“Productive. We’ll have to set up a time to meet later, and I’ll go over some of the details.”
“We can go now,” she suggested. “I’m going to make note of the painting and head to lunch.”
“I was actually going to take Olivia to lunch.”
My eyebrows slowly rose, confused by the invite.
“James told me she’d been here more than necessary this past week, and I figured I could treat her. Take some time to answer any questions she had.” He must have seen the direction my mind was going as I thought of all the dirty questions I could ask, because he quickly added, “For her project.”
“Okay. You two have fun, and I’ll catch up with you later. Thanks for your help, Olivia.” And then she was gone.
“What if I don’t want to go to lunch with you?”
“Don’t lie, Olivia. You’re not good at it.”
“You could have at least asked,” I muttered.
“Why bother when I know you’d accept anyway?”
He had a point. I was being stubborn because I could and decided to let it go, even if I was having fun bickering with him. “Where are you taking me?”
“It’s a surprise.”
The perpetual playful tilt of his lips was in place as he stretched his arm out, gesturing for me to walk ahead. Wanting to get back at him for laughing earlier, I walked too close and stopped when my shoulder brushed his chest. Looking up, I put my own smirk in place and spoke in my best Marilyn Monroe voice. “Welcome back, Mr. Kent.”
His jaw ticked, and his chest expanded, pressing harder into my shoulder. “Careful,” was all he said.
“Never.”
And then I walked to the door, biting my bottom lip, trying to hold back the full smile when I heard his growl behind me.
“Who orders just cheese on their pizza?”
“Who orders mushrooms?” Kent shot back. “They’re a fungus.”
I shrugged and made a scene of taking a bite of my pizza, humming.
He shook his head with a laugh and dug into his own food. We’d been able to walk to the restaurant from the hotel, and it had been silent the entire way. Not that it was bad. It was comfortable as we walked through the streets of downtown, letting the passing cars and people talking fill the silence between us.
“How have you liked the hotel so far?”
“It’s good. Better than I thought I’d like it.”
His head cocked to the side. “Why didn’t you think you’d enjoy it?”
“I don’t know. There hasn’t been a business that enticed me enough to be excited about it.”
“You seemed excited when you first accepted.”
I bit my lip and stared out the window, watching people and cars move past. One, two, three people passed before I decided to go for blunt honesty. I turned back to Kent, watching his jaw move as he chewed his pizza. The movement was barely noticeable behind the thick scruff that highlighted his lips.
“To be honest,” I began, shifting my eyes to his, just to find him staring at my mouth. When he looked up, he was unrepentant at being caught, setting a flutter of butterflies through my stomach. “It was you I was excited about.”
His Adam’s apple bobbed around a swallow, and he sat back, pulling in a deep breath. He sat there silent, and I held my breath, waiting for what he would say in return. I didn’t mean much by my confession. I didn’t mean I had expected anything to happen between us. But the thought of seeing him and feeling the tension strung tight between us had me eager to be around him. And I couldn’t have denied myself that after not having felt that same excitement in so long.
He finally opened his mouth, and time stood still.
“Livvie-baby.” The nickname was like nails on a chalkboard, especially when Aaron interrupted what I really wanted to hear.
Kent’s jaw snapped shut, and he jerked his head to the tall, blond, all American boy walking up to my side.
“Hey, Aaron.” I didn’t bother to hide my annoyance. “What are you doing here?”
“Just meeting some of the guys for lunch. Pizza on campus is the worst.”
The guys walked past him, slapping him on the back as they moved to their table. I expected Aaron to go with them, but he leaned against my booth, licking his lips and staring down like he had a right to look me over.
“Well,” I began when it was clear he wasn’t moving. “It was good to see you. Enjoy your lunch.”
“Yeah, you too.” He stood upright, hearing the dismissal. He gave Kent an assessing look, stopping before getting too far and turned to me. “Call me later. Maybe we can meet up for a quickie.”
He winked and bolted. Probably because he felt my eyes trying to burn him alive with the rage I had pouring off me. I had to cling to the wood of the table to keep from going after him and kicking him in the balls. He had no idea who Kent was, but what if this was an important meeting and he’d just ruined it. Oh, I’d be calling him later to give him an earful.