Especially not when I’m going to be your boss. Why would you say you love me when you can’t do anything about it?”
She made it sound like he had some grand plan when it was all he could do to keep his thoughts from scrambling every time he came within a few meters of her. “Because you asked me?”
Lacey grabbed fistfuls of his T-shirt, closing the little space that remained between them. “And then I unasked you, and you said it anyway!” She was so close he could see the tiny yellow flecks in her eyes, like comets against a summer sky.
Victor clenched his fists to stop his arms from wrapping around her. “I didn’t think it would be news. Every time I’m near you, it feels like it’s written across my face like a sign in Piccadilly Circus. And fair warning, if you don’t get out of my space in the next second, I’m going to kiss you, and you can keep yelling at me after that.”
Lacey blinked, but she didn’t let go of his T-shirt, and she certainly didn’t step back. Sod it. She couldn’t say she wasn’t warned. He leaned in and pressed his lips against hers, his arms wrapping around her back and lifting her off the ground.
For a split-second, her body was stiff against his. Then her hands splayed across his chest, and she folded into him, kissing him back with a fierceness that would have taken his breath away if he’d had any left to lose.
Something she’d said tugged at him. He pushed it away, focusing on the feel of Lacey in his arms as her hands traveled up his body and wrapped around his neck.
Victor walked backwards until he felt the back of the love seat against his calves. Then he loosened the kiss, pressing his forehead against hers. “O’Connor, if you want to kiss me like that, I’m going to need to sit down before I lose the ability to stand.”
Lacey opened her eyes, glazed blue pools staring back at him. “I’m pretty sure you kissed me.”
Victor sagged down onto the seat, tucking her close. “I’m pretty sure you were the one who took it thermonuclear …” His hand weaved through her hair as he leaned in close. “Mine said, let’s stop fighting. Yours said, let’s take a drive to Gretna Green.”
It was meant to be funny. It was meant to set up another kiss. But immediately, her eyes shuttered, and he knew he’d put his big mouth in something. But what? “It’s a joke, Lace.” He was the one who’d put himself out there. Who’d said he loved her, knowing it wasn’t going to be coming back.
She shifted, pulling back from him. “Just so we’re clear. Even if I wasn’t going to be your boss, I’m not the marrying type.”
Going to be your boss. Not the marrying type. The two statements slammed into him like an uppercut followed by a hook.
“My boss?” Victor repeated the words, but they made no more sense the second time. Unless Lacey was taking over an entirely different department, there was no way she could be his boss. The only place their two groups met in the new structure was at the CEO. The CEO. As soon as the thought struck, he knew it was true. It was a genius move and exactly the kind of thing Meredith would do. “You’re going to be the new CEO.”
Lacey leaned back a little further. “Yes. But I haven’t accepted it yet.”
“Why on earth not?” Meredith was all about meritocracy. The only reason she would offer Lacey the job was if she knew Lacey could do it, and she was the best candidate.
Lacey cast her gaze up to the ceiling and swallowed. “Because when she offered me the job, all I wanted to do was see you. Talk to you about it. I had this crazy idea that maybe …” She trailed off, then shook her head. “Don’t worry.”
“Maybe what?”
“That you could find a job somewhere else so I could have the promotion and maybe a chance at whatever this is too.”
Her statement covered him like a lead blanket. They’d been on exactly the same wavelength. He was going to offer to quit. She was going to ask him.
If he’d never sent that letter to Sabine, they would have had a completely different conversation last night. Today they could have been … well, who knew. But not this.
But then he wouldn’t know he had a daughter. A little girl