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Christian's face fell. He'd obviously expected quick forgiveness, and that was more like the Christian I knew. And I was tempted to forgive him, but the hurt and humiliation of last night was still fresh. Was he really just dancing with that other girl to make me jealous?
"I really do appreciate your apology," I said, letting my voice soften a little. "But I need some time to think about things. I'm not ready to just pick up where we left off.” Which was where, exactly? I asked myself. “Come in," I said, stepping aside to let him pass. “We can’t have this conversation here.” The old biddies were probably already at their windows getting an eyeful.
Christian looked relieved, and I gestured for him to enter. As he moved past me I could feel his heat, and I smelled a faint whiff of some delicious cologne. We sat down on the couch, and he took a deep breath before speaking again.
"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for what I did. I never meant to hurt you, Alex," he said, looking at me earnestly. He nodded, looking like he wanted to say more. But then he surprised me by taking my hand.
“Please, Alex," he said, looking at me earnestly. "I know I've messed up in the past, but I really want to make things right between us. Can we talk about this? Maybe spend the day together, just the two of us?"
I was surprised by his suggestion, but I couldn't deny that I was curious. Maybe it wasn’t the right time to hold a grudge. Christian apologizing to me was already strange enough.
“Why?”
“Cause I’d love to prove how sorry I am,” he said softly.
“And how are you going to do that?” I couldn’t believe this conversation was happening and much less that Christian of all people was apologizing to me about anything. He looked genuinely sorry about his behavior, but how could I know?
“However you want me to,” he answered.
“You’ll work on my little garden all afternoon?” I asked a serious expression on my face.
“If that’s what it takes,” he answered pushing up the sleeves of his navy blue t-shirt to expose lean, buff shoulders. It was comical and sexy and I burst out laughing.
He leaned forward, taking my hands, looking at me intently with those blue eyes, which looked clearer than I'd ever seen them.
“I really am sorry Alex. Yesterday wasn’t part of the plan. Can we start over with our arrangement? There's still time to win your bet.
“This is for the bet?” I asked looking away.
“No, not if we don’t want it to be," he said, and then he was much closer to me than he had been a few seconds before. I fought the urge to fan myself. "I’m finding out that I really do care about you, and from your reaction yesterday, you must care too,” he said.
“I’ll know if you mean that by the end of the day," I said. "The tools are in the closet in the kitchen,” I told him, propping up my slippers on the coffee table and crossing my arms behind my head, sinking back into the couch.
Christian looked confused for a moment.
“What tools?” he asked.
“The gardening tools, sugar. I’m sure you're going to have a great day,” I said laughing at his expression.
With a low growl, he pulled me over to him and started kissing me. My hands slipped involuntarily around his neck, and I leaned into the kiss. I had missed this as much as I had missed him. I nipped at his lips softly and pulled back.
“Get going, you have a long day ahead of you,” I said,
“Lead the way,” he said getting up off the couch and taking my hands. This was almost surreal. It felt impossible, like a scene out of Fast & Furious. Christian and I gently teased each other. I would never have believed this could happen. But it felt good, really, really good.
***
Christian’s POV
The door swished open and Ellen stuck her head into my office.
“Mr. Gregory is here to see you, sir,” she said apologetically. It was early, way too early for anyone to expect me to have to deal with this.
“Didn’t you cancel that meeting?” I asked. Gregory Santos was the CEO of Greg Communications, one of the largest printing businesses in town. His business handled part of the advertising for my company. He was good business-wise, but his attitude was abrasive. And I wasn’t in a good enough mood today to deal with him.
“Yes, I canceled it, but he showed up anyway,” she said.
It would be just like him to show up expecting to be attended to. I wouldn’t oblige him today.
