Page 27 of The Fix Up

“How’s that?”

“You have hands the size of baseball mitts. Seriously, did you eat your Wheaties as a kid or what?”

“Something like that.”

She grinned and pounced again, her thumb sliding off his and making everything jiggle pleasantly beneath that pale yellow top. He should probably stop it—both the game and his urge to ogle her. It was hardly the right tone to set for the CEO of a major corporation and the branding expert he’d hired to turn him into a suave, sophisticated leader.

“Oh, you are so dead!” She laughed again, and Ben decided suave and sophisticated were overrated.

He hooked the pad of his thumb over the top of her nail, pressing it firm against the top of their locked fingers. “One,” he counted, slow enough to let her squirm away if she wanted. “Two?—”

“Ha!” she declared, wriggling free in an impressive display of agility. “Not so fast, big guy.”

“Still primed for battle, I see?”

“Battle, yes! I feel like we should have body armor or maybe swords.”

“I’ll see if my assistant can run to the Thumb Wrestling Emporium before our next tournament.”

She took another stab at pinning him, and Ben let her press his thumb down for a good three seconds before he slid out from under her. His father would roll his eyes if he saw this. It was hardly the most professional activity, certainly not something his father or any of the other suits at that party would be doing on a quiet Tuesday night.

But hadn’t his dad always encouraged competition and athletic pursuits as a platform for professional networking?

This probably isn’t what he meant.

“Ready for me to put you out of your misery?” Ben flexed his thumb dramatically and flashed Holly a grin he hoped made his words sound less cocky.

But hell, she was training him to be confident in business dealings. Wasn’t this good practice?

“I’d like to see you try,” she taunted.

“Very well.” He slid his thumb over hers and clamped down, pinning her digit with relative ease. Her eyes widened, and he felt her wriggling beneath him, trying to get free.

“Hey!” She giggled and tried to pull back, but Ben held tight.

“One, two, three, four, it appears I’ve won this thumb war.” He held her gaze for a moment, smiling with triumph and maybe a little lust. Then he let go of her hand and took off his glasses. He lifted the hem of his shirt and used it to wipe a smudge off one of the lenses. “I believe I’ve made my point.”

Holly drew her hand back, though Ben was pleased to see she didn’t put any distance between them. “What point is that?”

“Nerds can be fierce and valiant in combat.”

“Nerds can also have six-pack abs, apparently.” She reached out and patted his bare midsection, and Ben dropped his shirt hem and stopped polishing his glasses. “Between those and the monster paws, you’re unlike any nerd I’ve ever met.”

“Monster paws?”

“Big hands, big feet—monster paws.”

“I’ll have to have that printed on my business cards.”

She grinned and reached for his hand again. “Come on, best two out of three?”

“You want to thumb wrestle again?”

“Afraid you’ll lose?”

Ben set his glasses aside and turned back to her. She’d gotten one thing right—he was no dummy. If she was offering him the opportunity to touch her again in any capacity, he was sure as hell going to take it.

He locked his fingers with hers again and stared into her eyes. “You sure about this?”

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