Page 48 of No Rings Attached
“Anytime.” His wink was like a promise to do just that, and I couldn’t help but wonder if life with him would be full of these types of memories. The two of us laughing and enjoying being together. Never afraid to show our silly side along with our seriousness.
Kind of like how we’d been all along while messaging each other.
Glamma, who’d been watching us with glee, held up her hand to garner everyone's attention. “We need to get your stories straight. How you met, and what you love most about each other. People always want to hear that stuff.”
I leaned back and wrinkled my nose. “We met through work, so that’s easy enough?—”
Glammatsked. “Uh-uh. You’re not getting away that easily. We need to up the romance factor here.”
Well, crap. Glamma, as expected, was going rogue. “When did you know you wanted something more?” she asked.
Dear God.Did I tell the truth? Make something up?
Drew responded first. “That’s easy. It had been about six or seven weeks of us working together. A problem with the acquisition of a new property was not going as planned, and we called it a night.”
Holy snickerdoodles.I knew which night he was talking about.
“An hour after we hung up, my phone rang again. When I answered, I could hear singing.” He nudged me playfully, but I couldn’t meet his eyes.
So I covered my face with my hands.
He tugged my hands away from my burning cheeks and held them. “A popular girl-power song was on, and Ellie was singing her heart out. When she didn’t hang up and the next song came on, to which she was equally enthusiastic about singing … I thought to myself, I could listen to this happy, upbeat, off-key rendition for the rest of my life and never grow tired of it.”
One of the ladiesawed.
Drew kissed my fingertips. “That’s when I knew I had to take a chance and tell her how I felt.”
I blinked. Once. Twice. A third time.
“That was the moment?” I asked.
“It was. You were adorable.”
I cringed. “I was soembarrassed.”
“You had no reason to be.”
I’d been mortified to know my phone had butt-dialedmy boss. I’d let out a weird squeak-wail, apologized profusely, and then hung up on him. Afterwards, neither of us ever mentioned the incident again. I’d kind of hoped he’d forgotten, but to hear him say it with such affection made my heart skip.
Not only had his words sounded sincere, but the way he looked at me gave me pause. I’d been studying rom-coms and romance for years, getting ready to write my novel, and in every single one of those moments when the hero realizes he’s in love with the heroine his eyes soften, a sweet smile graces his lips, he leans in, and it’s like the air around them pulse with hope and a little bit of magic.
Just like now.
Was I just seeing in him what I wanted? Unsure of what to do with the conflicting thoughts in my head, I panicked and leaned away.
He squeezed my hands as though reassuring me. For what, I wasn’t sure, but I gave him a tentative smile. “Now how am I going to top that?”
“I’m sure there are so many it’s hard to choose,” he teased, and the women in the room chuckled.
But in all seriousness, he wasn’t wrong. He was driven and a total workaholic, but he was also sweet and kind. And even more important, he made me feel like I mattered.
Drew was everything I’d ever wanted in a partner.
I knew my answer. “The day I tried working when I had the flu.”
He grimaced, which told me he remembered that day, too.
“We’d been working together for a month, and I was terrified that if I took a day off I’d be fired. Not that I thought you were that kind of boss, but in all fairness I was deliriously sick.”
