12
EVEN THOUGH they’d called that truce, Griffin had still been surprised at how cooperatively Macy had worked with him ever since. It had almost been as if she were trying to make him look good in front of everyone else.
It was bizarre, given their history.
They’d sailed through two days without the slightest bit of tension, and by Wednesday, his foggy-headed stupor had gone and he’d been feeling sharper than ever for the Golden Gate presentation, which, with Macy’s and Carson’s help, they’d aced.
If he hadn’t been mistaken, he was pretty damn sure they’d blown away the senior partners, too.
All in all, a good week’s work. But now it was Friday afternoon, and still no announcement had been made regarding the promotion.
Griffin answered some e-mail, filed some papers, then glanced at his watch. It was almost five o’clock. His gut twisted at the notion that another day—or another weekend—would pass without knowing he’d gotten the promotion. At that thought, he looked across the room to where Macy stood talking to the receptionist.
How would his getting the job affect their relationship? He’d always imagined Macy as a fierce competitor in the workplace, but now that he knew her in her off hours, she didn’t seem so fierce. In fact, she was hardly the woman he’d built her up to be in his head. Gone was the image of a coy vixen using her charms against him, replaced by a soft, funny, vulnerable, intelligent woman whom he was falling for harder by the day.
No denying it. He didn’t want to play it casual with Macy. She wasn’t his idea of a weekend fling. She was the kind of woman he wanted to spend more time getting to know. Not that she was interested, but still. A guy could dream.
As if she could feel him watching her, she glanced in his direction and smiled when their gazes met. She was wearing a sexy pink suit today, with something silky and white peeking out from between the jacket lapels. Probably one of those lace camisoles she so often wore, the ones that made him want to strip her naked and lick her all over.
He smiled back, and it occurred to him only then that she was probably just as anxious as he was to hear the decision about the job. In fact, she’d been pacing the office all day, making trips to other people’s desks, to the copy machine, to the break room, as if she couldn’t sit still—
His phone rang. He picked it up and said hello.
“Hey, Grif, can you come down to my office right now?” It was Gordon Bronson’s voice, and he didn’t sound like he had bad news.
Exhilaration shot through Griffin’s body. This was it. The news they’d all been waiting for.
“I’ll be there in a sec,” he said.
He hung up the phone and caught Macy’s eye again as he stood. He wanted this good news to be something they could celebrate together, but it would only be good news for one of them. Not exactly the recipe for relationship bliss.
Macy looked back to the receptionist, who was talking about something exciting judging by the wild flailing of her hands, and Griffin headed for the senior admin offices. Through the window of Gordon’s office, he could see the partners talking, and he fought to keep his smile from showing too soon.
The admin assistant waved him straight into Gordon’s office.
“Please have a seat,” Louis Wade said.
No sooner had Griffin taken a seat on the plush visitors’ sofa than both men said, “Congratulations.”
He looked from one man to the other, and they put him out of his misery. “We’d like to offer you the creative director position,” Gordon said.
Before Griffin could respond, Louis cut in. “We’ve considered all the applicants carefully, and based on your seniority, level of experience and impressive performance, we all agree that you’re the man for the job.”
“Thank you,” Griffin said, trying not to beam too much. “I’m honored to take the position, and I’ll do my best to exceed your expectations.”
God, he sounded like such a brownnoser, but he couldn’t help it. He really was grateful for the chance to take the job. He’d been grooming himself for it since the day he’d started at the agency, and this promotion marked the culmination of his greatest career goal. It marked the chance for him to feel like he finally had the freedom to make decisions, to spearhead creative efforts, to go with his own vision instead of following someone else’s.
He’d been aching for that kind of challenge for years.
“You’ll assume the new position on Monday, if that works for you.”
“Absolutely.”
“And we’ll be interviewing for your replacement. Once he or she is hired, you’ll be responsible for overseeing their training. Do you have any questions?”
Griffin definitely had questions about the compensation package, but he figured that could wait. “Will an announcement about this be made to the office, or should I gather up the creative department and let them know myself?”
“We’ll make a formal announcement first thing Monday, but if you’d like to give your department a heads-up now, feel free.”
Griffin stood up, nodding. He shook each senior partner’s hand and thanked them for the opportunity.
And as soon as he was out the door, he wondered how the hell to tell Macy. He wanted to be the one to break the news to her. It only seemed fair, after everything they’d been through together.
But how would she react? And how would the news affect their relationship?
