Page 40 of The Vegas Rerun
She’s different now. She’s perhaps more cautious, and guarded so she doesn’t let her feelings show, she’s also more confident around me, and that’s a good thing for me and her job, because it makes her less clumsy.
Her guardedness doesn’t stop me from pushing her to just feel her feelings. I’m always ready with a teasing remark here, a lingering touch there. She rolls her eyes, and she scoffs at me, but I see the way her lips twitch when she’s trying not to smile. I see the way she shifts in her chair when I get too close. And I know that no matter what she says, no matter how much she tries to convince herself otherwise, she feels it too.
If I thought for a second this feeling was one-sided, I wouldn’t be acting like this. I don’t want to wear someone down until they agree to go out with me just to stop the constant harassment. I don’t want her to think of my attention as harassment, I want her to think of it as me courting her, showing her that I’m serious about this, about her. That I won’t give up. And I won’t. Because I know she wants this, I just have to get through her walls.
I think of Molly a lot in the office, and I would like to say I go home and get some reprieve but nope. I still think a lot about Molly. So naturally, when my mother starts hounding me about bringing a date to my nephew’s christening, there’s only one person I think of asking, because there’s only one person I want to spend time with.
I wait until the office is empty except for us. Molly sits at her desk, typing something furiously, her brow furrowed in concentration. I lean against the doorframe of my office. I watch her for a moment, admiring her beauty and then I clear my throat, and she stops typing and she looks up, blushing slightly when she sees that I’ve been watching her.
"Molly, I need a favor," I say.
Her expression turns wary, her fingers hovering over the keyboard.
"That sounds ominous," she says.
I smirk.
"It’s not. I just need you to come to my nephew’s christening with me," I say. “It’ll be fun.”
Her hands drop to her desk on either side of her keyboard.
"I don’t think that’s a good idea and I know you knew I would say that," she says.
"I did. But don’t worry, it’s not like a date, date. It’s just a fake date," I assure her. "My mother won’t stop asking me when I’m settling down, and if I show up alone, she’ll introduce me to every single woman in attendance. Including the priest’s daughter, who I’m pretty sure has been trying to get me to marry her since she was sixteen. As I say, it would just be you doing me a favor."
Molly snorts, shaking her head.
"Sounds like a you problem, boss,” she says.
"Come on, be a team player. It’s just one afternoon. And there will be free food, and an open bar,” I say. I pause. I think she’s starting to come around, but she’s not there yet. "Besides, you owe me one."
She raises an eyebrow.
"Oh really? For what?"
"For all those times you’ve almost spilled coffee on me. And the time you lost that client’s contract, and we had to scramble to get a new one. And …"
"Ok, ok," she cuts in, sighing. "I get it. I’ve made mistakes."
I grin. I’ve given her a reason to say yes now, one she can tell herself doesn’t mean she wants to spend time with me.
"So, you’ll come?" I say, giving her my most charming smile.
She hesitates, nibbling on her lower lip, clearly weighing her options. Then, finally, she sighs again.
"Fine. I’ll come. But if your mother starts planning our wedding, I’m out,” she says.
I chuckle.
"Deal. We’ll hire a wedding planner."
“That’s not what I meant,” Molly says.
“I know. I know. It’s fake,” I say.
But as I walk back into my office, I can’t shake the feeling that maybe, just maybe, this won’t feel so fake after all.
CHAPTER 28
