Page 35 of Fierce-Jax

“We can get on the elevator now,” she said. “Maybe you’ll loosen up and give me one of those quick pitches. Or at least relax enough to make this fun like our usual conversations and not awkward.”

If she wasn’t smirking he might have flushed feeling like an insecure idiot.

“I don’t want it to be awkward,” he said softly.

“Me neither,” she said.

He held his hand out for her to walk first and he followed. “I wonder how long it’s going to be before one of the Fierce women reaches out to get your information to pass on,” he said.

She laughed. “I thought of that too,” she said. “I think saying yes surprised them.”

He hit the button to go up and the doors opened. No one else was around but the two of them like always this early. When the building got more tenants they wouldn’t have this luxury. “I got that feeling too.”

“I wonder if they are used to most people saying no,” she said.

“That crossed my mind,” he said. “Can I ask why you said yes?”

She turned to look at him, her eyes a shade of gray that matched a different jacket she had on. A black one today.

“Because I feared if I waited for you to ask it’d be another year or more. And since they told me you already said yes, I didn’t have to worry about it being one-sided and looking like a fool.”

He laughed over that. Maybe she was just as unsure as him but hid it much better.

“I’m not sure I would have waitedthatlong,” he said, smirking. “Could be I was still feeling it out.”

“Slow,” she said, winking, then pushed her brown hair behind her ear giving him a better look at her face. High cheekbones, smaller lips bare of any gloss or lipstick, big eyes, minimal makeup. Classy in his mind. “That is what you are. Why did you say yes?”

“Because I’ve had my eye on you since you treated my rash. Which they wouldn’t know about. You know, the whole doctor-patient thing. I didn’t know if it was appropriate.”

That sounded much better than he thought it would.

She grinned and the elevator stopped on her floor.

The doors opened. “You’re not my patient anymore,” she said. “But if you were, I’m not sure I’d be too worried about it. It was only a minor thing. Not like I’m saving your life or you’re becoming dependent on me.”

He lifted his hand to give her a little wave because he was afraid if he opened his mouth something ridiculous would come out like he was terrified of how easy it might be for him to become dependent on her.

12

LEARNING EXPERIENCE

“I’ll be home before you’re in bed, Gianna,” Dillion said the next day.

“Do you promise?” Gianna asked.

She rolled her eyes. “Yes. It’s just something I’ve got to do after work.”

“I want to tell you about my day with Max.”

“Max?” she asked. “Is this a new friend at school?”

“It’s a boy,” Gianna said. “And he’s not nice. I told him that too.”

“What did he do?” she asked, frowning.

“He’s calling me GiGi,” her daughter said. “I don’t like that. I told him my name is Gianna.”

“Maybe it’s just a cute nickname,” she said.

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