She was a fair, mature woman, so while he could imagine she’d be disappointed, he had to believe she’d also be happy for him. And maybe she’d want to help him celebrate the accomplishment once she’d had time to let the news sink in.
When he left the admin office area, he spotted Macy heading toward her desk, and he quickened his pace to catch up with her. A low whistle caught her attention. She turned and spotted him, then stopped and smiled tentatively.
She knew something was up.
“Hey, do you have a few minutes?” he asked.
“Sure, what’s up?”
He nodded toward an empty conference room, and she followed him into it. Once they were alone with the door closed, he motioned toward a chair, then took one himself.
“What’s up is, I just talked to Bronson and Wade—”
“You got the promotion,” she said, smiling. “Congratulations.”
Griffin studied her expression, trying to read any tension that might have been behind it. “You’re not upset?”
Her smile was wide and genuine. “You earned it. I had a feeling you’d be the one chosen, so it’s not exactly a surprise.”
“You had just as much chance of getting the job as I did. In the end, I think it came down to seniority. The partners have always been big on company loyalty, and with everything else being equal, I’m guessing they chose me simply because I’ve been here a few years longer than you have.”
Macy’s smiled waned a bit. “Don’t sell yourself short, okay? And you don’t have to couch the news in compliments.”
“I wasn’t trying to.”
“I’m a big girl. I can take it.”
Griffin could see a bit of brittleness behind her smile now. Maybe she just needed time to process the news, come to terms with it, and then they’d be cool.
“Are we okay? I mean, us, outside of work?”
A crease formed between her eyebrows. “Griffin, you’re my boss now. I just don’t think it would be smart for us to continue, you know?”
This is what he’d been most afraid of. This whole you’re-my-boss problem.
He winced. “Look, I’m not officially your boss until Monday. Can we at least go out for dinner tonight and talk about this a little more?”
She shook her head and tried to stand, but he caught her wrist gently in his hand and flashed his most hangdog expression.
“Please? I’d really like to have at least this one last night with you, if nothing else just to smooth out our relationship so we can get a fresh start next week.”
But that was a lie, he knew. He wanted the time with her just to have her.
“What exactly needs smoothing out?”
“You know, stuff. Just give me one more night with you, okay?”
One more night and one more day and one more night after that and…
“Let me think about it. I’ve got a kickboxing class right after work, and I’ll call your cell if I decide we can meet up later.”
He nodded. “I’ll be here for a while, so if you don’t reach my cell, try my work number.”
“And if you don’t hear from me by seven, you’d better just eat on your own.”
Ouch. He suddenly feared he’d be eating lots of meals alone, if he couldn’t find a way to keep Macy in his life outside of work.
“If I don’t hear from you by seven, I’m calling you,” he said, grinning. But he meant it. He wasn’t going to let her weasel out of the tough conversation.
She glanced at her watch. “I’ve got to go.”
They said goodbye, and Griffin watched as she walked out the door, hoping like hell this wasn’t the death blow to his chances with Macy.
THANK GOD for kickboxing. Macy delivered a side kick to the punching bag, then another and another. She’d been warming up for fifteen minutes, and slowly but surely the tension was draining from her body.
She’d dropped out of the running for the creative director job, so there was no reason she should have been upset over the news that Griffin had gotten the job.
Except she was upset. Maybe because she’d shot herself in the foot with that stunt in Las Vegas. Maybe because she’d compromised herself and her chances of getting the promotion.
Or maybe just because she didn’t want Griffin to be her boss, since she still wanted him.
Stupid adolescent fantasies.
Lauren, to whom Macy hadn’t talked all week and wasn’t really keen on talking to now, was watching her kick the hell out of her punching bag from a few feet away. They might have had an argument, but there wasn’t really any getting around the fact that they attended the same kickboxing class.
Lauren had stopped her own kicks and moved over to hold Macy’s bag. “You look like you want to kill someone,” she said.
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Ohhh. It’s the promotion, isn’t it? Let me guess—Griffin got it?”
“I said…” She paused as she delivered a kick that jarred her all the way to her teeth. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“You gave it your best shot. Maybe it’s time to ask for a raise, even let them know you’ll be looking at other companies if they can’t give you some incentive to stick around.” Lauren started working through the warm-up again, but only half-heartedly.
“I’m not going to strategize my next career move with you, of all people.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means, your last piece of advice was dubious at best.”
“So you’re pissed about your plan to dumb him down with sex failing?”
“No, I’ve just learned not to listen to you.”
