And that could be why she’s been pulling away, couldn’t it? Maybe she’s intimidated by me. Maybe she’s afraid of her own feelings. Or…she had a reaction to the word inappropriate. Maybe she just thinks it would be inappropriate for anything to happen between us.

  If that was what it was, it wasn’t like she was wrong.

  Still, this changed everything. If he wasn’t the only one who felt attracted to her—if they were both attracted to each other—this could turn into a different kind of evening altogether.

  He glanced over at her. She was staring down at her hands, looking awkward and uncomfortable.

  “Listen,” he said. “I have an idea.”

  “Oh yeah?” She looked up.

  “How about if, just for tonight, we’re not boss and employee?” he said. “How about if we’re just two people enjoying Thai food and good company?”

  “Do you think that’s a good idea?” she asked hesitantly.

  “You’re not on the clock,” he said. “It’s not like you’re working for me right now.”

  “That’s true,” she said slowly.

  “I’ll still pay for dinner,” he said.

  “That’s not the part I’m worried about.”

  “What are you worried about?”

  “I don’t know. What if we find it too hard to transition back into being professional the next time we need to? What if I…I don’t know, curse in front of you or something?”

  “I don’t care if you curse in front of me,” he said. But his thoughts were on the or something.

  What did she mean by that?

  “Come on,” he said. “Take a night off from worrying about work. Let’s just have fun, okay? I want to get to know the real Halle.”

  She hesitated.

  “Okay,” she said at last. “We’ll take one night off. I hope it doesn’t turn out to be a mistake, though.”

  “It won’t,” he assured her, hoping very much that he was right about that.

  Chapter 12

  Halle

  “So what made you want to go out tonight?” Halle asked.

  “I’m not much for sitting around at home,” Grayson said.

  There was something evasive about his tone. It made Halle feel as if she wasn’t getting the whole story. “Really?” she said. “You just called me up because you were bored?”

  “Does it have to be any more complicated than that?”

  “Well, I don’t know. It’s just unprecedented,” she said. “You’ve never called me when it wasn’t work-related before. And now you want to have this casual evening together. I don’t know what to make of it.

  He sighed. “To tell you the truth, I was worried you might be angry with me.”

  Her eyes widened. “Seriously? You thought I was mad at you, so you invited me to dinner?”

  “Is that so hard to believe?”

  “I mean…yeah, kind of.”

  “You can’t tell me that you haven’t been acting differently around me lately,” he said. “If I didn’t know better, I would say you were on the verge of quitting.”

  “Of course I’m not going to quit,” Halle said. “I like my job. I’ve had a great time working for you.”

  “Yeah, I know that,” Grayson said. “I know you like the job. You’ve just been…off lately.”

  “And you thought that meant I was mad at you?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe.”

  “And that bothered you?”

  “Why wouldn't that bother me?”

  “I mean, do you usually worry about whether people are mad at you?”

  “People don’t usually get mad at me,” he said.

  “Or they don’t tell you about it,” she pointed out.

  “You didn’t tell me either.”

  “Yeah, but you noticed. I didn’t know you paid that much attention to me.”

  “So you are mad at me.”

  “No,” she said. “I’m not. I didn’t mean to give you that impression. I’m sorry.”

  “Then what’s been going on?” he pressed. “You have been acting differently lately. You can’t deny it.”

  “No, you’re right,” she said. “I have. I didn’t know you’d noticed it.”

  “Well, what’s it all about? If I didn’t do something to upset you?”

  She sighed. “You really want to have this conversation?”

  “We wouldn’t be here if I didn’t.”

  “And here I thought you just wanted to take me out for a friendly dinner,” she said.

  “Yeah. And as your friend, I want to know what’s been bothering you.”

  “All right,” she said. “Fine.” She put her fork down. “The truth is, Grayson, I’m worried that I’m taking advantage of our good working relationship.”

  Grayson’s eyebrows lifted. “Taking advantage? What do you mean? How would you be taking advantage? This isn’t about the money, is it?”

  “No, it’s nothing to do with money,” she said. “You and I…well, we’ve had a—a flirtatious relationship.” She felt her cheeks grow hot. What if he denied it? What if he said they’d had no such thing, and that it had all been in her mind? She would die of humiliation.

  But he set his fork down too. “You don’t like that?”

  So he’s felt it too. She felt a rush of relief, but on the heels of that, a stab of concern. She shouldn’t be allowing herself to feel relief about this. None of it was a good thing.

  “It’s not that I don’t like it,” she said. “It’s that I’m worried I might like it too much. I’m afraid I might be putting all my romantic feelings into what you and I have going on. And it’s not smart for me to invest emotionally in that. For obvious reasons.”

  “Right,” Grayson said. “Obvious reasons.”

  “It’s just that I’ve been lonely for a long time,” she said, surprised that she was being so forthcoming about it. “So I guess it’s easy for me to get wrapped up in a flirtation with a good looking man. And maybe the fact that I know nothing can happen between us has made it feel safe. But it’s not good for either one of us.”

