No Kissing Allowed (No Kissing Allowed #1)(24)

I moaned. “Dear God, you’re killing me.”

Aidan pulled away to look at me, his eyebrows drawn. “Seriously, though, are you okay with this?”

“What do you mean?”

“I like you. I want to spend time with you. But I’m still not willing to—”

“Commit.” My eyes found the floor. “So there will be others. You’ll be with others. Like Misha Kyle.”

He jolted back. “What?”

“Misha Kyle. You went out with her.”

His eyebrows went up. “I did?”

“Yes, Alexa saw you two together at—” I waved my hands in the air. “It doesn’t matter. It’s none of my business.”

“Misha is a longtime friend. She and I met up a few weeks ago to discuss her modeling in a photo shoot for one of our clients.” He lifted my chin and peered into my eyes, searching. “I haven’t been with another woman since I met you, but if we do this, it has to be a secret, and it has to be casual. I can’t allow it to be anything more. And I won’t take another step with you until I know you understand this and are okay with it.”

I thought of other guys I might meet in the city. Wouldn’t those dates operate on these same rules? Well, not the secret part. But no one went out on a date with the assumption they were dating the person they would marry. It was always casual to begin with, and then if the match was there, it’d turn serious. This could follow that path, too. Plus, Lauren had been right last night. My focus was on my career, not dating. Still…

“Maybe we should set some ground rules?”

“Like?”

“Like nothing on office property.”

Aidan motioned around the empty stairwell, and I laughed. “All right. So nothing on our floor. And—” I paused, needing to build my courage. “We don’t try to label it.” I felt stupid saying it like that. Of course there were no labels. But I needed to say it out loud if I hoped to keep my own emotions in check. My job was important to me. I couldn’t allow this to mess up everything I’d worked for, but I also couldn’t ignore the chemistry between us. I hadn’t felt a spark like this in a long time, maybe ever. If there were no labels, then maybe it wouldn’t feel so wrong.

He stared down at me, as though trying to find something in my expression, something that gave me away, but I was good at holding in my emotions. Keeping my face straight. I’d become a master at it after my dad died.

“All right,” he finally said. “But I have a few rules of my own.”

My eyebrows shot up in question, and he edged closer to me. “No romance. No talking about feelings.” My body stilled. “It complicates things, and this is complicated enough.”

I thought again of my talk with Lauren the night before, how easy it would be to step into this with Aidan, and before my doubts could convince me otherwise, I said, “Okay.”

“Okay?”

“I said okay, didn’t I?”

He smirked. “You did. I’m just not sure you mean it.”

Ignoring him, I pushed on. “Any others?”

“No meeting family or friends.”

This one was easier to digest. I could only imagine my mother’s face if I brought Aidan home. This is my boss. We’re kissing and will likely have sex. Again. But nothing serious. Just sex.

“All right. No romance. No family or friends. Anything else?”

He shook his head. “No. You?”

“No, though I’m sure I’ll think of something.”

Aidan laughed. “I’m sure you will.”

We made our way up the stairs, careful to keep a bit of distance just in case we stumbled upon someone, but Aidan was right, the stairwell remained empty. I walked through the door first, said hello to Alexa and that I would see her in the break room for coffee soon, then walked straight to my cube, ducking inside like I was a criminal on the run. Thoughts began circling through my head. Surely there were cameras in that stairwell. Anyone could have seen. But then my cell vibrated with a text and I picked it up to find a number I didn’t recognize.

The contact list serves a purpose after all.

I grinned as I added Aidan’s cell to my contacts.

Stalking me, I see.

Aidan: Oh, you have no idea how badly I want to stalk you right now. You look amazing in blue.

I peered down at my sweater. It was a basic V-neck, but it had a funky boyfriend vibe that I loved. I started to type back something flirty, when I noticed Gayle beside my cube and jumped.

“Are you all right? I didn’t mean to startle you.”

Faking a smile, I tucked my cell into my bag, my heart pounding. Had she seen Aidan’s name on my phone? Surely not. Still, I needed to be more careful. “Um, yes. Fine. Can I help you with something?” I waited.

“We’re meeting in about ten minutes in the conference room to go over the campaign. Blast wants us to present in two weeks.”

“Sure.” I waited for Gayle to leave, and then reached for my phone, expecting to see a text from Aidan. Instead, I found this:

Mom: DON’T YOU KNOW HOW TO USE YOUR PHONE? WHY ARE YOU IGNORING ME? WHEN ARE YOU COMING HOME AGAIN? THANKSGIVING? CALL ME!

I hadn’t yet determined if Mom was angry with me all the time, or if she simply preferred to text in all caps. Or maybe she’d somehow set her phone to caps and wasn’t sure how to undo it.