Lauren rolled her eyes and started to say something else, but then she stopped and shook her head. All of a sudden she was paying attention to the instructor and acting like she was into the whole kickboxing thing, which generally was not the case. She usually showed up mainly to watch the guys, not to work out.
Whatever, Macy thought. Let her be pissed off. Because Macy was still good and pissed off at her.
And it was easier to be mad at Lauren right now than to examine her own motives and what the hell it was that she really wanted out of life.
Forty-five minutes later, Macy was drenched in sweat, and every major muscle group ached as if she’d just endured a heavyweight fight.
She went to the women’s locker room without talking to Lauren, then showered while trying to decide whether or not she should have dinner with Griffin. On the one hand, this was her last chance to be with him before he was officially her boss.
On the other hand, if being with him meant feeling even crappier than she did now, she wasn’t sure she could handle it.
By the time she was toweling off, she decided she had to give him tonight, maybe even come clean about what she’d done if she was feeling brave, and then they were through. Whatever attraction there was between them—they’d just have to get over it. Which probably wouldn’t be hard for Griffin if she could summon the nerve to confess to him.
She dressed, then found her cell phone in her locker and called Griffin.
“Hey, you ready for dinner?” he answered without bothering with greetings.
“Where do you want to meet?”
“Do you know that Indian place with the red walls on Market?”
“Sure. What time?”
“Seven-thirty?”
Macy looked at the clock on the wall overhead. That gave her fifteen minutes to dry her hair and put on makeup. Doable.
“I’ll see you there,” she said as an impending sense of doom settled in her belly.
She disconnected the call and put the phone in her purse. She had to tell him the truth.
Or did she? Could she live with herself knowing she’d tried to play such a dirty trick on her competition? Would he even believe her if she told him what she’d done?
No, without Lauren’s study being public knowledge yet, there was just no freaking way he’d be able to accept that she’d robbed him of some of his IQ points.
More important than the fact that he wouldn’t believe her, though, was the fact that she could not bear to face his disillusionment with her. She might have started out having truly crappy motives, but ultimately she’d realized that she wanted to sleep with Griffin because she was attracted to him…but would he buy that? No way. He’d only focus on the bad part, and he’d never respect her again.
She needed his respect not only because of her own ego, but also because he was going to be her boss.
It was definitely best if she just kept quiet about that whole dumb-him-down-with-sex part.
Macy dried her hair quickly, going with messy waves as her style simply because it was the only thing her hair could do without a curling iron and an extra half hour. She applied a little concealer, mascara, blush and lipstick, and then she grabbed her gym bag and headed for the door.
Twenty minutes later, she’d accomplished the nearly impossible, landing a prime parking spot right in front of the restaurant. She’d worked herself into a bundle of tensed-up muscles, undoing any good that the workout might have done for her stress level. When she passed the restaurant’s front window, she saw that Griffin already had a table for them.
When she entered, he smiled and waved.
“I hope you don’t mind, I ordered a chai for you,” he said when she sat.
“No, that’s perfect. It’s getting cold outside. I could use something to take the chill off.”
Stupid small talk was the last thing she wanted to engage in right now. If he pursued the weather topic any longer, she’d know he shared her sense of doom.
“I’m glad you came,” Griffin said.
Okay, so maybe she was the only doomsayer.
“I’m buying tonight, by the way,” she said. “It’s my way of saying congratulations on your promotion.”
“Thank you,” he said, smiling again. “I was really worried that this might come between us—that’s actually what I want to talk to you about tonight.”
Macy took a sip of the chai, which had just barely cooled enough to drink, and she was treated to the spicy-sweet flavor of India.
“Maybe we should eat first,” she said.
“Except I’ve already brought it up, and if we wait, it’s going to hang in the air between us and we’ll expend all our energy trying to ignore it.”
“I just don’t want us to argue or get upset, that’s all. Not before I’ve eaten,” she added as a joke, but it fell flat. Maybe this wasn’t exactly the time to do her stand- up routine.
“That must mean you’re preparing to drop the relationship ax.”
Macy winced at his directness. “No, but whatever happened to ‘this is just a weekend thing,’ and ‘what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas’?”
“I guess we proved that saying wrong.”
“I think it’s meant more as a guiding principle, and we’re forgetting to follow it.” She turned her attention back to her chai, which was much easier to deal with than this conversation.
A waiter conveniently arrived at that moment, and Macy didn’t need to look at the menu to know she wanted chicken curry. Once they’d placed their orders and the waiter had left, Griffin pinned her with one of his too-direct stares.
