We both laughed.
His teasing was exactly what I needed to forget all about the last time I danced. “By the way, thank you for introducing me to Nick, your real estate agent. I’m going to check out some apartments with him soon. He’s hysterical, and you were right. I told him the areas I thought I might want to live, and he ruled out all but two.”
Merrick nodded. “He’s not shy about sharing his opinions, but he also won’t waste your time showing you crap you don’t want. Though he may also try to strong-arm you away from things he thinks aren’t important, so you have to stand your ground. He was adamant that I shouldn’t live in the building I work in, but it works for me.”
I nodded. “Yeah, I pushed back about a pet-friendly building. I’d told him I wanted an apartment that allowed pets because I’d like to get a dog someday, and he sent me back an article titled ‘Ninety-nine Reasons You Shouldn’t Own a Pet in New York City’. I told him it was a deal breaker.”
Merrick smiled. “I told him I already had a pet when I was looking for my place. He sent me a list of no-kill shelters that took pets for people who had to move to buildings that didn’t allow them.”
“Fish count as a pet?” The minute the words left my mouth, I realized I’d just stuck my foot in it. Merrick tilted his head and looked down at me.
I shut my eyes. “Could we…just pretend I didn’t ask that?”
“Not a chance.”
At least there was amusement in his voice and not anger. I opened one eye to see if his face matched his tone, and he arched a brow. The smirk he wore now was a lot more readable than usual—this one said he was a cat who’d just caught a mouse and was about to toy with it before deciding whether to let it go or bite its head off.
I shook my head and sighed. “I can’t even come up with an excuse I’d believe, and I have a feeling I’m a lot more gullible than you. So I’m just going to admit I snooped in your apartment and take my lumps.”
Merrick’s smirk grew to a full-blown grin. “You went in my bedroom.”
I felt my face heat. “I’m sorry. I didn’t actually go in—I swear. I just… I don’t know. The whole thing lasted thirty seconds or less. Your apartment is gorgeous, and I couldn’t help myself.”
Merrick wasn’t letting me off the hotseat. He just kept looking at me, not saying a word, which caused me to ramble to fill the dead air. “What size bed is that anyway? It has to be bigger than a king. I was thinking California King, but it seems even bigger. You could have a party on that thing.” I closed my eyes again. “Please tell me I did not just insinuate that my boss has multiple people in his bed at once.”
“I believe you did.”
I shook my head. “I’m going to shut up for the rest of this song. Speaking of which, when the hell is it going to end so I can go crawl in a hole somewhere?”
Merrick smiled and pulled me closer. “It’s fine. As long as you didn’t look in the nightstand.”
My nose wrinkled. “What’s in the nightstand?”
He laughed, and I play-smacked his chest. “You’re just screwing with me, aren’t you?”
“Yes, but you really want to check out that nightstand now, don’t you?”
I grinned. “I totally do. Though I’ll tell you what… I will never again bring up that you only hired me because I was the least-competent person, if you can forget the conversation we’ve had these last few minutes.”
“Don’t we already have a deal where I can’t bring up the incident in the dressing room and you can’t bring up a certain Wendy’s founder?”
“We do. This is a second deal.”
Merrick pulled me close again. “Whatever makes you happy.”
A few seconds later, the song ended and the emcee announced it was time for dessert. Even though I’d just embarrassed myself and wanted to hide, I also felt a pang of disappointment when Merrick let me go.
Back at the table, we both got pulled into conversations with different people, and a little while later, when others started to say their goodbyes, Merrick leaned over to me.
“I’m ready to get out of here when you are,” he said.
“Oh, it’s okay. I’m all the way uptown, and you’re all the way downtown. I can call an Uber.”
“It’s not a problem. I’ll drop you.”
I decided not to argue.
Outside, Merrick’s usual black Town Car pulled up. He waved off the driver who had started to get out and opened the back door for me himself. I’d arrived in a stretch limo with Will, yet the big boss was in a regular-size sedan.