“Clipping those wings tonight, Hayes. And from now on, all interview requests come directly to me.”
He crossed his legs at the ankles and frowned. “The virtual world is so much easier to navigate.”
“Okay, lesson one is body language.”
His posture finally relaxed as his eyes met mine. “I’m already very interested.”
Had I ever noticed Lachlan’s eyes in college? How they held you like you were the most fascinating thing he’d seen? The way the evening light brought out the flecks of gold? He could disarm any interviewer with one steady sweep of his gaze.
“Olivia?”
Focus, Olivia!“Sorry. Just organizing my thoughts.” I quickly explained how Lachlan’s monitor or laptop would be set up for the next virtual interview. “You need to lean in.”
“Lean?”
Standing, I pressed my hand to his shoulder blades and applied the smallest of pressure. “Pitch forward fifteen degrees. Go ahead, give it a try.”
He dipped forward like he’d lost all feeling in his upper body. “Like this?”
“No.”
Lachlan tried again, this time with a tilt. “This?”
Sometimes this job was way too hands-on, but one did what one must. “Let me show you.” Looming over Lachlan, I settled my hands on his arms and nearly short-circuited.
Good Lord. It was just a guy’s arms. And Lachlan’s at that. Was I so deprived that touching his sleeve nearly sent me to the floor? It had been a year since I’d been in a relationship, but that shouldn’t mean that I was a desperate hoyden, all aflutter by the press of my fingers to what were, admittedly, fabulous forearms.
“Are you copping a feel?” Lachlan’s grinning mouth hovered too close to my cheek.
“I’m certainly not.” I was. I surelyhadcopped a feel. My nerd husband’s biceps were quite pleasing and surprisingly solid too. Sinewy even. “Merely trying to demonstrate…” His limbs were stiff and unyielding. “Could you try to be more bendy? It’s like rearranging tree trunks here.”
What occurred next was akin to a slow-motion scene in a romantic comedy. But a bad one you might catch late at night on an obscure channel when you’d exhausted all other viewing options.
Because in the same moment I shoved on Lachlan’s shoulder, he finally leaned. His hands went to their correct location, but unfortunately, my entire body pitched that way too. My legs slipped out from under me, and a yelp escaped my lips. Next thing I knew, Lachlan held me in his arms like a hot fireman carrying me safely from the flames.
But the flames were right here. Between us.
Lachlan looked down, his head the perfect angle for a kiss. “Did that go better in your head?”
“It…did.” Lachlan’s arm pressed me against his chest, and I had the strongest urge to curl into his warmth.
His voice dipped low and soft. “I think you’re pretty when you’re mad.”
“You’ve had lots of chances to see me pretty then,” I whispered.
He still had that smile that had bedazzled many a sorority sister. “I was remembering the night of the Lost Story’s grand opening.”
Oh. That.“Such a busy night. I hardly recall it.”
Lachlan’s head dipped an inch. “Need a reminder?”
No, that kiss replayed vividly in my head every night. “We’re separating in November. We shouldn’t...complicate things.”
He went quiet for a long beat. “You’re so sensible.”
To a fault. “Lachlan?”
“Yes?”