“I don’t really care how this relationship started out. All I know now is that I like spending time with you outside of the office, and I want us to figure out if there’s a way we can make that happen without it negatively affecting our work life.”
He reached for her hand, and she was powerless to pull it away. She stared at his large, capable hand covering hers, and she cursed herself for being such an idiot. Even if he wasn’t her boss as of Monday, he would still be the guy she’d been unforgivably dishonest with.
“You know that’s not possible.”
“Why isn’t it?”
“What happens if the relationship ends, then we’re stuck working together. It’s inevitably going to be awkward if there are feelings involved. And if the relationship doesn’t end, you’re still my boss, and there’s always going to be that perception of impropriety by everyone else in the office. I think it’s a road we need to exit right now, before we get too lost.”
Griffin didn’t attempt to hide his disappointment. “That’s not what I was hoping you’d say.” He smiled then, but it was filled with melancholy.
And that’s when Macy knew she was doing the right thing not to string him along any further. When a relationship was based on lies, the best thing was to end it before it got any more complicated.
“I’m sorry. I want us to continue working together, and I don’t regret our having gotten to know each other better outside of work. At least we can work together now without being at each other’s throats all the time.”
“True. I guess when you look at it like that, this was a good thing while it lasted, right?”
“Absolutely.”
“I really do think you deserved the promotion at least as much as I did, maybe more,” Griffin said.
“Ditto. But really, the senior partners know what they’re doing.”
“They sure as hell think they do.”
“I bet you’ll find them a lot easier to deal with, now that you’re management.”
“We’ll see. Have you ever thought of going elsewhere—someplace you’d have a chance of moving up faster?”
Macy shrugged. She wasn’t sure it would be smart to discuss career strategies with her new boss.
“I’m asking you this as a friend, not as a colleague. I think your talents will go to waste if you’re not being challenged and recognized.”
“I’m sure you’ll see to it that I’m challenged and recognized for my accomplishments.”
Griffin shook himself. “That just sounds crazy. I guess I was so busy working toward the promotion, I kind of overlooked the fact that it also means becoming the entire creative department’s boss.”
“Yep, you’re the man now,” Macy said, smiling.
“Does that mean no one’s going to want to be friends with me now?”
“I think it means you have to play golf on Saturday mornings with all your important business associates, and yeah, you probably can’t be everyone’s best pal.”
His brow furrowed. “That kind of sucks.”
“Not really. We’ll all pretend we really like you. It’s only when you’re not around that we’ll complain about what a slave driver you are.”
He made a face at her, and she laughed.
“I’ve always wanted to have more autonomy, more creative control, but I guess I’ve never really thought of myself as a company man, you know?”
“So you want the responsibility, but you don’t want to be the Man?”
“Maybe, something like that. I don’t know. I’m just freaking out is all.”
“You’re going to be great. You know you will.”
“Carson’s one of my best friends. How’s he going to feel about working for me?”
“I’m sure he’ll constantly be using it as an angle to get one over on you.”
“That pretty much sounds right.”
“I’ll try to be more subtle, however,” Macy said, but it was so untrue, she hoped he wouldn’t believe it even for a second. “You know I’m joking, right?” she added.
“You may say you are, but…”
“Oh, so you don’t trust me?”
He grinned. “Should I?”
“Probably not,” Macy said, wishing she wasn’t serious.
His gaze turned warmer somehow, and she recognized the change as Griffin going into seduction mode. Crap. She wasn’t exactly mentally equipped to resist the way she used to be.
“You know… No one has to know if we aren’t exactly proper coworkers after hours. I’d never tell. Don’t you think we’re mature enough to keep the emotions in check?”
Macy tried to do just that. She tried not to let any emotions cloud her judgment. She tried to consider his words evenly, let them seep into her consciousness without reacting. But one little voice in her head said go for it, while another said no way.
“I don’t know,” she said. “Aren’t those just rationalizations?”
“I think they’re the truth. I mean, we can deal with it, Macy. I’m sure we can. I can be a fair supervisor. I can separate our private lives from the office.”
“I know you think you can, but—”
“But sometimes we can’t anticipate how it will really play out, I know.”
“And how can you not think the responsible thing to do is to end this now? Which head are you thinking with, Griffin?”
“Maybe with you, I always have a little of the wrong-headed thinking going on, but one thing I know for sure is, the chemistry between us is worth exploring. I wouldn’t set something this powerful aside just out of respect for other people’s rules.”