  “And that’s why you’ve been acting distant?” he asked. “You wanted to back off from our flirtation?”

  “Yeah, that’s why,” she said. “I really didn’t think you were going to notice.”

  “Do I seem that self-centered to you?” He actually sounded sad. Halle hadn’t expected that either.

  “Not self-centered,” she said. “I just didn’t think you thought about me that much. I mean, I know you do when we’re in the same room. But I guess I thought it was kind of an out of sight, out of mind situation.”

  “Not really,” Grayson said. “I’ve been flirting with you as much as you have with me, you know.”

  “Yeah, but you’re just having a good time,” Halle said.

  “Do you know how long it’s been since I just had a good time with somebody for more than twenty-four hours?” Grayson asked. “I’ve been lonely for a long time too, Halle.”

  She sighed. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have made assumptions.”

  “You didn’t do anything wrong,” Grayson said. “Honestly, I’m just glad to know you’re not angry with me.”

  “Oh, I’m definitely not,” she assured him. “You’ve given me all kinds of wonderful opportunities, Grayson. I’m really grateful to you. And…I’ve really enjoyed the time we’ve spent together too. I’ve had a lot of fun with you. I’m honestly just worried that it’s too much fun.”

  “No such thing,” Grayson said, offering her a grin. “You can’t have too much fun. Any amount of fun is a good thing.”

  She laughed. “You say things like that and you make it impossible for me to stick to my guns,” she said.

  “Tonight is a night off from the rules,” he said. “Remember? We can have fun tonight, and we can worry about how we’re going to act with each other going forward tomorrow.”

  “You think?”

  “We’re all dressed up,” Grayson said. “We’re out at a really nice restaurant. I mean, please correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think you put on that red dress to not have a good time.”

  “You’re not wrong,” she admitted. She had totally been thinking about how he would react when he saw her in it. It was her best dress, one she’d bought on the assumption that she would one day wear it on a date, when she met a guy who was worthy of it. The guy had never materialized.

  Until tonight, I guess.

  “Well, then, let’s relax and have fun,” Grayson said. “We don’t need to worry about the future today.”

  “All right,” Halle agreed. “I can get on board with that.”

  “So, given that we’re just letting ourselves have a good time tonight, would you be willing to consider coming back to my place when we’re done with our dinner?”

  She bit her lip. “Back to your place?”

  “The thing is, you’re kind of the closest friend I have right now,” he admitted. “And it’s been a long time since I’ve had anyone over.”

  “I’m your closest friend?”

  “I know. Pathetic, right? My best friend is a woman who works for me, who I’ve only known for a couple of months.”

  “Well, you’ve been successful in other areas of your life,” Halle said. “You shouldn’t run yourself down too much.”

  He laughed. “This is why I appreciate you!” he said. “You’re not afraid to take me down a peg or two when I deserve it. Everyone else is.”

  “Come back to your place just to hang out?” she asked, surprised at herself for even considering it.

  “Yeah,” he said. “Just to hang out. Maybe we can watch a movie in my home theater.”

  “You have a home theater?”

  “You say that like it’s impressive, but it’s actually sad,” he said. “I put it in thinking I would be having big parties, filling it up with groups of people. I’ve only ever watched movies alone there.”

  “Well, that is sad,” she said. “You’re right. We need to break it in properly.”

  “So you’re in?”

  “Yeah, I’m in,” she said. It went against her better judgment—she knew she should be keeping her distance. But really, what was the harm? They spent so much time together. They got along great. It made sense to take advantage of the situation and to allow themselves to become friends.

  Real friends. Not just coworkers who get along.

  And who knew? Maybe the sexual tension between them would disappear once they got to know each other better. That had almost always happened with men she’d been attracted to in the past. Once she’d really gotten to know them, her feelings had faded.

  The home theater setup at Grayson’s house was extravagant. The screen took up an entire wall, and the room was filled with reclining loveseats. Grayson and Halle had claimed one right at the front and were now watching a black-and-white suspense thriller—Halle had been pleasantly surprised to find that he shared her passion for old movies.

  Grayson wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and she found herself leaning into him. Don’t, she thought. Don’t do this.

  But they’d agreed, hadn’t they? They had decided to relax and have fun tonight. And she was so attracted to him, and she liked him so much—

  His fingers stroked her upper arm, and she felt goosebumps spring to life. Her heart was pounding. She didn’t know whether that was because of the movie or because of his touch.

  Oh, who am I kidding? I haven’t been watching the movie for at least twenty minutes now.

  All she could think about was the rapidly diminishing space between their bodies as they leaned further and further into each other. The feel of his hand grazing her skin. The soft sigh of his breath.

  What would it be like to kiss him?

  This was the moment where that little voice in her head would have chimed in, ordinarily, chiding her for even thinking about kissing her boss. But that voice had disappeared, had been replaced by another that was hungrier and louder.

  Yes. Kiss him.

  She couldn’t.

