Page 19 of Matched By Mistake
There was too much passion for anything else.
“You coming?” Brian asked.
Jericho hurried into the conference room, where Maggie and her attorney had their head’s close together. Brian drew him to the other end of the table. “I got them to narrow the dates down to five in two weeks. You two already announced a dinner. Sheen is the logical choice for that. A second one would be boating on a lake. We decided to let the app suggest two to show off the app’s functions. Then you and Maggie can decide on the last one.”
“After the five dates what happens?” he asked. He wasn’t going to have very long with Maggie so he was going to have to work hard to get her to break.
“Well, Cecily and I are going to draft a press release and right now we’re going back and forth on the language, but for now you can sign this agreement and we’ll have an addendum with the press release,” he said. “What do you think?”
He read the agreement, which had been drafted and printed out. It was pretty straightforward and honestly the weirdest thing he’d ever done when it came to dating.
“Looks good to me.”
“Good. Jack, Mr. Winters is in agreement,” Brian said as he moved toward the end of the table where Jack was.
“Ms. Del Rio is as well,” Cecily said. “Once you both sign it and Jack witnesses it, we can leave. Brian, I’ll draft the press release and send it to you for approval?”
“That works for me,” Brian said.
Jericho watched Maggie, who’d put up some kind of barrier when they’d reentered the boardroom. Jack was saying something about the agreement and handed the paper to Maggie. Jericho watched the slashing motions she made with the pen as she signed her name with a flourish and then turned the agreement toward him. He took the pen from her and their fingers brushed.
An electric tingle went up his arm and he glanced up. Their eyes met and held, and he felt like all of the air had gone out of the room. How was he going to keep his hands off her? He wanted her more each time they touched. Even this exchange of a pen and brush of fingers had him hardening.
But he had determined he wouldn’t break first. He just smiled at her. “Thanks, darlin’.”
She rolled her eyes at him. “You’re welcome, babe.”
He grinned as he signed his name and handed the agreement to Jack for him to sign as the witness. Jericho realized he was going to have to come up with another endearment for Maggie. He wasn’t going to get her to break by treating her the way he’d treated every other woman he’d hooked up with.
Which meant he was going to have to lower his guard. Which seemed like the worst sort of idea. He didn’t like the thought of being vulnerable to a Del Rio. Even the supersexy Maggie.
He’d figure it out and find a way to get what he wanted without putting himself in a vulnerable position.
“Thank you, everyone. I’ll have copies sent to the lawyers. Maggie and Jericho, good luck with your dates. I’ll see you all around,” Jack said.
They all filed out of the boardroom and Maggie and Cecily left the club. Brian mentioned he had to get home to Piper and Jericho went to the bar to get a drink. The bar was busy. He saw a few single women whom he’d flirted with in the past and he briefly toyed with the idea of taking one of them home. Maybe the lust thing with Maggie was just him needing to get laid.
But it wasn’t. He couldn’t get her out of his head. None of the women he spoke to had that feisty spark that Maggie did. And he left a few minutes later. He drove toward the expo center and parked in front of it.
The building was a big project that he and his brother hoped would draw more business to Royal. But it was also a new phase for Jericho in eco design. He sat there trying to take his mind off Maggie and the remembered feel of her in his arms. This was where his head should be. On design. On the next big building project he had.
But it wasn’t.
He sat there trying to force his thoughts to work but all he could remember was that almost kiss they’d had in the back corridor and how the two kisses he’d shared with her since that moment had only served to inflame his need for her.
And no agreement or dare was going to stand in his way. He wanted her and he wouldn’t stop until she cracked and admitted she wanted him, too.
Cecily and Maggie stopped for drinks and dinner at a place close to Maggie’s house. Maggie was glad that they’d reached an arrangement and wanted to talk about anything other than Jericho Winters.
But Cecily was still focused on the Winters family.
“Thanks for all your work today,” Maggie said.
“No problem. I texted your father to keep him up to date on everything,” Cecily said.
“Great. So we’re good now?”
“Ah, yeah. I think you’re in a good position to keep your eyes open,” Cecily said after their order had been taken.
