Page 6 of It's a Widow Thing

“Nice.” She smirked, then took a deep breath. “Okay. Sure. When?”

He hated the idea that he’d had to convince her of this. He also wasn’t happy that here he was asking her out on a Monday morning. He was either going to sound over-eager or wait an incredibly long time. “Tonight? My place?”

She shook her head. “Sorry. I have plans.”

Of course you do.Although Michael had never seen Sabrina with another man, surely she had no shortage of suitors. Maybe that was why she’d taken off after the kiss at the party. Someone else was in the mix. She was stunning, smart, and according to her ring finger, single. The clock was ticking.Better act fast.“Tomorrow?”

“I’m not sure that will work.”

The rest of his week was full of work obligations. “What about Friday?”

She dug her phone out of her jumbo leather purse and tapped away at it with short nails, painted a dark purple. “Walk with me or we’ll have to talk about this later. I have an important call.”

“And I have a meeting.”

She shrugged. “Your decision.”

The doctor had ordered him to avoid stress, and this was feeling exactly like that, but he wasn’t about to give up now. “Guess I’ll be late.” He started after her. “You really walk all the way to work in those shoes?” He took the excuse to ogle her gorgeous and shapely calves, to admire the shiny black heels he wouldn’t mind having on his shoulders.

“I work all day in these shoes. What’s seven or eight blocks? I don’t even think about it.”

“You’re lucky you work so close to our building. I hate hauling my ass all the way downtown.” They took the turn from West 21stStreet and headed up Seventh Avenue.

“You want to run with the wolves, you have to hang out in their part of the woods, right?”

“Right.” Frankly, Michael was tired of the wolves and tired of running. How much more money could he make? Of course,a lotwas the answer, but at forty-five, he was smart enough to know that it wasn’t going to make him happy. “So, dinner. How about Friday? Is that a problem? Don’t tell me you work late at the end of the week.”

Sabrina hitched her bag higher on her shoulder. “I have a weekly recap meeting with my assistant at six. Hopefully it won’t last too long.”

“That’s perfect. You can come by my place at eight.” He began mentally running through his considerable arsenal of home-cooked meals. His mom and grandmother had left him well-equipped.

“Okay.” She took a deep breath and they stopped at the curb to wait for the light. “Should be fun as long as you behave. No more surprising me with kisses.”

Maybe that had been his mistake, although he couldn’t imagine she didn’t know how much he liked her. “We can’t flirt in the elevator forever.”

“Why not? I love our time in the elevator. It gets my blood pumping in the morning.”

“I can think of more satisfying ways to get your blood pumping.” He regretted it the instant the words erupted from his mouth.

She tugged on the sleeve of her jacket and cleared her throat.

“Too much?” he asked.

She wrinkled her nose. “Little bit.”

He’d already dug himself a hole. Might as well go for it. He had to know where he stood. “Okay, litmus test.”

“Yes?” She glanced over at him and arched an eyebrow, but then the light changed and she started across the street.

His pulse raced as he picked up his pace, but he had to ask the question. “Have you thought about me? Since the kiss?”

She laughed, which was not the response he was hoping for, even if it did sound amazing. “I’m this way.” Sabrina nodded to the right and they walked up 28thStreet, stopping in front of a storefront for Chelsea Mayhem Cosmetics. She’d told him that her office was on the second floor. “This is my stop.”

Michael peered in the window at the long counters of makeup displays. Several gorgeous women, all dressed in black, milled about, presumably readying the shop to open. “You haven’t answered my question.”

She propped her sunglasses atop her head. The intensity in her eyes had him second-guessing the very concept of going for anything. “Do you mean intimate thoughts? Personal ones?” Her bag dropped to her elbow and she delivered the hottest look of admonishment he’d ever seen. “We kissed, Michael. Of course I’ve had those thoughts about you. But you also seem to be looking for something serious. That’s not for me right now. It’s not a good idea for anything to happen between us when we have two very different objectives.”

Why did it have to be that the minute he finally decided to get serious, it had to bite him on the ass? “Last time I checked, I’ve only asked you over for dinner. No pre-nup involved.”