Accidentally Amy(37)

He’d worked his ass off for his career and it meant a lot to him. It’d taken years to get where he was, and it was foolish to risk everything when he and Izzy had never even been on a date, right?
Right?
Maybe they were destined to be just friends, or some other bullshit platitude that was destined to fucking kill him.
Blake grabbed his keys and headed out, thinking of Izzy’s I like your door comment as he locked the deadbolt.
Even though he knew better, he opened Outlook and started reading Brad’s email as he walked down the hall and got into the elevator. He hit the “G” button, the doors slid closed, and Blake clicked on an attachment titled New Org Chart, Final Draft.
Now that the acquisition had gone through, and because the company was nearly doubling in size as a result, there would need to be a certain level of re-organization.
But when the color-coded chart opened and he looked at his division, his ears started buzzing.
Human Resources had shifted, and that department no longer reported to him.
When the elevator doors opened, Blake sprinted to his car.

Chapter 12

Izzy
“He just pulled up.” Izzy watched through the window as Blake got out of his car - God, he was huge - and slammed the door. He was wearing jeans and a grey sweatshirt that made his chest look ridiculously wide, and of course, his hair looked like he’d driven all the way over with his windows down. She let go of the blinds she’d been peering through and turned around. “He’s here.”
The Darkling stared at her from the couch as if she bored him.
Stupid cat.
Blake knocked on the front door.
“Gah!” Izzy froze and gasped and whispered, all at the same time. “What do I do?”
Stop talking to the cat, for starters, you dipshit.
Izzy tugged on the bottom of her shirt - she’d selected her fuzzy red sweater and boyfriend jeans - and tucked her hair behind her ears. She was hella jittery at the thought of facing him after the couch kissing. Yes, they’d texted all day so things were okay between them, but what if it was weird face-to-face?
She sprinted over to the couch, grabbed the cat, and went back to the door. Somehow, holding The Darkling felt like protection. Or a distraction.
Or…something.
Izzy shifted the cat in her arms and pulled open the door.
“Hey.” It was a small word, a casual, one-syllable utterance, but the way Blake said it made her breath catch. It was fast and breathless as his dark gaze moved all over her face, like he was searching for something specific. He looked tense, intense, and she couldn’t stop herself from glancing at his mouth and remembering how it’d felt on hers.
“Hey,” she replied, turning her attention to the cat in her arms because looking at him without thinking about the kiss was impossible.
“Listen, Iz, I need to talk to you.”
She nudged the door open all the way so he could come in. Be cool, Izzy, she thought as he came inside and she closed the door behind him. She intended to sound normal, but heard herself say, in a weird, surfer-variation of her voice, “What’s up, bro?”
Gah – yeah, that’s not weird at all.
Blake took a small step closer, crowding her against the door. Instead of looking up at him, she looked at The Darkling, instead. In fact, she became incredibly interested in petting his fluffy fir.
His voice was thick and deep when he said, “Why won’t you look at me?”
Izzy blinked and rubbed her lips together. Said, “I’m not--”
“Isabella Shay.” He moved, and before she knew what he was doing, he took the cat from her arms and set The Darkling onto the floor.
She sighed and looked up at him.
Oh, damn.
“Blake Phillips.” She meant to say more, maybe, but her heart started thumping as he stepped a little closer. She looked up at his hot eyes and felt a little light-headed when he said—
“I’m going to fucking lose my mind if you don’t let me talk to you.”
“So talk,” she said, intending to sound unaffected but failing to pull it off when her voice came out breathy and almost a whisper.
“Izzy,” he said, setting his palms on the door, one on each side of her. “We’re about to play a bit of a trust exercise. Okay?”
“Hard pass,” she said, her every cell focused on the way his body had hers caged in, against the door. “The last time I did one of those trust things, Josh let me fall and I bruised my tail bone. I couldn’t sit comfortably for weeks, the wang.”
“Not that kind of trust exercise. This is more of a look into my eyes and just trust me sort of thing.”
“Oh-kay,” she said, raising her eyes to his, feeling like gravity was pulling her toward him. Her voice was gruff when she said, “I’ll play.”
“Good.” Blake swallowed and said, “So we both know there are rules that have prevented us from…getting closer.”
Izzy tried for casual again by saying, “Employee handbook, thou art a beotch.”
“Right.” His eyes moved all over her face for a moment and then he said, “I can’t – I won’t –give you any details at this point, but I think we can be more than friends. If we want to.”
“What?” Izzy had to be misunderstanding. “How? What does that mean?”
“I’m afraid I can’t answer any questions at this time,” he said, looking a little uncomfortable. “Trust exercise, remember?”
She watched him, her eyes memorizing every handsome plane of his face as she knew she’d go along with anything he wanted. She did trust him.