Page 47 of Level With Me
“I love my brothers, though,” he said. “And my mom.”
“Where’s your mom?”
“A special home in Seattle.”
I had to sit on my hands to keep myself from getting up and going over there.
“It’s not so bad. She reads romance books. Sometimes she’s more happy… happiness than when I was a kid.”
My chest squeezed, but I smiled. I never told anyone about my secret affection for romance. I never thought it fit with my CEO persona. But this warmed me. And talking to Blake now was a free pass. “Your mom is smart,” I said. “I love a good rom-com. Movies, mostly. Especially from the 80s and 90s”
“Like Top Gun?”
“Not exactly,” I laughed. “But I mean, yes, it’s got romance.”And bare-chested men.
I couldn’t help looking at the gorgeous bare chest in front of me.
“You wanna go to the movies?” Blake asked, waggling his brows. “Kelly McGillis?”
My stomach gave off a little teenage fluttering at getting asked out by a cute boy, and compared to a beautiful woman like her. Even if it wasn’t real.
“More questions. This is fun.” Blake was still looking at me, but his blinks kept extending. He needed to sleep. I bet if I stopped talking, he’d be passed out in a matter of seconds.
But there was one more question I wanted to ask him.
“Blake,” I whispered. I half hoped he wouldn’t hear me.
“Yeah.”
I swallowed. “Why do you look at me the way you do?”
“The what?”
“Like you care about what I think. And like you think I’m… pretty?”
Blake’s eyes fluttered open, his brows slanting. “Because you’re beautiful.” He said it like I was crazy to think otherwise.
I thought of Ned one morning on my way to a critical client meeting with another firm.You should wear the flat shoes today, Cassandra. Men don’t like it when you’re taller than them. Maybe tone down the lipstick too.
I thought of all the times I’d felt too big; too loud; too much.
I’d been all of those things to Blake, and he still liked me. When he was drunk, anyway.
A lump formed in my throat. I was trying to pull compliments from a nearly-passed-out man. I was that desperate.
“And you’re smart,” Blake said, his eyes closed again. “I read what you did at that… your company… Wells… what they did to you. They did you dirty, but it was a smart move, not naming names…”
He was talking about my last job, Wellsborough. He’d read up on me. Of course he had, for his job. Still, the fact that he’d formed an opinion on it—that he knew it wasn’t my fault what happened there—I was strangely touched. It had been a scandal—one of our board members had been indicted on fraud charges. I knew it would incriminate all of us if I didn’t take the fall. Innocent people would have been unhireable. People with families. Important lives. It made sense for me to take the hit. My life wasn’t so interesting or important.
When I next looked at Blake, his eyes were fully closed, and his mouth slightly open. He was out.
I got up and knelt beside the bed, studying his face for a moment. He had a little scar in his eyebrow I hadn’t noticed before; a little white streak where no hair grew.
“You were going to kiss me on that island,” I whispered. “Weren’t you?”
Despite the fact the man was asleep, my stomach fluttered again.
Then Blake’s eyes pinged open. “Kiss you?”
