05

She pursed her lips at me. “What ?”

“You are so not worth it,” I said before turning away and starting to hum under my breath.

I could feel her seething—it was practically broiling inside the elevator—but I ignored it and secretly enjoyed her predicament.

A few seconds later, the elevator stopped and opened to her floor and she bolted out of there in a huff. Cool breeze blew into the boxed space, I swear.

A couple minutes later, I reached Luke’s floor.

The interior was airy, bright and minimalistic, featuring an entire glass wall that looked out to the ocean.

An older woman in a tweed suit and a friendly smile greeted me as I approached her desk.

“Ms. Moss, I assume,” she said as she stood up to shake my hand. “My name’s Peggy Bernardson, Luke’s secretary and personal assistant.”

I returned her smile. “Hello, Peggy. Nice to meet you. I’m here for my meeting with Mr. Hedenby at ten-forty-five.”

I was surprised at meeting Peggy, actually. For some reason—probably prejudice—I expected Luke Hedenby to have a bombshell of a secretary especially after the spectacle with the woman at the hotel this morning and the bits of gossip here and there after the general meeting. Although I never looked him up myself, I got the impression that he was a bit of a playboy, always spotted with some arm candy or the flavor of the month. I didn’t give a lot of credit to office gossip usually but it was hard to miss the pictures and articles people were looking up online and murmuring about, especially when they weren’t attempting the slightest level of discretion.

Meeting a sweet, almost motherly older woman—not that Peggy wasn’t lovely—as his secretary caught me off guard but I appreciated the fact.

“Yes, yes. I’ve been expecting you,” she said as she led me toward his office door. “Just walk right in. He should be finishing up his call.”

I hesitated. “I can just wait out here until he’s ready. Um, I don’t want to intrude on anything.”

She waved her hand dismissively as if I were being silly. “You’re not at all intruding. He said to tell you to make yourself comfortable. If he’s not done quite yet, have a snack or a cup of coffee. There’s a snack bar inside and I always stock it full with good stuff. Just let me know if you need anything.”

And before I knew it, I was through the door and standing awkwardly in front of Luke whose desk was on the other side of the room, the panoramic view of the harbor spread out behind him on the epic glass window.

Damn, the man looked good. He could give that view a run for its money.

He was leaning over the desk, talking on the speaker phone.

Looking up at my arrival, he grinned and gestured to a cushy leather arm chair in front of him.

I could make out some of the things they were discussing in the conference call and they sounded important so I just gave him a small smile and cocked my head toward the snack bar.

Although I didn’t really want to be too brazen and make myself at home in his office, I felt that the excuse to fix myself something to eat or drink was more polite than sitting there and listening to a conversation not meant for my ears. Hopefully, he wouldn’t take forever or I’d be running out of distractions.

I took my time fiddling with the top-of-the-line espresso maker which was like operating a mini-rocket. In short, not very user-friendly to the average, no-rocket-scientist kind of user.

Finally, I managed to fill a tiny cup and I sprinkled the frothy top of it with a sprinkling of dark chocolate shavings. It was hot and bitter and rich and for a moment, I forgot what an awful day I was having.

“And here I was wondering what I’d have to do to get you to smile at least once since I met you.”

My head shot up straight and I lowered the cup on the counter quickly.

Luke was standing less than a foot way, his head tilted to the side as he studied me in mild amusement.

His hair looked more disheveled than it did earlier—probably because he’d been pulling at it during the conference call—and his eyes were sparkling mischievously.

“You’ve known me not more than five hours,” I stated baldly.

He laughed. “So ? Women smile at me within the first five minutes of meeting me. They give me their number within the first ten.”

“And their virtue and dignity in the first half hour,” I supplied with a snort. It was too late by the time I realized I rolled my eyes at him too.

“Be still, one second,” he said and I stiffened when he reached up and flicked his thumb across the tip of my nose. He pulled his hand back and sucked his thumb. “Sorry, you had some froth on it.”

My hand instantly patted my nose dry. “And you waited to tell me ?”

He shrugged. “I was debating whether to wipe it off or not. It was cute.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Or was that a lame cliche move to test if I would actually hand over my virtue and dignity since it’s been almost five hours ?”

He grinned. “Did it work ?”

My brows arched. “Do you see me stripping for you ?”

I nearly bit my tongue off because of course, the supposedly-sarcastic remark only served as an unintentional invitation.

Luke’s eyes glittered with laughter as he gave me a deliberate look of appraisal that told me he was imagining exactly the scene I suggested. He exaggerated a sigh. “To my eternal regret, no, I’m not.”

He was being outrageous, yes, but to my own eternal regret, I couldn’t resist smiling at his audacity. “This explains a lot about this morning.”

Wiping a hand down his face, he groaned. “You’d never let me live that down, will you ?”

“It’s not everyday a naked man collides with me on the street with a scorned woman at his heels.”

Despite what appeared to be his genuine embarrassment, he smiled at me. “I’m not that bad, you know ? Despite this morning’s example, I’m not in the habit of bolting out of hotels as naked as the day I was born to run from a potentially murderous woman. It only happens when I have a severe lapse of judgement and decide on meeting up with an old flame who left her fiancé due to some twisted notion that I was warming up to the idea of marriage to her.”

I scoffed “You make it sound as if it’s all her fault. Maybe you should’ve left her alone when she was already engaged.”

He gave me an exasperated look. “I would’ve if she didn’t conveniently forget to mention that part. Anyway, the point is moot. It was a horrible idea and I paid for it dearly this morning.”

“Hmm. If anyone’s paid for it, it would be the morning commuters you scarred for life when they saw you streaking naked through traffic,” I said wryly. “Them and the poor, unsuspecting girl you robbed of her favorite coat.”

His gaze softened as he lowered his head in… remorse ? Weird.

“I am sorry,” he said as he snuck up a glance at me.

This guy, about a foot taller than me, was peeking up at me through his ridiculously long and dark lashes like a little boy anxiously hoping to be spared a scolding.

Whatever fight I had in me drained away.

Even though I strongly suspected that he probably wielded the puppy dog eyes to his advantage every chance he got, I just couldn’t keep up my defenses against it.

The man was potent.

“You know what ? It’s none of my business, really. I just happened to be there at the wrong place at the wrong time.”

He scrunched up his nose in an admittedly adorable way. “I don’t know about calling it all kinds of wrong circumstances. I, for one, have no regrets about running smack into you.”

I could’t help a half-scoff, half-laugh. “You just keep going, don’t you ? I would be flattered if this weren’t, for certain, just an automatic reaction from you toward anyone biologically equipped to be female.”