Macy felt a jolt from his words. Something this powerful… He at least had that part right, for sure. She’d never felt such an intense attraction before.
Maybe once she’d decided to break the rules in the first place by seducing Griffin, she’d set out on the path where they’d have to make up the rules as they went along.
And if they got to make up the rules…they might never be able to keep their hands off each other again.
OUTSIDE, the cool night breeze whipped at Macy’s hair and made her glad she’d worn a jacket. Griffin held her hand as they walked along the sidewalk past mostly closed businesses, and that simple intimate contact left her feeling warmer all over.
Macy wasn’t exactly accustomed to making up rules as she went along. The whole Las Vegas thing had been a big departure for her in the rule-breaking department.
And one self-made rule was for sure. Tonight, Macy was incapable of faking it.
She watched sadness play across Griffin’s face in the half darkness as he probably tried to accept that they might have no future together, and she knew she had to give him this weekend. No matter how stupid it might be, she had to give him all of herself if that’s what he wanted.
She owed it to him.
But who was she kidding? She wanted him at least as badly as he wanted her, if for no other reason than she finally wanted to have real, no-holds-barred, nomore- faking-it sex with him, after the torture of last weekend.
Well, except torture wasn’t the right word. She’d been amazed at how much she’d enjoyed making their lovemaking all about Griffin’s pleasure, in spite of his best efforts. Keeping the focus off herself had taught her some interesting things about physical pleasure. Most importantly, that there was as much to be found in giving someone pleasure as there was in receiving it.
Sure, she’d understood that on an intellectual level before, but this little experiment had given her a concrete illustration of its truth.
After dinner, they’d decided to drop in on a little blues club down the street that Macy had heard was featuring a band she liked. As they walked hand in hand the three blocks from the Indian restaurant to the jazz club, taking in the brisk night air, Macy’s brain bounced from one idea to the next, as unable to focus as she had been lately.
She wanted to do the right thing with Griffin, but wasn’t sure what that was. She was pretty sure sleeping with him again wasn’t the right thing, but she wanted to do that as much as she wanted to be virtuous. Her brain bounced around some more as she tried to imagine what it would be like to have Griffin as her boss.
She couldn’t think straight, and she wasn’t even the one who’d gotten to come. Damn Lauren and her stupid study.
A side effect Lauren apparently wasn’t aware of was the very unpleasant inability to focus that came with sexual frustration. Maybe she should have called her research, You’re Damned if You Do and Damned if You Don’t.
It was just like a scientist to pursue some esoteric study while ignoring the obvious facts. Lauren was intelligent and all, but the woman had a serious case of brainiac syndrome—too smart for her own good. And in this case, too smart for everyone else’s good as well.
Macy could have lived her life just fine without knowing the truth about sex and its impact on her intelligence.
There was a short line at the entrance of the club. They stopped and waited, and after a moment Macy realized Griffin was staring at her.
“You look like you’re busy trying to think up a solution to world hunger,” he said.
She smiled, embarrassed at the truth. “Nothing nearly so important.”
“What’s up?” he asked.
“It’s nothing, really.”
“It must be something, because I was just talking to you and you didn’t hear me.”
“Oh.” Crap. “Sorry.”
“Tuning me out again?”
“Not at all. I’m just…a little upset over a falling-out I had with Lauren, I guess.”
“It’s okay.”
She smiled up at him, and her breath caught in her throat at how handsome he was. Sometimes she took it for granted, because she saw him around the office so much. But tonight, in the light from the streetlamps, with his dark hair swept back, his olive skin aglow and his haunting gray eyes fixed on her, he looked exactly like one of the brooding romance-novel heroes she’d always imagined she’d find someday.
If only for tonight, she could pretend….
“Since when did you need someone to listen when you’re talking, anyway,” she teased.
“Do I really come across that full of myself?”
“No, you just don’t seem to need anyone’s input to be sure of your ideas.”
“I didn’t realize I had to ask to receive. I’ve always figured people would speak up if they had a problem with what I was saying or if they wanted to challenge me.”
Macy was feeling like a bigger and bigger jerk by the second. “You always sound so sure of yourself, I’ve just assumed you had your mind made up, and when other people do challenge your ideas, you often argue with them.”
He shrugged. “I don’t consider it arguing—more like debating. I figure if anyone’s ideas are really good, they’ll stand up to being questioned.”
“Some of us don’t operate that way. I mean, I don’t really like to argue or debate or whatever you want to call it.”
“Yeah, I guess I forget that. Sorry.”
