Page 41 of My Unexpected Surprise
Nico looks between us like he senses something happening beyond his understanding.Then he shrugs and returns to the Ferrari.
The tension does not leave with him.
Livia sets the coffees down on my desk with more care than is probably necessary.“Thank you for not throwing us out.”
“I considered it.”
She peers at me. “I think you're enjoying this more than you should.”
I raise a brow, remembering Riley and Vaughn's statement...how I was with Tom. “You think so?”
"Mhm." Her mouth curves slightly before she catches herself.
God.
"I mean...you didn't seem to hate his company. Thank you for that."
My eyes go down to her lips, then back to her eyes. "I'm your boss, Livia. Not a monster.”
That small almost-smile appears again on her face and it does something unpleasantly physical to me.
I move toward the doorway at the same moment she does.
We stop inches apart.Too fucking close.
I catch a whiff of her scent.
Clean skin beneath coconut and citrus.
Her eyes flick down briefly to my mouth before returning to mine.The movement sends heat straight through me.
I watch in real time as her breathing changes and neither of us moves for a whole ten seconds.
We stand suspended there in the charged space between almost and absolutely not.
I become intensely aware of details.The pulse beating low in her throat.The way her fingers tighten slightly around the coffee cup.The softness of her blouse brushing my suit jacket because we’re standing that close.
One inch forward and my mouth would be on hers. Venice flickers through my head again and this time I don't shake it off.
Because standing here with Livia pressed into the doorway while tension coils tight between us, I suddenly feel disturbingly certain I’ve touched this woman before.
Nico’s voice cuts through the moment like a fire alarm.
“Mama, can I have the blue car now?”
Livia jerks backward instantly and the spell breaks.
Nico pushes one of the toy cars toward me.
“Want to race?”
I look down at the tiny red Ferrari.
Then at him.
Then at Livia, who looks like she has fully accepted her professional death at this point.
I pick up the car.“Rules?”
