Page 73 of The Rules

Benji mouthed the word “babe” in her direction as he turned and rolled back to his desk.

She ignored him. “Yeah. Just let me shut down my laptop. This is my friend Benji, by the way.”

Dylan’s eyebrows jumped in recognition. “Benji,” he said, drawing the word out. “Nice to meet you. He crossed the room to shake Benji’s hand and Benji gave him a “you too” that sounded like he had a mouthful of marbles from holding in a laugh. When she got back from this lunch, they were officially fighting.

“Let’s go, Dylan. Benj, I’ll see you in an hour.”

“I’ll be right in this very spot,” he said.

“So why the midday celebration?” she asked when they were alone in the elevator.

“Uh uh. First, say hello to me right.” Dylan wrapped an arm around her waist and tugged until she stumbled against his chest. He kissed her long and slow, his other hand caressing her cheek with a wide, affection-filled swoop of his thumb.

Her face flushed hot. It was familiar, that heat, but she was still getting used to thecaressing. There was a sweetness to it that, when mixed with the roughness of the way he held her, felt almost… secret. Like maybe she was the first person to experience the side of Dylan that thumb-swooped.

He let her go, and she straightened her dress while she composed herself from the wreckage that was that thought. “Well, that certainly felt like a good news kiss.”

Dylan smiled at her, wiping her lipstick from his bottom lip with the back of his hand. All the other times he’d made that motion flashed in her head and now more than her face was hot.

“Looks like Mrs. Jansen is coming through like Josh and I hoped,” he said. “She’s got another building they’re eyeing. Wants us in from the beginning. It’s unbillable hours until they actually win the bid, but they want to win it with us already in place.”

“Wow,” she said, feeling a rush of pride and second-hand excitement. “You did it. This is what you were shooting for.”

“Yup.” Dylan’s smile stretched for miles. She’d never seen him so pleased, and she’d be lying if she didn’t like how eager he was to tell her. He shoved his hands in his trouser pockets and lifted onto his toes like a kid waiting for a pat on the head.

Even better, she stepped into his chest and tugged on his tie. “I’m proud of you. You nailed it,babe.”

“I did, didn’t I?”

“I never once thought you couldn’t.”

His cocky smile dropped, and his eyes turned serious. Serious enough to make her breath still. “I know you didn’t,” he said. Then he kissed her again, hungrier than the last time but still thataffection.

The elevator dinged and he knew enough to let her go when the doors opened to the lobby of her building.

“You know what?” she said, her heartbeat in her ears from that fabulous kiss. “I think this deserves more than lunch. Do you have another appointment?”

“Nope.”

She put a little sway in her hips as she stepped off the elevator, looking at him over her shoulder. “I could call it a half-day. Finish up some stuff from home tonight.”

Dylan’s expression turned dirty. “Yeah?”

“What’s the point of being the boss if you can’t quit at lunch on a Friday?”

“That’s the philosophy I built my career on.”

“Looks like it’s about to pay off.”

Just like at the hotel the first night they’d slept together, Dylan woke to Dani’s golden brown tan popping against white sheets. He curled his fingers in her mess of blonde curls and gathered them off her neck, leaning in to nuzzle her shoulder.

She murmured something into the pillow that sounded like an insult and he chuckled. Dani was not a morning person when she wasn’t escaping hotel rooms.

“I need coffee, Dani-pie. You want some?”

“Don’t call me that,” she slurred, her eyes still closed.

“Too late. It’s stuck. Two sugars, one cream?”

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