Page 38 of The Bachelor Auction

“Of course.” He nods, frowning. “The point is, you were planning on meeting a potential client by bidding on having dinner with him. I didn’t realize you were talking about me. Not then. I thought it was a mere coincidence two people attending a charity event on the same day. And then your business associate won the auction and you asked me to cancel your bid. At that point I started to put two and two together.That’swhen I checked your phone number with the website records and realized we had been talking all along.”

I bit my lip, unsure how I should be feeling at this point. Part of me wants it all to be true, wants to believe him. But can I when I don’t really know him? “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Hesitating, he rakes his fingers through his hair. “I wanted to but—”

“But—” I prompt.

“But I didn’t think it was a good idea. Let’s be honest, I might not know you very well, but you don’t strike me as the kind of person who takes risks.”

I frown. “What makes you say that?”

“The fact that I had been trying to get you to meet me for months, without much success. You disclosed a lot about your life but you didn’t ask specifics about mine. That made me realize you never had the intention of seeing me in real life. I thought by offering you a job and us getting to know each other, you would give me a fair chance at—” He breaks off.

“At what?”

“At this.” He points at the air between us.

I want to be angry with him, I really do, but as I look at him all anger dissipates as I realize he does have a point. I would never have agreed to meet Lucky. That would have been too great of a risk to take when I’m not one to take risks easily. He was supposed to be just a chat buddy, someone who might take my mind off the stress of starting up a business that just wouldn’t take off. I would have probably kept him in the friends department until our online relationship had run its course.

But there’s one point I still need to clarify. “The job. You didn’t offer it to me because—”

He shakes his head again. “I told you I had been sitting on your résumé for months, toying with the idea of calling you in for an interview before I even knew who you were. I need you to believe me because it’s the truth. At some point, I even dug out your college thesis about the right kind of corporate exposure.”

I cringe inwardly. That really wasn’t my best work. Even though I’m dying to know what he thought of it, I don’t think Iwantto know at this point.

“So, what do you say?” He reaches tentatively to brush a strand of hair away from my face.

“I didn’t get the question.”

“Will you give us a chance now that you know who I am?” His eyes bore into me, and I think I even catch a flicker of uncertainty in his gaze.

“I can give us a chance. As to working for you?” I rise up on my toes and place a kiss on his mouth. “I’ll think about it. It all depends on whether you learn to actually call or send an email rather than send Scarlet over whenever you need something. That’s been really bugging me since the first day I started working for you.”

He laughs. “That can be arranged.”

“Oh, and there’s something else.” His brows shoot up in mock annoyance. I hold up my hand to stop him from interrupting. “I need Lucky to be available whenever I need to bitch about my very annoying boss.”

“You have lots of demands, but I’d be very happy to fulfill every one of them. Why don’t we discuss those later, in the privacy of my apartment?” His gaze shifts to my desk, and I can almost read the thoughts crossing his mind. “Actually, I think I have a few minutes to spare now.”

Without waiting for my reply, he’s lifted me onto my desk. Something clatters to the floor with a loud thump, and I can only hope it’s not something valuable, like the computer. Then again, he’s the boss. He’s paying for the damage anyway, so who cares?

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