Page 89 of Swerve
Sarah shakes her head. “I don’t know. I can find out for you in the morning.”
“Oh. Shoot. We were driving back to the city tonight. I really need to get that phone.”
“You know, hon,” Emory says, “while you’re sorting this out, I’m going to the little girls room.”
Knox nods without taking his eyes off Sarah. “Okay. You do that,” he says.
And as ridiculous as she knows it to be, Emory feels a little stab of jealousy as she heads out of the lobby without looking back.
Knox
“Do what you can, with what you’ve got, where you are.”
—Squire Bill Widener
AS SOON AS Emory is out of sight, Knox leans forward, elbows resting on the desk, his gaze set on Sarah’s face. Her eyes have gone wide behind her black-frame glasses, her lips slightly parted.
He glances over his shoulder and then back at Sarah. “I was hoping she would give us a minute or two. May I tell you something?”
“Ah, yes, I suppose so,” she says in barely more than a whisper.
“I noticed you earlier in the night when my girlfriend and I were having dinner. I haven’t been able to take my eyes off you.”
Her eyes widen a little more. “Really?”
“I’m sure I’m not the first man to visit this place who’s told you that.”
“Oh. No. Of course not.”
“You know what else I’ve been wondering?”
“What?” Her gaze darts to the hallway down which Emory had disappeared a minute before and then returns to his.
He leans in closer, says the words close to her ear. “What your kiss would taste like.”
Her intake of breath is audible. “But I don’t even know your name.”
“Knox.” He glances at her name badge. “And you’re Sarah. A favorite name of mine.”
A small smile touches the corners of her mouth. “Thank you.”
“Is there a place where we could be alone for a few minutes so I could test my theory?”
“What’s your theory?”
“That you taste as good as you look.”
The struggle between her disbelief that he’s serious and her desire to find out is visible on her face. A full ten seconds pass while he determines to let her make up her mind. And then she says, “We could look for your phone in the owner’s office. Just in case she found it and, like you said, left it there until tomorrow.”
“Lead the way,” he says, his voice low and intent.
She sticks her head around the wall behind the desk. “I’ll be back in a few minutes,” she says.
A male voice answers with, “Got it covered.”
Sarah steps around the reception desk and beckons for him to follow her toward a hallway that is on the opposite side of the lobby from the women’s restroom. Knox hopes Emory won’t return before they’re out of sight.
They make it to the office with Sarah leading the way. She sticks a key in the lock and turns the knob. He follows her inside, closing the door behind them.
