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I felt like a fool. Who lured a man they hardly knew to their apartment, acting like a wild creature and then apologized for it? Maybe Hale and I were a good fit. He swung madly between arrogance and vulnerability, and evidently I swung between rational and sex-crazed fiend. I laughed to myself at the irony of having done something so completely against my nature. “There’s a lot going on right now,” I said, the chuckle still in my voice. “That was fun, Hale. But with this presentation coming up . . . I just need to focus.”
“Then let’s get it done.” Hale pulled my computer from the bag he’d dropped by the door when we’d come in. He shot me a look. “And then maybe we can focus on some other things.” The suggestion was clear in his voice and his face, and I felt the wavering desire that had led us here—to my bed—in the first place.
I nodded, but felt guilty. I’d taken Hale’s entire day now, and was beginning to wonder if he didn’t have other things he needed to do with his weekend. “You don’t have to stay.”
“You still need to work out the narrative for the tech presentation.” He sat down at my kitchen table and pulled up the slides we’d finished earlier.
“Um.” I pulled the other chair to hisside. “Okay.” I watched him flip the switch from powerful sex god to all-business Hale. Part of me was disappointed. With the business side of Hale hard at work, the heady intimacy between us faded. This version of him was focused and smart. And I wondered how the hell he could think when my mind was filled with split-second images of what had just gone on in the room next to us. I knew I’d be seeing him above me in my dreams for years to come. He was the single hottest man I’d ever slept with.
As Hale pieced together the story that went with each slide, he checked in with me, making sure I was comfortable with the wording. But most of the time, he kept his eyes on the presentation and leaned forward in concentration. I watched him work and wondered exactly how to categorize what was happening here. A relationship was absolutely not part of my plan right now, but a little voice in my head was asking if it would be the worst thing to let the plan reshuffle itself a bit. I wanted to chalk up what had just happened to the stress, or to my years-long dry spell, but those things didn’t explain the easy conversation, the sweet, tender time we’d spent walking through Santa Monica. It didn’t explain why even when I’d been annoyed at Mr. Big Dick in the coffeehouse, I’d been wildly attracted to him at the same time.
“There.” Hale sat back three hours after sitting down to finish the tech slides, and grinned at me. “Now you just need to finish your wrap-up and you’ll be golden.”
I scanned through the presentation. He’d simplified the complex drawings he’dhelped make, and highlighted the main attributes that should make this a no-brainer for the potential client. He’d made notes beneath each slide to help me keep my narrative on track was I went. Now I just had to get through the meeting.
I watched Hale get ready to leave, wanting to draw the moment out and unable to keep myself from asking, “Do you have fun things planned for the rest of the weekend?”
He stopped moving for a second, and then his eyes found my face and he shook his head. “Do you, Holland? Have fun things planned?”
“Well, I’ll probably practice the presentation four thousand times, just to be sure I’ve got it nailed. That should take me right up to Monday morning.”
“Don’t stress about it, it’ll come naturally. You know this stuff.” He shook his head, dropping his shoe to the floor and then catching my eye again. “You shouldn’t be in sales. You belong in analytics.”
I shrugged. “I’m working on that. If I nail this, I’m hoping I’ll catch the attention of the execs, and they’ll find me a spot over there.”
He looked thoughtful, the dark eyes clouding as he said, “I’m sure they will.” He broke our gaze and reached for his shoe again.
“Thank you for all the help, Hale.”
He shook his head, dismissing the idea. “Don’t stress yourself out about the presentation. You’ve got it.”
I shrugged. “I’ll be okay. I’ll have to fake my way through some of the details. Hopefully they won’t ask too many questions.”
He leaned in, closing the space between us, taking my jaw in one hand as he gazed down at me with liquid eyes. “You’ll do fine,” he said. And then he leaned down and brushed his lips across mine, sending sparks skittering down my spine. “What time is the meeting?”
“Nine o’clock Monday.”
Hale stood and walked toward the door. “I’ll pick you up at eight.”
“What?” I followed him to the door, confused.
“In case they ask a lot of questions,” he said. “Just for backup.”
“You don’t need to go,” I said. Who would I say he was? I stared at him, trying to figure out what he wasn’t telling me. “How will I introduce you?” If I was honest, it would be a relief to have an ally, but it made no sense.
He smiled at me again, my heart skipping as if on cue. A shadow flickered through his eyes and he seemed to hesitate, but then his chin lifted and he continued, “About that, I’ve been meaning to tell you something, and you’ll definitely need to know for the meeting.”
“What?”
“I told you Hale was a nickname.”
“Right.”
“My name is Oliver.”
I nodded, not sure why he chose this moment to tell me that. “Okay . . .”
The look he gave me before he disappeared out the door was strange. He looked guilty. And it was almost like he waited a beat to see if I reacted to the name. Did he reallythink not telling me his name was that big of a deal? Lots of people went by nicknames.