“No, I’m the only one who should be apologizing. I promise to listen all the time—no more spacing out.”
Macy felt her cheeks burning as they paid their cover charge and entered the dark, noisy club to find a table. She realized the real reason she’d always tuned Griffin out was that she was afraid of liking him. Not listening to him meant not discovering any more about him and not viewing him as a person she could spend some serious time getting to know.
The club was mostly full already, so they found a table for two at the back of the room. On stage, the warm-up act was already playing, and it was nearly impossible to talk over the sound of the music.
Griffin leaned toward her and said into her ear, “No apologies. I can think of plenty of ways for you to make it up to me later tonight. Deal?”
She slid her hand up his thigh, loving the solid feel of him. When her fingertips reached the junction of his thigh and hip, she stopped. “Deal.”
He scooted his chair next to hers and draped his arm over the back of her chair, then leaned in and kissed her cheek gently. The gesture was so intimate, so sweet, she got a lump in her throat.
It was crazy how a weekend could change things. Crazy how, a few weeks ago, she would have laughed out loud if anyone had suggested she’d soon be sitting in a blues club acting lovey-dovey with Griffin. Well, and not even acting, but actually enjoying his company. Maybe even loving it.
Crazy.
The warm-up act finished their final number, and a waitress, a woman named Leta who had waited on Macy before, arrived to take their drink orders. She was tall and dark brown, and she wore her hair in cornrows that hung almost to her waist.
“Hi, Leta,” Macy said. “I’ll have a bottle of Perrier.”
Griffin shot her a suspicious look. “What, you’re going to get me drunk and have your way with me while you’re perfectly sober?”
“Something like that.”
When she was gone, he nudged Macy with his elbow. “So much for my plan to get you drunk and have my way with you.”
“I thought you said that was my plan.”
“I was just trying to distract you from the truth.”
“You don’t need to get me drunk,” she said.
His gaze was half-lidded, and he was looking at her the same way he did after they made love. As if he knew all her secrets. That gaze unnerved her most of the time, but this time it warmed her, left her feeling breathless and light-headed.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” she asked.
“Because you’re full of surprises. I always thought I had you pegged.”
“Do I even want to know how you had me pegged?”
“Probably not,” he said, looking a little chagrined.
She kept staring at him until he elaborated.
“Okay, okay. I had you labeled a vixen, completely aware of your effect on men and willing to use it to get whatever you wanted.”
“Ouch. Did I really come across like that, or are you just that bad at judging people’s character?”
“Maybe a little of both.”
She smiled. “So you thought this about me and were totally willing to sleep with me, anyway? What’s up with that?”
“Um, I’m a guy?”
She shrugged. “I guess it’s fair, if you thought I was using sex to get ahead, that you just take advantage of what I was offering.”
As soon as the words left her mouth, she regretted them. She then realized just how true they were, only not exactly in the way Griffin had thought.
Using sex to get what she wanted.
“I wasn’t giving you credit,” he said, “for being the kind of woman who really doesn’t understand the effect she has on men.”
“What effect is that?” Macy asked, trying her best to sound genuinely curious.
The truth was somewhere in between. Sure, she knew sex could be a weapon, but she’d never quite shed that shy, chubby teenager at her core. Any confidence in herself she showed the world was really just overcompensation.
“It’s damn hard to concentrate on work when you’re around.”
“It is?”
“You know, men are pretty much ruled by their desires. We try our best to keep them in check, but when we’re presented with our favorite dish, we can’t help but salivate.”
“Your work performance doesn’t seem to have suffered for my presence.”
“Well, it’s been a Herculean effort, trust me,” he said, grinning. “There have been plenty of times when I’ve lost my train of thought after getting a glimpse of you, especially when you’re wearing a skirt or a low- cut top. I guess I do a decent job of recovering.”
“Definitely. I never would have guessed you could be done in by a glimpse of my knees.”
Macy wasn’t sure she believed his story, but it was flattering nonetheless. She supposed she’d always wanted to be one of those women men lost their minds over, and maybe it was possible she’d become that kind of woman without even realizing it.
That would be her luck.
“I could be done in by all sorts of glimpses of you. So just be careful, okay? No flashing me during important meetings.”
Macy laughed as the Harry Yusef Band took the stage. They immediately kicked into a soulful tune about being cleansed by the rain, and conversation was impossible.
Which was a good thing. Macy wasn’t sure she needed any more revelations about herself or Griffin or the ever-more-perplexing nature of their attraction to each other.