Text Me, Maybe - Jolyse Barnett Page 0,9
information or not? He put the phone to his ear. As expected, the call went to voicemail after two rings. “No answer. I’ll try again later. Give me your number, and I’ll text his response.”
She wrinkled her nose.
So, she didn’t trust him. Fair enough. “Okay, then. I’ll leave a voicemail at the work number you gave me on your form.”
“You really don’t have to.” She jabbed the elevator button.
“You sure?”
The elevator chimed its arrival.
“I’m sure. Good night.” She raced into the car as the doors whooshed open, but not before he caught a whiff of her scent. Reluctant to see her go just yet, he gripped the top frame of the elevator with both hands and leaned in. Would it catch her eye? “Remember to stretch.”
Her tongue peeked out to moisten full, pink lips, and her eyes swept over him.
Hell, yeah. She’d be thinking about him long after the doors closed. He stepped back, strangely satisfied. “And drink plenty of water.”
Her shoulders slumped. “April truly is the cruelest month.”
“What?” He shot an arm between the doors and halted their progress, his mind running through the odds of her citing the same line of poetry he’d sent Sylvia Swann fifteen minutes ago.
“Nothing.” Her face flushed. “Just a quote I read.”
But where did she read it?
He racked his brain, staring at the woman who had his body raging for just one touch from her.
“T. S. Eliot, I believe,” she added, her tone wistful.
He swallowed and did his best to sound cooler than he felt. “I believe so, too. Next time?”
“Next time.”
Matthew stared at the elevator long after its doors had closed. Would Sylvia Swann have forwarded her assistant the text he’d sent? From the little he knew about J&C’s newest partner, she didn’t strike him as the type to confide in a subordinate and—considering the woman’s ego was rumored to be even bigger than his—it didn’t make sense she’d brag about a rejection. But what did he know?
And why should he care?
Because you like Lexie.
Sure, he’d been intrigued by the text, but not the woman behind it. Lexie was more his type.
More? Since when do you have a type?
Tapping his phone, he scrolled down the texts. Hmm. The first was different from the others. He rubbed the back of his neck as he replayed the night’s events in his mind, along with any details he knew about his new client and J&C. If his suspicion was on the mark, he wasn’t the only one in the client-trainer relationship withholding information.
Lexie was an executive assistant. Check. She held an English degree. Check. His literary quote in his first text to Sylvia might have led the woman to research his background and discover he was a professor. Check. As a new partner, Sylvia would be consumed by her work with little time to socialize. Check. Partners at J&C had a reputation of asking assistants to take care of personal business in addition to corporate tasks.
He scratched the scruff on the side of his jaw.
Was the first text different from the others because a different woman had written them? If so, then Lexie using the quote he’d sent her boss made a hell of a lot more sense. But why would she care about which men her boss was chasing?
Unless… Sylvia had given her new assistant a task as some sort of test. Could Lexie’s job somehow hinge on whether she succeeded in getting that date for her boss? She had seemed pretty intent on learning the man’s name, and even more disappointed when he hadn’t supplied it.
Aw, shit. If that was the case, he’d just screwed things up for her by turning her boss down.
His phone buzzed.
Your mother’s birthday is the 15th. Don’t forget.
Matthew knew the drill. No worries. Bought a charm for her bracelet and will order flowers for her office.
Another mess.
He pinched the bridge of his nose then exhaled. Might as well focus on a situation he had a chance in hell of fixing…
Perhaps, with his godfather’s help, he could make everyone happy. He’d play along with the date—to a certain point—so Lexie would succeed at her task, if his gut feeling about that was correct. And if he managed things right, Sylvia would also get a chance to show her value to J&C.
And as for him, since he was being so giving toward others… Well, he’d have the opportunity to discover whether Lexie Bloom was the more in his life he hadn’t known he wanted.
Check.
Chapter Six
Lexie released the dead bolt with