“She can’t be more beautiful than you.” I lean so close that my breath whispers over her cheek. “There isn’t a woman on this earth who is more beautiful than you.”
She doesn’t say a word, but her eyes give something away. A brief flicker of the want I saw in Vegas is there before it disappears with a shake of her head.
“You can pretend all you want.” I inch back and look her over. “My body will never forget you.”
Her hand jumps to her chest. “I need to go.”
I study her, frustration gnawing at me. I could push her more, but she’s not ready to admit we spent the night together. She has her reasons. I have patience, although in a limited quantity.
“Thank you again for the tie, Linny.”
“Of course.” Her eyes skim the box in my hands. “I’m sorry that Mitchell messed up the other one.”
“I’m not.” I toss the tie box onto my desk. “It brought you here. It gave us a chance to talk privately.”
Not that it did any good. It’s obvious that when Linny Faye lies, she commits to it body and soul.
She approaches my office door, so I ask the question I’m not sure I want to know the answer to. “Have you ever done something you regret?”
She stops and it takes a beat before she turns to face me. “We all have regrets, don’t we?”
“I spent a night in Vegas with an incredible woman two months ago.” I stroke my jaw. “I regret falling asleep before I could get her name and number because I’ve thought about her every day since.”
She swallows hard, her gaze meeting mine, but before a word can leave her lips, Blythe barges in and the moment is lost.
“Mr. Weston, I hate to interrupt, but there’s a situation that needs your attention.” Blythe’s gaze volleys between Linny and me.
“It can wait,” I bark back.
“I have to go.” Linny brushes past Blythe on her way out of my office before she rounds the corner and disappears from sight.
“What the hell, Blythe?” I rake both hands through my hair in aggravation. “You know how I feel about knocking before you come in.”
“You have a call, Jeremy.” She points at my desk phone. “It’s Athena. She said it’s urgent.”
“Leave.” I wave my hand in the air. “Out.”
She scurries away and closes the door behind her as I drop into my chair and bring the phone to my ear.
Chapter 20
Linny
It’s been three hours since I left West’s office, and I’m still feeling drunk on his words.
It took every ounce of willpower in my body not to grab him by the lapels of his suit jacket, tug him closer and kiss him.
God, did I want to kiss that man.
I couldn’t stop thinking about him as I sat through a meeting with a legacy client who refuses to talk to anyone but me.
She was one of the first clients of Faye & Sons back when my grandfather ran the company.
He chose the name in the hope that his two then high-school aged sons would follow in his footsteps. My dad did. My uncle, Tom, became a nuclear physicist. From what I’ve heard from my dad, my granddad didn’t complain about Tom’s career choice once.
“How was your meeting with Mary?” My dad strolls into my office with a grin on his face.
If I were a fan of poodles and quilting, I’d call it a success.