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“It’s not much of a surprise if you’ve already told me this much,” she called over her shoulders. “Not only did you tell me about it, but you handed me the clothes.”
“The clothes are selfish. I think you’ll look good in them.”
They turned into her bedroom. She was laughing as she shucked her skirt from work. “You’re incorrigible. Though, seriously, what’s the party?”
“You’re going to get this cool grant. I think you deserve a party. So I planned you one.”
“There were lots of other people working on this grant with me.”
“Yup. They’re invited, too. But I didn’t pick out their clothes.”
She threw her blouse at him. He laughed and handed her the one he’d picked out for her from the bed.
“I’m not going to wear clothes you pick out for me very often.”
“To be honest, I didn’t really expect that you would this time. But I figured it was worth a try. And you’re home earlier than you’ve been in a couple weeks, but still we’re going to have to rush. I figured that since I was messing with your plan for the night, I’d go right ahead and mess with the rest of your night, too.”
“When you say it like that…”
“When I say it like that, it’s because I love you. And I want you to enjoy your party.”
“Okay, okay. Hand them over.” She took the shoes from him, then leaned over to adjust the straps. “Do I have time to do my hair?”
“Your hair looks great.”
Her hair was falling across her face as she stood up. Sleek—the look she usually hoped for out of her hair—had probably abandoned her sometime around 1:00 p.m., but from the look on his face, sleek didn’t matter. To him, she did look great. And would look great if, like he had said, she was wearing pajama pants and slippers.
She carefully packed up the look on his face in soft material, then stored it in the back of her memories. On a rough day, when work was getting her down and she hadn’t been able to meet him for a cup of coffee, she’d pull that memory off the shelf, relive it and she’d feel better.
“Where is this party?”
“I can tell you, or I can drive you there.”
“You can just drive me there,” she said with a smile.
Trust was this amazing thing. She didn’t pepper him with questions as they drove through the city into downtown. She didn’t worry that she wouldn’t like where they were going or who was going to be there. Jason had planned a party for her. She was certain she would enjoy it.
And she did enjoy it. He’d picked one of her favorite restaurants for the party—not one they’d been to, but one she had mentioned several times. There was a small room in the back that you could rent, and almost all of the people who were working on the grant with her were there with their spouses, plus her boss and her boss’s boss.
She had a couple glasses of wine, lots of delicious and surely fattening appetizers. Jason was clearly there with her, but he wasn’t around her the entire time. He knew all these people just as well as she did. He laughed and joked. Patted some of them on the back and gave a couple of the women quick hugs.
Once, he caught her eye, and she felt the lightning flash between them.
Spark.
* * *
SPARK, JASON THOUGHT as his eyes met Marsie’s over the crowd and electricity crackled through his body. This was what he had been waiting for, why he hadn’t been interested in having more than a couple dates with any of the other women.
But what he hadn’t realized was that the intense and regenerating glow that spread through his body whenever he looked at Marsie was something he would have to be patient enough to wait for.
This was worth waiting for. Marsie was worth waiting for. There, drinking a glass of red wine and teetering on heels that pushed her almost a head over everyone else in the room, there was his future.
And she was bright.
* * * * *
