“Well, now you have me curious.” A smile tugged at her lips.
I ripped my hand over my hair, disheveling it. “But I do need to tell you something before we get there.” We probably only had about another half hour before we landed, and I’d already put this off for too long.
“You’re married and have three children that you keep hidden away?” she teased, sipping on her mimosa.
“I only let you shadow me because Weston dared me, knowing it would fuck with my schedule, and the other guys were there, so it wasn’t like I could tell him to fuck off.” There. It was out.
“Huh.” She blinked and settled into the back of the couch with her shoulder as she stared at me.
I shoved the sleeves of my white, linen shirt up my forearms and waited for her to explode.
“I guess that makes sense.” She shrugged.
She. Shrugged.
“That’s all you have to say?” My brow furrowed.
“Well…” Her nose crinkled, and it was cute. Not sexy, not glamorous, or hot, but…cute, and it made my entire body clench. “I wondered why you’d agreed, honestly. I know you love your players, and you could have done it as a favor to Brogan for a day, maybe even two, but an entire month? There was no way. I just didn’t question it because I wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth.”
“So, you’re not angry.” I pivoted slightly to face her, only a cushion of space separating us.
“Nope. I don’t really care why it happened. I’m just glad it did. But I am curious what the terms of the dare were.” She raised an eyebrow in my direction.
“I had to let you shadow me for as long as you asked,” I answered. “And I had to give you whatever access you wanted. You set the terms at a month, I agreed. It was that simple.”
“Oh.” A devilish smile spread across her face. “And what if I’d asked you for two months?”
“Then I would have had to agree to two months.” I reached back and rested my arm along the back of the couch.
“If I’d only known,” she teased, twirling her nearly empty glass between her thumb and forefinger. “And yet here we are, a month later.”
“Here we are.” Just like that, the air between us thickened, that tension that had been growing since the second I laid eyes on her and nearly exploded when we’d kissed, seemed to fill the entire jet.
“Our month is up, you know,” she said softly, setting her drink on the coffee table.
“As of yesterday, or today, if you count that there were thirty-one days in August.” It was early September, now.
“And yet I’m still on your jet.” A smile curved her mouth. “Still headed to the infamous poker game.”
“You are.” I nodded, noticing each rise and fall of her breasts under that dress in my peripheral vision, but keeping my eyes locked on hers. It had been nearly impossible to keep my hands to myself for the past eleven days—and yes, I’d been counting—since the kiss, but I’d managed. I didn’t touch employees or business associates, and up until we’d gotten on this plane, that’s exactly what she’d been.
“So you’re taking me as what? A favor?” Curiosity shone in her eyes.
“You said you wanted to go. I’m making that happen.” A corner of my mouth lifted. “We’re all allowed to bring a guest or two. Some of us travel with private security. Gareth has never brought anyone but his team, but Weston never goes anywhere without his assistant, Brynn—I think you’ll like her. Crossland, Ethan, and I have been known to bring dates.”
“Is that what I am?” She leaned forward slightly. “Your date?”
“Well, as of about ten minutes ago, I’m no longer your research project, so if you’re looking for labels...” Was she? Shit, was I? “Then yeah, Daisy, I guess you’re going as my date.” Why the hell did I feel so nervous? I always knew what I wanted, and I always made the right moves to get it, but I’d never wanted anyone quite the way I wanted her.
“Your date,” she repeated, her smile stopping my heart.
“Your date, if that’s what you want. If not, we can stick with me being your lab rat until we get back home. There’s no pressure.”
“I like date.”
Good. I did, too.
“So, no more research questions you’d like to throw at me? Last chance, and all.”
She tugged her lower lip between her teeth and scooted over, closing the distance between us. My pulse jumped. “Actually,” she whispered. “I do have one thing you could help me with.”
“And what is that?” My voice lowered as she grasped the skirt of her dress in her hands and swung one knee over my lap, resting it on the other side of my hip and straddling me.