Chapter 8
VAL
I was a little light-headed as I sat behind my desk.
The first thing I did when I opened my laptop was to look up Carter online.
I felt giddy, as if I was doing something I wasn’t supposed to.
His law firm was three-years-young, but that was still impressive, considering he was thirty-five.
The lawyers I knew who’d set up their own practices had done so later in their career.
I googled him a bit, and it was apparent he was a very successful litigation lawyer.
I was dying to know more about him, but I reluctantly went back to the to-do list I’d written yesterday evening, cross-checking it with some of the more urgent emails in my inbox.
I usually didn’t have trouble concentrating in the morning, but I caught my thoughts wandering more than once and had to make a conscious effort to whip them back into line.
When the screen of my phone lit up with an incoming message, I reached for it, even though I avoided answering messages during the day. Too distracting.
Carter: Are you free for lunch?
I’d given him my phone number during our first lunch, right before we parted ways.
Val: Nope. We have some deadlines coming up, and I’m eating in my office.
Carter: Any restaurant recommendations?
I smiled as I typed the names of a few restaurants.
I tried to push him out of my thoughts for the rest of the day, but it proved to be a challenge. That sinful smile and those hypnotizing eyes kept popping up in my mind.
In the afternoon, he texted again.
Carter: Want to grab a coffee?
Val: Do you ever work?
Carter: ;-) in between breaks.
Carter: Can I tempt you with a coffee?
My heart rate picked up. I tried to ignore it.
Val: No can do. Plus, you can’t keep hijacking my working time. I have a no-messaging policy, and usually only check my phone during short breaks (which I spend here).
Carter: When exactly do you take your breaks?
Val: At 11a.m. and 4p.m.
It was now 3:09 p.m. I hadn’t thought Carter would stop texting, but I hadn’t expected his reply either.
Carter: Perfect. I look forward to hijacking your time during your breaks.
I laughed. And now I had even more trouble focusing, counting down the minutes to four o’clock, wondering if he’d start his hijacking campaign today or tomorrow.
Shaking my head, I concentrated on the email I was composing.
I wanted to run three focus groups for the upcoming Goddess campaign for one of our fragrance lines.
We’d already had one, but I hadn’t overseen it.
It turned out to be the wrong thing to delegate.
The moderator hadn’t explored all facets, hadn’t asked all the right questions.
I could do better, and I wanted to. It wasn’t easy to run focus groups for fragrances.
They were luxuries—an aspiration, but since they didn’t serve a specific purpose the way antiaging creams did, it was hard to build a unique selling proposition.
It was why the majority of the industry was banking on sexy and sensual ads to sell them.
But fragrances meant something more to me than making me feel sexy.
They were memories in a bottle, and dreams too, and somehow I could only convey that to focus groups if I was there in person.
After firing off the instructions to my marketing director, I discovered an email from Hailey. My sister respected my no-messaging policy… but only because she’d found the email loophole.
I smirked. Hailey was much like Carter in this regard.
Subject: URGENT
Discovered that the brother of a coworker is a CATCH. Maybe even has potential to be “the one.” Want me to introduce you to him?
I sighed, shaking my head. This was urgent? I could punish Hailey with silence, but knowing my sister, she’d get overexcited and set things in motion without waiting for my reply.
Val: Nope. Hold your horses.
The one. She was spitting one of my favorite phrases back at me.
Sometimes I felt foolish for using the expression.
Over the years, I’d dated a lot and had had a few relationships.
Some had been longer, some just for fun—especially right after Jace and Hailey moved away from home.
But I had a tendency to romanticize relationships.
I couldn’t deny it. It was one of my faults.
I shook my head as I reread her email. I was determined to stick to my newfound resolution of taking it easy.
I turned off the computer screen, jotting notes on paper instead.
Carefree, childhood-favorite memories.
Same for vacation. Ask for exact details (especially of places) and infer associated fragrance notes.
Asking for direct smells rarely worked because people couldn’t identify individual notes. To anyone looking from outside, my notes wouldn’t make much sense, but this process worked for me. I started with keywords and half phrases and eventually developed questions.
