Chase Me (Broke and Beautiful #1)(10)

“What are you doing?” Louis managed.

She looked at him as though he’d sprouted a third eye. “I’m not going back out there dressed like a f*cking statue. They’re not going to laugh when they see what these jeans do for my ass, now, are they?”

“No.” Don’t look. Don’t look. “I seriously doubt it.”

“You have twenty seconds to tell me why I rode the subway dressed like an *.”

“Right.” Jesus, man. Eyes up. Focus. You’ve seen a hot girl before. “Not this hot.”

“What?”

“Did I just say that out loud?”

“Fifteen seconds.”

Louis ran an impatient hand through his hair. “I wanted to see you again, all right? The guy who answered the phone wouldn’t give me your number, so this was my only option. I don’t even know your name, and honestly, it pisses me off. It pisses me the hell off because you kiss like a f*cking dream and I can’t think of anything else.” Taking advantage of her openmouthed shock, he pushed the door shut behind her, hopefully buying himself a few more seconds. “You can walk out of here hating me if you want, but I need to know your name so I can track you down the normal way next time. Stalking you on social media.” He stepped closer. “Because I’m going to kiss you again. I have to.”

She laid a hand on his chest, stopping his forward progress. For the first time since arriving in his office, she didn’t look seconds from beating him to a pulp with his own unattached arms. Those smoky green eyes had turned thoughtful, if still slightly suspicious. “I’m Roxy,” she said slowly.

Roxy. Of course her name is Roxy. “That might be the only name I didn’t guess.” He licked his lips, hoping to taste some of the cherry blossom scent she’d brought in with her. “I’d settled on Denise.”

Her nose wrinkled. “Why?”

Ben and Russell had decided it sounded like the name most likely to belong to a future ex-girlfriend. “You don’t want to know.”

“Yeah?” She pushed him back a step. “Denise is my mom’s name, so you’re probably right.”

If he’d had a wood chipper in his office at that moment, Louis would have seriously considered jumping into it feet first. “Jesus. I’m not exactly knocking this out of the park, am I?”

She didn’t answer, sidestepping him instead to circle his office. “A lawyer, huh? Yikes.”

“Try not to sound so enthused.” When she hopped up onto the edge of his desk and leaned back, exposing more of that smooth midriff, Louis barely resisted the urge to adjust himself in his pants. Why did this particular girl get him so worked up? “Everyone hates lawyers until they need one.”

“Why did you bring me here?”

God, she didn’t waste time. He liked that. “I want to take you out. On a date.”

She laughed, but sobered when she realized he wasn’t joking. “You’re not exactly my type, Louis McNally the Second.”

He shrugged, not even close to throwing in the towel. She had no idea who she was dealing with. Every time she told him no, he would only grow that much more determined. “Give me a date to convince you otherwise. Most dates are classified as bad. What’s the difference if you have a bad date with me or some other jerk who I suddenly want to kill?”

Those Popsicle lips twitched. “Only a lawyer would make that argument.”

“Is that a yes?” She still looked dubious, giving him the feeling he’d run up against a commitment-phobe. Maybe if he gave her the impression that his intentions were only casual, she’d agree to see him. He’d work on the commitment thing later. If it was a little too early to be thinking in the long term, he gave himself a pass. His reaction to her didn’t fall within the bounds of normal. “I’m not asking for a relationship. I don’t do them either,” he said, telling the truth. Or what the truth had been before she’d rung his bell. Doorbell, that is. “Just a date.”

Her legs swung back and forth, a good foot and a half from the ground. “Why don’t you make up for dragging me down here dressed as the symbol of freedom? Before I’d even eaten breakfast, no less.”

Louis was surprised to find how much he hated the idea of her sitting there hungry. Before she’d even finished speaking, he was crossing to his suit jacket hanging on the wall. He reached into his pocket and took out the peanut butter and banana sandwich, placing it in her lap. As when he’d made his speech to keep her from leaving, she looked taken aback by the kind gesture. It made him want to bury her in an avalanche of sandwiches.

He watched as she unwrapped the foil with delicate fingers tipped with chipping red nail polish. “Okay, that’s a pretty good start.”

“What’s next?”

“Tell me something embarrassing that happened to you. It’s the only way to get us back on equal footing.”

Louis couldn’t contain his burst of laughter.

“What?”

“Nothing. Just that . . . even footing made me think of a rabbit’s foot . . .”

She paused in the act of taking her first bite. “That seriously isn’t helping your cause.”

“Right. Something embarrassing.” He blew a breath toward the ceiling, silently calling himself every name in the book. She threw him so far off his game that he wasn’t even on the playing field anymore. “Junior year in college, my friend Russell shaved off my eyebrows when I was passed out. They took six months to grow back.”