Page 11 of Saving the CEO

Her nose wrinkled. “I won’t lie. I do enjoy seeing you squirm. Is that bad?”

Bad? It was only bad if Devin acknowledged how much his body warmed at the sight of Scarlett’s smile. He was growing fond of the mischievous sparkle in her eyes. How had she gotten under his skin so quickly?

As much as he hated to admit it, Devin didn’t mind bantering back and forth like this. It was a nice break from his work, which he hadn’t thought about once since he’d arrived. There was something about Scarlett that made it easy to let his guard down and loosen up. When she wasn’t saying things that made his eyes roll, she made him want to smile, or smirk at the very least. He found himself enjoying their conversation and even possibly her company.

“Maybe I should be nicer,” she continued as she waved the piece of paper in her hands, “at least until you tell me which ones of these are true.”

“Or maybe”—he shrugged innocently—“I’ll never tell you, so you’ll have to continue being nice to me.”

CHAPTER6

Scarlett

Scarlett burst out with a laugh. “Look at you! You do have a fun side after all, Devin Kendall. I can’t wait to discover more of it.”

Devin Kendall had a sense of humor—who would have thought? Certainly not her when they had started their meeting. But the activities that she’d prepared had proven to be a success. Not only was he sharing about himself, but he was smiling, too.

Scarlett said a prayer of thanks. This was turning out to be better than she’d expected. Now she just needed to keep him talking because she really wanted to know more about him. He was certainly a complicated individual, which could make her job of matching him difficult.

Emerald had been right. She’d need God’s help with this client in more ways than one.

“So, if the not knowing how to ice skate is true,” Scarlett began, “then it must be the mushrooms! The truth is that you hate mushrooms, am I right?”

He shook his head. “Wrong. I like fungi.”

“Ha!” She threw her head back as a wave of laughter rolled through her. “Sorry, that word always makes me laugh for some reason.”

One of his brows arched. “You find fungi funny?”

Scarlett bit her lower lip and tried her best to remain professional. The effort worked for barely two seconds when a chuckle flew from her mouth. “Please stop! If you’re trying to distract me, it’s working, but I’d like for us to focus on getting through this interview.”

“As you wish.”

She wiped the corners of her eyes as she caught her breath. “Don’t tell me you’re a fan ofThe Princess Bride?”

“Come again?”

“The movieThe Princess Bride.‘As you wish’ is a well-known line that the male lead, Westley, says to Buttercup, the female lead. You’ve never seen it?”

That same raised eyebrow of his twitched. “Do I look like someone who would watch a movie with a character named Buttercup?”

“Well, you also don’t look like someone who would go bungee jumping.”

“But I did.”

Her jaw dropped. She couldn’t process how someone as tightly wound as Devin would subject himself to such a wild activity. “I’m in shock right now.”

“I jumped from a bridge about a hundred feet off the ground.”

“That’s amazing! I’m deathly afraid of heights. Just riding in a glass elevator makes my palms sweat. Who in the world was able to convince you to jump off a bridge?”

“My brother Jace. Ever since he saw James Bond jump off a dam inGoldenEye, he wanted to try it himself. He found a place up near Sacramento and talked me into going the summer after high school graduation. He said if I went with him, he’d never ask me for another favor as long as he lived.”

“You couldn’t have believed that he’d keep that promise.”

“Of course not. But it was worth it to see him happy.”

Scarlett couldn’t help but smile. Devin had a heart after all. The more she learned about him, the more impressed she was. “You’re a good brother.”

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