You Had Me At Christmas: A Holiday Anthology(79)
“Did I overstep my bounds?” he asked.
She shook her head, but it was a weak response. “No. No. I wanted that kiss as much as you did. But it’s not a good idea. For so many reasons.”
He nodded, slow and deliberate, as if he were still pushing away the desire webbing through his brain so he could think clearly. God knows she was still struggling to get her mind back to reality and good decisions and away from his kisses.
“You’re right. You’re absolutely right. I, uh, I’ve thought about kissing you since . . . well, since this morning when I woke up with you in my arms.”
She raised a brow at him, and he laughed. “Okay, since before then. But throw me a bone. This moment, right now, wasn’t the first time you’d thought about kissing me, either.”
“No.” She laughed now. He was easy to laugh around. “But we can’t do it again.”
“I agree. Absolutely.”
“So it’s settled, then? No kissing? This didn’t change anything?”
He must have heard the question she hadn’t asked because he took her hands in his again. “I said that I would take you to Salt Lake City and let you stay with me in my condo while you looked for a job. No matter what happens, I’ll follow through on my promise.” He squeezed her hand. “I swear to you, Selina. Do you believe me?”
She blinked away happy, reassured tears. “I believe you.”
“Good. Let’s go get some dinner. I asked the guy at the desk for a recommendation. He said the Flying J gas station had good food, as did the family diner. I suggest we try the diner.”
With one last supportive squeeze of her hand, Marc stepped away from her. “Ready?”
The kiss and her conflicted feelings had her unsteady on her feet. She may not have kissed him because she was grateful, but desire still mixed with gratitude, which had her confused. Determined to hide the whirl of emotions swimming inside her, she put on her brightest smile, nodded, then grabbed her purse and followed him out the door.
Chapter Seven
Marc’s phone buzzed when he sat down in a booth at the diner. As soon as the waitress handed them their menus, he picked out a burger that seemed as if it would calm his hungry stomach fine, then pulled out his phone.
Another exec. Another f*ck-off e-mail. At least this one was coming from someone higher up in the company this time. He was rating that high, at least. Even if they wouldn’t let him have any say in his project.
“So what did you want to see tomorrow?” Selina’s voice cracked through his focus on his phone.
“Hmm . . .” he said, scrolling through his list of e-mails from before the sale, looking for someone else to talk to about the project. His project.
“Tomorrow?” she prodded. “Come on. This is your fun vacation. I’m supposed to be along to help make it fun. And you said you wanted to see some sights. I think there are some caves nearby. We could visit those. And a waterfall. I don’t know what else there is to see in southern Idaho.”
“Those could all be interesting.” He touched on an e-mail with Session keys in the subject line. That sounded promising. At least this guy was actually acknowledging Marc’s idea. His attention locked on the lead, hunger for the work practically crawling up his skin until he could feel his fingers typing out the code.
God, he missed his work. He’d been so focused on selling Terry and being relieved that he didn’t have to push himself into more sleepless nights that he’d never considered he might miss it. That he might want to be in the middle of everything. If he’d known, he would have followed Curtis and Terry to their new company.
“You’ve got one of your phones out. Do you want to look up those options? Maybe see what would be good before we get on the road so we have something to look forward to?”
“Listen, Selina.” He didn’t look up. “I appreciate what you’re trying to do, but I’m busy with my project. I need to be left alone.”
The loud intake of air he heard over the sound of “Winter Wonderland” did make him look up, though it didn’t seem to be Selina who had made the insulted noise. The woman sitting across the table from him had eyes wide with shock and was sitting back in her booth as if he’d slapped her.
He looked to his left. The waitress must have made that noise because she reached out and yanked their menus away, nearly spilling his water in the process.
“What can I get you?” the waitress asked Selina, all kindness and consideration. She didn’t have the same tone of voice for Marc, and he hoped his fries didn’t come back burned.
“That was rude,” Selina said after the waitress had walked off.
“I’m sorry.” Hell, even he could hear that he didn’t sound all that sorry. “Really, I am. I just think I can finally get someone to listen to me and let me work on the project again.”
“Why is it so important to you?” She pulled her glass of water toward her and wrapped her lips around the straw. Her sexy lips, the ones that felt amazing when they’d kissed his, the ones he wanted to kiss again.
He shook the image out of his head. “Terry is my project. Oh, it’s Curtis’s, too, but it was my idea. And now I have an idea that would make it even better. Make it cleaner. When the app is fully launched, I want it to be the best it can be. Even with the company’s name on the app, enough people in the industry will know it’s my work, and I can’t let it get out into the wild without it being anything less than perfect.”