Page 4 of Business Casual

I got this.

Minutes passed as pre-interview stress and anxiety melted away.

“It’s open now,” a deep voice informed me.

I startled slightly, turning toward the sound. I was caught off guard by the man standing next to me.

Oh damn…

His face was sculpted perfection with a beard that graced his jawline sexily. His broad shoulders were covered in an expensive-looking grey suit. But it was the way the 6’2” bronze Adonis looked at me that caused a chill to run down my spine.

After a solid three seconds of gawking, I finally responded. “Excuse me?”

A smile played on the corners of his full lips as if he knew what I was thinking. “The courtyard. It was closed for renovations,” he explained with our eyes locked. “But it’s open now.”

I tilted my head to the side. “Why are you assuming I want to go to the courtyard? Or that I don’t know about the renovations?”

His eyes crinkled in amusement. “I guess because I’ve never seen you in the building.”

“There are four companies in this building. You can’t possibly know everyone who works here.”

“You’re right. I don’t know everyone who works here.” He paused. “But I know for a fact that I would know you.”

“What makes you think that?”

“I just know,” he replied confidently. He quickly swept his eyes up and down the length of me. “Something about you drew me over here.”

My ass,I guessed silently.

“Something like what?” I asked, daring him to admit he was checking me out.

He stared at me for a beat too long before he answered. “It was the way you were standing here. I rarely ever see anyone staring out into the empty courtyard. Like you were taking it in, appreciating it.” His voice was contemplative—a shift from the flirty, sexy energy he was giving me moments before. “It made me want to come over and see what it was you were seeing.”

My eyebrows rose slightly. “I didn’t expect that answer,” I murmured, watching him blink away whatever was on his mind.

He smiled. “What did you think I was going to say?”

“My ass.”

He let out a loud, booming laugh that echoed in the empty lobby. “I’m not going to lie… that was the second thing I noticed.” He lifted his hands in surrender. “No offense.”

“None taken.” I gestured to his suit. “When I turned and noticed you, one of the first things I noticed was your style.”

And how soft your lips looked…

“Oh, you think I’m stylish…” He lowered his voice, looking around conspiratorially. “Are you flirting with me?”

I laughed. “I’mcomplimentingyou and your style,” I corrected him.

“Nah, you were flirting with me,” he teased.

“You came over here flirting with me!” Amused, I glanced toward the elevator nearest us as the doors opened. I looked for a salt-and-pepper haired, sixty-year-old man I saw on the company website. The last thing I wanted was for Alexander Franklin to catch me flirting and being completely unprofessional. “I was minding my business, admiring nature and you came over here to flirt with me,” I added when the coast was clear.

“I came over here to spread the news about the courtyard,” he corrected me with a chuckle. “I was being a Good Samaritan to a beautiful woman in the lobby.”

Grinning, I shook my head as I gazed up at him. “We will have to agree to disagree on who is flirting with who.”

“Or we can settle our differences over dinner,” he proposed smoothly.

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