she still had questions she hadn’t let out yet.
“Well?” she said.
