“It’s enough of an injustice that you’re off the market. Not realizing the absolute and utter depth of your hotness is criminal.”
He rolled his eyes. “Then lock me up and throw away the key.”
“Can’t,” she said cheerfully. “I think you did that a long time ago.”
She started to turn away, back to the computer, but paused when he spoke. “You’re right,” he said.
“Ethan, I was just kidding.”
Maybe she was, but she was right. But at least now he was trying. Or at least pretending he was, but in the process, he’d definitely crossed a few new bridges. Bridges that not only had him sitting next to her, but liking it.
Dangerous territory.
“I should go,” he said. “Early appointment tomorrow.”
She nodded, the questions in her eyes suggesting she didn’t quite buy his reason, but she didn’t argue. Nor did she try to stop him…at least not until he had his hand on her door knob.
Her fingertips landed on his arm, and he hesitated while a plethora of muddled, unrestrained emotions ran amok. Had to be the pure insanity of standing there next to a woman who was almost certainly in her pajamas. One who thought he was hot and who had the fullest, softest lips he’d ever seen. And while his mind wanted to throw in the familiar refrain of except Amy’s, he quashed it. Because he really never had seen lips like Rue’s.
“You ever wonder what it would be like to be close to someone again?” she asked, damn near reading his mind, startling him. Her voice was a little soft. A little breathless.
He felt that way, too.
“I haven’t,” he replied. With that admission, he felt the spell between them snap. He mourned it. He wanted it.
But he couldn’t have it.
He just wasn’t ready. And not for a woman who was leaving in less than three weeks.
Especially not with her.
He swallowed. “I should go.”
“You mentioned that.” She smiled sadly. “Thanks again for your help.”
“My pleasure.”
His words sounded more like an automatic response than a sincere declaration, but he meant them. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been so relaxed and happy and…carefree. It was a feeling he wanted to hold onto, and it came at the hands of a woman he couldn’t.
Hell if he knew what to think about that.
Chapter Seven
The next evening, after a long day of adjusting lights and fetching coffee for her boss, Rue wasn’t in the mood to go home. There was too much Ethan there. She would be crazy not to be attracted to the man, but she hadn’t any intention of hooking up with him. He wasn’t a hookup kind of guy. He was love and lifetimes, and she wasn’t interested in either one. And even if she had been, it wouldn’t matter because he was in love with his wife. They both knew where they stood, so why in sweet heaven was she still thinking about him?
Just stop.
Easy enough. She was a grown woman who could handle an unrequited attraction to a sinfully hot man. She looked at her hand and remembered the gentle way he’d threaded her fingers, firming his grip when she looked at him with questions. So many freaking questions, but none of them needed answers. Because even if he wanted more, she wasn’t the one to give to him.
She was leaving.
Case closed.
Only it wasn’t.
Rue pulled up the schedule on her phone. The gala was a week away—around the same time she should hear whether she’d gotten the internship. If she didn’t win, she’d book her own flight. She was getting restless in New York. There was too much Ethan here, too.
An upcoming appointment caught her eye. Planning meeting. Absolutely fantastic. For a shot at talking to Mimi Von Adler about her calendar idea, she’d have to sit there with her mom, Boyd, and probably Ethan’s mom, as he’d said she was on the committee. Total firing squad situation, and she understood all too well what it felt like trying to breathe under the weight of someone else’s expectations. Her mother had made sure of that.
She was playing with her phone, wondering if there was a way to get out of the meeting without giving up her calendar idea, when a call came in. Abbie.
Rue greeted her with, “Tell me you have great news on the adoption front.”