I had almost forgotten about Carter, but at four o’clock on the dot, my phone buzzed. I startled in my seat. Each and every thought about the focus group flew away.
Carter: Tell me something about you.
I blinked at the screen. Even though I didn’t understand the purpose of the question, I drummed my fingers on the back of the phone in excitement before texting back.
Val: Like what?
Carter: Whatever you want. Something that’s not obvious.
Val: I like to sing when I’m alone.
Only after I’d sent it did I wonder if it was a strange thing to admit.
Carter: Do you also sing in the shower?
Right. I wasn’t going to answer that.
Val: Your turn.
Carter: What gave you that idea?
Val: A question for a question?
Carter: Nah, I ask all the questions.
I toed off my shoes and tucked my legs under me in the enormous leather chair.
Val: But what’s in it for me?
Carter: Your breaks will be much more enjoyable.
I laughed, taking a few seconds to collect my thoughts.
Val: Don’t assume they weren’t enjoyable before. You know what they say about those who assume. An answer for an answer. My first and last offer.
His reply didn’t come right away, but when it did, heat oozed right between my thighs.
Carter: If it pleases you.
The little dots indicating that he was composing a message appeared, and I waited with bated breath for the next words.
Carter: In that case, we’ll need more than ten minutes per break.
I leaned my head back, smiling at the ceiling. Was he negotiating? Well, he was in for a surprise, because this was one of my strongest areas.
Val: No can do. Ten minutes is all I can give you.
He didn’t write anything back, and I glanced at the clock on the display. 4:11 p.m. Damn. He was going to leave me hanging? Two minutes later, after I still had no reply, I shook my head and went back to my to-do list, even though I sneaked a glance at my phone now and again.
Over the next two weeks, Carter messaged me at 11:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. on the dot.
I’d gotten my way, pushing my own questions when he tried to cheat (which he did every time).
I even asked his professional opinion on my beef with Beauty SkinEssence.
His response had left me scratching my head.
As a lawyer, he advised me to avoid a lawsuit.
On a personal note, he said he’d fight for what he thought was right too.
Even so, I looked forward to his messages more than I wanted to admit.
I told myself that this was just a fun way to pass the breaks.
We were two adults caught up in whirlwind careers and needed to let steam off.
Some people gambled or did worse to that end.
By comparison, exchanging fun, flirty messages seemed innocent.
But when I ran into him at the coffee shop one morning, I couldn’t ignore the current of awareness passing through me when Carter greeted me in that deep voice of his. It wasn’t innocent at all.
“Morning.”
“Hey!”
“I was hoping I’d find you here.”
“Is that so? Why?”
We stood in line next to each other, and I couldn’t help leaning in just a bit closer.
He smelled amazing. He was an amazing package all around, truth be told.
Carter was a classically handsome man, with striking eyes and lips and a body that belonged on the cover of a magazine.
Next thing I knew, our cheeks were almost touching. He’d leaned in too.
“What time do you start work? And when do you finish?” he asked.
“Eight to six.” I had no idea why he’d asked that, but then the corners of his lips tilted up in a knowing smile.
“Why?”
“Told you I need more than ten minutes. Since you’re not relenting about your break times, I found an alternative.”
Being only inches away from him was making a mockery of my negotiation skills. The man was too compelling.
“You’re assuming again.”
“Am I?” He’d leaned in even closer, and I barely bit down the urge to touch that freshly shaved jaw. I nodded, but I was grateful that my turn came next. I ordered quickly, asking the cashier to pack everything to go.
“It’s still seven thirty, Val,” Carter whispered in my ear. “You have time to eat breakfast with me.”
“I have to look over some notes for a meeting.”
He didn’t push at all, which was surprising.
What I’d told him was true, but it wasn’t the only reason I wasn’t staying. Maybe I should stop the flirty messages. He had just moved his office across the road from mine. If this flirting went south, things could become awkward.
In truth, I was having too much fun to stop.
So when Carter texted me at eleven on the dot, I texted right back.