I feel like this is an illicit meeting?” he asked when she turned to him.
“I just didn’t want anyone listening in. We’re now the number-one fodder for office gossip, and I, for one, don’t think I can take another guy giving me that look today.”
“What look?” But he knew the one she meant.
“That ‘I’m picturing you naked getting it on with one of my co-workers’ look.”
Alex tried not to smile. “I haven’t gotten any looks like that today.”
“Lucky you, but seriously, could you do me a favor and start dispelling the myths?”
“What myths?”
“Come on, now, don’t tell me you haven’t heard.”
“Heard what?”
“Rumors about this weekend are getting out of control. People are saying we did it in a hotel rest room, that we were taking our clothes off as we climbed into the limousine to leave—”
“But we didn’t even take a limo.”
“Exactly.”
Alex gave up his battle with the laughter building inside him. It erupted, and to his surprise, Yasmine laughed along with him.
He’d expected her to be thoroughly pissed off, offended, outraged even. But instead, she laughed deep in her belly as if he’d just told the funniest joke she’d ever heard—until her eyes were watering and her cheeks were a rosy pink. He loved that he couldn’t always anticipate her reactions, and he loved that in the face of possible workplace humiliation, she could laugh.
He wondered if it was her rebellious streak coming out again, enjoying the spectacle they’d created at the same time that her more cautious side yearned to avoid controversy.
“I’m sorry,” he said once she’d gotten control over herself. “I know this is annoying. Where the hell are the crazy rumors coming from?”
“You take all these guys and give them fodder for a fantasy, and what do you expect?”
“Why would they be fantasizing about us together?” he asked.
“It’s more like they’re fantasizing about what might be possible if they’re the lucky guy the next time a holiday office party rolls around.”
“Ah. I see. I’ll make sure I put the rumors to rest.”
“I’m not asking you to lie,” she said, then took a sip of her soft drink.
“It’s okay, really. The last thing I want is to make it hard for you to work here.”
“Thanks. I’ll do what I can to dispel any rumors I hear, too. I didn’t think I cared one way or the other about this stuff, but I can’t stand getting this much attention.”
“Let’s make sure we’ve got our stories matched up. Say we tell everyone I took you home, gave you a chaste kiss on the cheek, and that was the end of it. We’re just friends, and we don’t have any plans to date again.”
But as the words exited his mouth, some crazy part of him wanted to take them back. He didn’t want it all to be over. Didn’t want the hottest affair he’d ever had to have lasted only a weekend.
“That sounds okay, I guess.”
“You guess?”
She gave him a speculative look. “I know we agreed this would be a one-weekend thing, but…”
This was it. This was where he was supposed to tell her that they couldn’t see each other again, that continuing what they’d started would be a mistake.
But would she hear the insincerity in his voice? Would she see it in his eyes?
“Do you really think it’s a good idea to keep this up? I mean, with us working together, and the rumors already running rampant…”
She sighed and flopped down in the nearest metal folding chair. Alex kept his distance, still standing near the door where he was less tempted to slide his hand up Yasmine’s shirt and under her bra.
“You’re right,” she said. “I knew from the start it was a bad idea.”
“Some bad ideas just have to be tried anyway. And I don’t regret a second of it.”
“So…we just act like this weekend never happened?”
“You okay with that?”
Her gaze traveled from the green plastic bottle she held to him. “Absolutely. It’s really the best way to go.”
Right. It was clean and easy, and it would make living with his guilty conscience a little easier.
So why did his every male fiber protest the idea? Why did he feel like spreading her out on the break table, pushing her skirt up around her waist, and giving the employees of Virtual Active a hell of a lot more to gossip about?
Because his dick had no common sense, that’s why.
Instead, he closed the distance between them and leaned over Yasmine, tilting her chin up with one hand. He’d intended to