Chapter 15
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
“ Y ou doing all right there, boss man?” Bean whispered.
She tried to convince herself that the reason she kept her voice low was to protect their cover. Not that her brain was off-kilter because she was dancing with Gavin—her boss. That his arms being wrapped around her were short-circuiting her brain. That the hand she had resting on his solid chest made her want to see how strong the rest of him was.
No.
That was not the cause of her whisper. Not at all.
Right.
Not wanting to think about how comfortable and thrilling dancing with him felt, she focused on the job at hand. On their purpose for being at the event in the first place. She glanced up at him. Even though her three-and-a-half-inch heels brought her closer to Gavin’s six-two, she still had to crane her neck to look up at the man, and her lips tipped up at the dour expression on his face.
She had to tease him. How could she not?
“What? You’re telling me you’re not interested in discussing Constance’s start-up’s needs in more detail?” She grinned when he let out a low grumble.
He took a moment to glare at her before letting out a sigh. “Did you hear that woman? I know you couldn’t see it, but she was getting handsy under the damn table.”
He shuddered, and she couldn’t hold back a chuckle.
“It’s not funny,” he muttered.
“Oh, I beg to differ.” She patted his chest and did not think about how muscular he was. “You know, I’ve never seen you this frazzled before.”
“Frazzled?”
It was stupidly cute how his eyebrows pulled down into a sharp frown, as if she’d just insulted the very core of his being. She may be the only person in the world who’d describe a man with this much intensity as cute . But whatever. “Don’t worry. On the outside, you looked like your regular James Bond self. All cool and collected. But I know you, Frazier. I know when you’re freaking out and, yes, frazzled.”
“Gavin.”
She tilted her head. “What?”
“I like when you call me Gavin.” His eyes widened, as if he’d surprised himself by saying that. “I mean”—he cleared his throat—“since we’re acting like we’re together and all, I figured you should call me Gavin.”
“Of course.” She smirked at him. There it was, that awkwardness that was so endearing. “So you can’t say no to me, eh? Is that what I heard you say to Constance?” She playfully tapped her finger to her lips. “Maybe I should ask you for a couple new monitors? Or another pair of Ferragamos?”
He shook his head and turned her toward the edge of the dance floor. “Please. If you want new monitors, you just order them yourself. As for more shoes?—”
He quickly dipped her, and her leg unconsciously kicked out before he effortlessly righted her. She may have squeaked, and her stomach definitely did a somersault, but holy shit, who knew he was so freaking smooth?
No one had ever slow danced with her before, let alone dipped her. So she knew she was looking at him slack-jawed, but she couldn’t bring herself to care.
“Those red shoes are growing on me.” He winked. Winked! Who the hell was this guy? “It wouldn’t break the bank to see you sporting more like those at the office.”
Heat washed over her face, but she managed to find her wits. “You are something else, you know that? And how did I not know you could dance?”
“There’s still a lot we don’t know about each other.” He shrugged. “We have time though.”
As he turned them again, she wasn’t quite sure what he’d meant by that. For now, it was definitely something she was adding to her mental list of things to think about later. Glancing around the room, she caught Constance’s gaze and flinched. The woman did not look happy. At all. Shifting in Gavin’s arms, she dropped her voice. “Yikes, that woman has a mean death glare.”
He let out a low rumble that she felt more than heard. “Pretty sure you aren’t her favorite person, honey. Oh, well.”
Grinning, she tsked and met his gaze. “She must be jealous of that dip. After all, it showed off my amazing outfit perfectly and with dramatic style. After all, you did say I looked okay, right?”
He shook his head and pulled her closer. “I said you looked perfectly fine.”
Her heart tripped at the growl in his voice. Good Lord, this man was lethal. She peeked at Constance again and bit back a chuckle. Killer laser beams had nothing on the woman.
“Ah yes, that’s right. How could I have forgotten? ”
Because she could since they were playing a part, she moved her hand that was resting on Gavin’s torso to the back of his neck. She traced the bottom edge of his hairline with her fingernails, and he grumbled something she didn’t quite catch. “What was that?”
He pulled her tighter so there was no space between them. “You look fucking gorgeous, and you know it.” His gray eyes flared with heat, and butterflies took flight in her stomach.
After audibly swallowing, she aimed for a confident and flirty smile. Usually, that would be something she’d be abysmal at, but with Gavin it was... easy. Though it was no less nerve-racking. “Look at you. Your compliments have gotten so much better.”
“You’re a smart-ass, you know that, right?”
She shrugged one shoulder. “Who knew?”
He scoffed. “Everyone, honey. Every damn one.”
Grinning, she scanned the crowded dance floor to gather her wits. Because yeah, the verbal whatever-they-were-doing was taking every ounce of brainpower she had left.
Sarcasm and snark? Check. That came naturally. Flirty and teasing banter? Nope. Not in her regular repertoire.
Her gaze landed on a familiar couple at the opposite end of the room, and she tensed. Her parents, who she hadn’t seen in person for over a decade, were in deep conversation with another older couple. Just like that, all the humor and lightness of the past few minutes fled. In their place was a giant sour ball in her gut.
“Talk to me, B,” Gavin said, squeezing her hips. “What just happened?”
The last thing she wanted to do was talk about her parents with Gavin. Simply put, her entire familial situation was depressing.
Shaking her head, she met his gaze. The concern in his gray eyes warmed her heart and made that heavy ball in her gut a little less sour. “We’ll talk about it later. Now that you’ve nixed the potential client, can we get out of here?”
He studied her for a few moments, and she fought to not squirm under his gaze. She knew the man was shrewd and would see more than she wanted him to.
“Do you promise?” he asked.
“Promise what?”
“That you’ll talk to me about it later?”
That warmth in her heart grew. He really was one of the good ones. “I promise. And if I forget to say it later, thank you. You’ve been pretty great tonight. Curveballs and all.”
“Right back at you, honey.” His gaze never left hers as he ran a thumb along her jaw, and her heart thumped hard in her chest. Letting his hand drop from her face, he took hold of her hand that was around his neck and laced their fingers together. “Let’s say our goodbyes to Constance and get the hell out of here.” He squeezed her hand. “Ready to play nice one last time?”
It took a couple of heartbeats for her to regain her senses, and all she could do was nod.
Good God, when had this man become so potent?