passed, she leaned back in her chair, folded her hands over her stomach, and said, “You have all the nerve in the world, do you know that?” She huffed out a breath and shook her head, but then shocked the hell out of him when she said, “I guess we can try.”
Daniel was afraid to trust what he thought he’d just heard.
“Is that everything?” she asked.
“Umm…yeah.” He nodded, the tension in his body slowly ebbing as the strain in the room began to recede. “Thank you.”
Her smile was pleasant enough, but it didn’t reach her eyes. She shut down her desktop and retrieved her purse from the bottom desk drawer.
“Are you calling it a night?” Daniel asked.
“Yes.” She stood, pulling the purse strap over her shoulder. “I have a standing date on Friday evenings.”
The lump of unpleasantness that lodged in his throat nearly cut off his air supply, but he swallowed it down like nasty medicine. If there was one thing he didn’t have the right to feel, it was jealousy.
“Have a good time,” Daniel said. At least he didn’t choke on the words.
“Thank you.” She looked at her reflection in the now blank monitor and smoothed a hand over her flawless hair. “I always do.”
The effort it took to stand there and watch her ready herself for a date with someone else nearly killed him. He accepted it as his penance for being an asshole toward her.
She walked past him, leading the way out of her office, but instead of following, he called, “Samiah, wait!”
She turned. Daniel’s heart thumped against the walls of his chest as he approached her. He expelled a deep breath, then admitted, “What I said a few minutes ago? That was a load of bullshit. I don’t want to be just a friend to you. That’s not even close to what I want.
“This.” He gestured between them. “This wasn’t supposed to happen. I came to Austin to start fresh. I was supposed to lose myself in my work and not allow anything to get in the way of that.” He huffed out a laugh. “But then I saw you making coffee, and everything I thought I wanted went out the window.”
He swallowed hard and decided to go for broke.
“I want more than friendship. I shouldn’t. It goes against all the ground rules I set for myself when I moved here. But I can’t help but want more of you.”
She was silent for so long he wasn’t sure if she was ever going to answer. Pregnant, nerve-racking moments ticked by, the air covered in a thick layer of unease.
“You’re not the only one who wasn’t looking for this to happen,” she finally said, both her tone and gaze tinged with accusation. “You know the shit I’ve been through recently. Everybody knows the shit I’ve been through.” She shook her head. “I didn’t want this either. This was supposed to be me time. I made a promise that I would focus on myself and not bother with society’s bullshit expectations about having a man in my life.”
His throat tightened with the realization of just how badly he’d messed things up. These past couple of days had apparently given her the chance to put things into perspective and recognize that she didn’t need him distracting her. If that wasn’t the most ironic bite in the ass.
“But, dammit, I like you.”
Daniel’s head popped up at her declaration. “What?”
“I like you too damn much for my own good,” Samiah said. “I would love to tell you to go to hell, but instead all I want to talk about is how I couldn’t help but think about you when I heard someone in my building playing the Beastie Boys yesterday.”
His lungs expanded to the point of pain as gratitude overwhelmed him. Daniel had to stop himself from leaning forward and tasting her lips.
“I don’t want to like you this much,” Samiah said.
“I promise not to make you regret it,” he replied.
This time, her smile reached her eyes. “Maybe we can take things a bit slower? You have to admit that sucking face while at work was pretty unprofessional.”
Laughing, he reached for her hand, his heart swelling with unexpected emotion when she allowed him to take it.
“I want whatever you want,” he said. “You set the pace and I’ll follow.”
“I think I can handle that,” she said, her eyes softening. “But I still need to go.” She released his hand. “Taylor and London will be waiting for me. We have a standing