  You want it. Do it.

  She had very nearly made up her mind—she was going to throw caution to the wind, she was going to give in and do it—when his arm tightened around her.

  She looked up at him.

  He was gazing down at her. Those blue-gray eyes seemed to shine in the darkened room. Halle suddenly felt as if she couldn’t catch her breath.

  She opened her mouth to ask him what he was doing—

  And then, with only the barest warning, he was kissing her.

  His arm around her shoulder relaxed for a moment, and Halle understood that he was giving her the option to push him away, to say no to this.

  But she could no more have said no to this than she could have said no to air.

  She wrapped her arms around him and pulled him close, thankful that the waiting was over, thankful that the choice had been taken out of her hands.

  Her worries disappeared in the taste of his mouth and the strength of his arms around her, the firmness of his body pressed up against hers.

  He pulled back and looked at her, his eyes searching. “Was that okay?”

  “Yeah. Yeah, more than okay.”

  “Did you want to finish the movie, or—?”

  “No. To hell with the movie.”

  He grinned, obviously enjoying how easy it had been to persuade her. “Are you sure? It’s a good movie.”

  “I can rent it. Turn it off.” She slid her hand between his hip and his waistband teasingly.

  He closed his eyes, fumbled for the remote, and did as she requested.

  Then he took her in his arms and laid her back on the loveseat, lowering himself over her, and returned his mouth to hers.

  We shouldn’t be doing this, Halle thought. I’m going to regret this.

  But she couldn’t find it in her to care.

  Chapter 13

  Grayson

  Grayson jerked from sleep.

  At first, he wasn’t sure what had woken him. He’d been having a dream, and though the details were already fading from his mind, he was pretty sure it had been a nice one. And yet, his heart was pounding as if he had run a marathon, and his body was flooded with adrenaline.

  He rolled to the side as memories of the night before came flooding back. Watching the movie with Halle, and then turning it off. The way it had felt to give in to the mounting tension between them at last, to pull her close and kiss her. Carrying her out of the home theater and up to his bedroom, and the long, luxurious hours that had followed…

  He had begun to feel uneasy, he realized, almost immediately. He had thought, at first, that what he was feeling was simple insecurity over the wisdom of what they had done. Sleeping with his employee was obviously a questionable idea. But, he’d consoled himself, they had agreed that tonight would be a self-contained night of fun. They weren’t going to carry this into their future as employer and employee. When they next got together for a flight, it would be as if tonight had never happened.

  At least, that was the plan.

  And he’d thought he would be able to stick to it. He had been sure he would be able to stick to it. His only concern had been whether Halle would be able to do this same. But he’d had faith in her—after all, she didn’t want things to be awkward between them either. He had heard everything she’d said at the restaurant, and it had been exactly what he had needed to hear.

  So what had made him so uneasy?

  He looked over at her. She looked so peaceful in sleep, and still so beautiful. He felt his heart skip a beat.

  And his stomach filled with dread.

  His heart skipping a beat was exactly what he didn’t want. He had wanted to give in to the growing tension between them, but he hadn’t actually wanted to feel things.

  That wasn’t just casual sex. That was something more.

  He got out of bed carefully, not wanting to wake Halle up with his shifting weight.

  Was that lovemaking?

  He couldn’t be sure. But he knew he had never experienced something so intimate before. The whole point of last night had been to just relax and have fun free of consequences. And he had certainly had fun.

  But he didn’t think he was going to be capable of just shrugging this one off. Already, his chest was clenching uncomfortably at the idea that that had been a one-time thing, and that he would never be with her that way again.

  As soon as he had left the bedroom and closed the door behind him, though, he felt as if he could breathe a little more easily. His muscles seemed to relax. He made his way down the hall and into his vast kitchen, which had been outfitted with the finest appliances on the market.

  Waste of money, really. It’s not as if I ever cook.

  This room was so spacious that Grayson had never felt as if he could fill it on his own. And truth be told, that was how he had always felt in every room of this house. It was too big for him.

  But what was waiting for him up in his bedroom—that was even bigger.

  He had opened up to Halle. He had made himself vulnerable to her in a way he hadn’t done with any woman in a very long time—maybe ever.

  He shuddered at the memory of the way he had talked to her at the restaurant last night. He had told her how lonely he had been lately. He had come dangerously close to admitting that he felt serious regret about all of his life choices.

  That’s not something I can ever afford to say out loud. It would completely destroy my reputation. I’m supposed to be a titan of industry, someone people admire and look up to.

  He thought back to the way he had felt when his picture had first appeared in that men’s magazine. He had felt like an unmitigated success that day. Looking at that photo of himself had made him feel enviable and attractive, like someone every woman would want and every man would want to be.

  It had been a very long time since he had felt that way.

  But last night, with Halle, he had felt it again.

  He couldn’t let on that he had lost the ability to feel that confident all the time. It would change the way everyone thought about him, both in his admittedly limited social life and in the business world. He couldn’t afford to show weakness.