No Kissing Allowed (No Kissing Allowed #1)(13)

My office, 9 a.m. Bring your notes.

- A





Chapter Eight


Lauren was still in bed when I crept out of our apartment at seven thirty the following morning. I had no idea what Aidan wanted with me at nine, but I planned to get to the office before him so I could prepare.

I exited a different elevator from the two I’d taken yesterday—my favorite of the three—to a quiet floor, no Alexa, no Gayle, no one rushing down the halls and no sounds from the cubicles as I passed. I was just about to slide my gym bag under my desk when a deep voice asked, “Are you a before or after work kind of girl?”

My back straightened, and I spun around to see Aidan leaning against my cube. “Excuse me?” I asked.

“The bag. I’m assuming it’s for working out?”

“Oh, yeah.” So not what I thought he was asking. “I take kickboxing a few days a week at my gym. Keeps my mom happy. The whole self-defense thing.”

His eyebrows lifted. “Kickboxing, huh? That’s unexpected.”

I grinned. “Let me guess. You expected yoga?” I thought of Grace’s failed attempt to get me into yoga and laughed. I would try to talk and she’d shh me and then a few minutes would pass and I’d try again, only to receive another sharp look. She didn’t invite me back. “You don’t know me very well.”

He took a small step toward me, an inch, no more, but all of a sudden I couldn’t breathe. “I know that you’re originally from Birmingham and likely moved to New York to prove a point to yourself as much as anyone else. I know you were in the top of your class. That you received three job offers, all from top agencies.” Another step. “And I know that the girl from Saturday night who told me all this? The one who relaxed, maybe for the first time in her life? You think that girl isn’t you, but she’s in there. It’s okay to let her out once in a while. To let go.” He held my gaze for a second longer, then cleared his throat and started down the hall, toward his office. “I’m ready when you are.”

I collapsed into my chair as soon as it was safe, sure that if I didn’t sit I would fall. What the hell just happened? His words replayed in my mind, the way his voice had dipped down, and suddenly, every fiber in me longed to let my carefree side go—straight to Aidan’s office to see if we could pick up where we’d left off Saturday night. I’d never had such an immediate attraction to a man in my life. A man who just so happened to be my boss. I tried to remind myself of that fact every time these thoughts hit me, but so far the word “boss” was doing little more than making him even hotter.

I clenched my eyes shut, irritated that I was allowing myself to lose control. And in only two days. I needed to focus on the job, keep my emotions in check—remember how hard I’d worked to get this job.

My computer fired up, and I told myself I was checking my email to be responsible, but really it was to give my brain something productive to do. Something other than think about a certain boss. I couldn’t go in there now, the image of his body tangled in my sheets so fresh in my mind.

After a few minutes of stalling, I pushed out of my chair, grabbed my phone and my notes, and started toward his office, refusing to look up. Something told me I would see UT Guy watching me, not Aidan, and I couldn’t handle that version of him. Not now.

I knocked lightly on the glass door before slowly opening it. “Aidan?”

“Come in.” His voice was low, too low. The sort of voice that made your insides twist and curl and dream about things you had no right dreaming about. I gave him a fleeting look before closing the door and walking over to his desk. He was leaning back in his chair, his hair styled out of his eyes. He’d rolled his sleeves to his elbows, showing off the contours of his forearms. Forearms that had cradled me close just days before.

Ugh. Stop it.

“Deep thought?” The corner of his mouth quirked up just a touch, and instantly, my cheeks burst into flames. Damn skin. I needed medication or something. Like a green pill that would cancel out the red whenever my emotions spiked.

I forced my expression to remain even. “Just wondering why you wanted to see me this morning.”

Aidan leaned forward, his eyes locked on mine. “I thought that was obvious.”

The warmth in my cheeks spread through me, refusing to be contained. Why did he have to say things like that? Words that to anyone else would mean nothing at all, yet his tone, his expression, everything about him said something more. He was my boss, and in truth, if he were anyone else I would be offended, even worried, but with Aidan…

I sat down in the chair across from him and crossed my legs. “Not to me.”

The moment lingered long, tension building, and then he turned his monitor toward me so I could see what was on the screen. It was an ad mock-up from creative, but nothing about it was creative. The colors were too bold, the text too heavy, the images impossible to focus on.

“Did you bring your notes?”

Without thinking, I passed him my notebook and phone, our fingers touching in the exchange, the connection so intense I had to jerk away. Was it suddenly very, very hot in his office?

“Password?”

He started to pass it back to me, when I said, “5267.” His eyebrows lifted, and I added, “It was my father’s birthday.”