His cheek twitched again and he moved to the side of his desk. “Okay.”
Her stomach swirled unsteadily. Her legs were weak and her skin tingled on every surface. She squeezed her eyes shut once more and pressed her lips together, praying for the confidence she needed to finally confess her feelings.
“Constance,” he whispered. Too close.
Her eyes flew open and she found him mere inches away from her. His head was tilted slightly and his lips were turned down into a concerned frown. “If this is about the other day, I’m sorry for how I acted—”
“I like you,” she blurted. Her face burst into flame and her voice cracked. “I’ve had a crush on you for as long as I can remember. But working with you this month has only increased those feelings.”
Shock. That was the only thing she could read on his face. He didn’t move, didn’t show any indication of how he felt regarding her confession. Why wasn’t he saying anything?
Her throat closed up and her heart pounded against the walls of her chest. “I’m sorry, this was a mistake. I should have never come here.” She turned, ready to escape out of his office. “It’s wildly inappropriate—”
James’s hand caught hold of hers, successfully stopping any prayer of getting out of there unscathed. He pulled her back so that she was forced to stand before him, vulnerable and in the process of breaking. This had to be the most embarrassing thing she’d ever done in her entire life. Why couldn’t she have left well enough alone?
Constance stared into his intense eyes, waiting for what felt like an eternity for him to let her down easy. That’s what a gentleman would do. He was probably involved with someone else and she’d been too blind to see it.
“You’re right,” he said softly.
She blinked. Right about what? That he couldn’t stand her? That it was inappropriate to talk about this sort of thing when they should be maintaining a professional relationship? Constance swallowed hard and tugged on her arm to move away from him. She didn’t need him telling her that she was doing something wrong. She already knew that.
His grasp on her remained firm and his eyes grew more serious. “I wasn’t nice when I found out about your date, and there’s no real excuse for it.”
Constance froze. This wasn’t where the conversation was supposed to go. She’d been prepared for him to patronize her, to tell herthank youfor her interest, but he didn’t share the sentiments. He should have told her that she was right about being inappropriate and that their relationship would be better if she’d make sure to keep those thoughts to herself.
This was not that.
“If I was in the habit of making excuses, I’d take this chance to tell you that the reason I wasn’t kind was out of jealousy.”
She sucked in a small breath but only managed to make herself cough on the little bit of spittle that came with the air. He didn’t seem to notice, because he continued as if nothing had happened.
James blew out a breath through pursed lips. “I can’t tell when it started, but one thing’s for sure… I’m falling for you.”
This wasn’t real. It couldn’t be real. He was lying to make her feel better. That’s what he was doing. That was the only thing that made sense.
Still, her heart hammered harder than it had ever done in the past. Her palms had grown sweaty and her legs were about to give out. She shut her eyes and shook her head. “I’m sorry, what?” When she opened her eyes, she figured he’d be smiling at her, laughing at her expense.
No, that was a little harsh. James was too nice to do that.
Instead, his features remained serious. He continued staring at her as if expecting her to say something back.
She hadn’t planned for this.
In fact, when she’d marched into his office, she hadn’t thought past telling him what was weighing on her chest. All she knew was that he needed to know what was in her heart.
He let out an anxious-sounding chuckle. “Will you say something?”
“I—” She snapped her mouth shut and swallowed hard as she shook her head. “I’m the one who said it first.” Goodness, that was lame. “I mean… I don’t know. What do you want me to say?”
James released her and stepped back to lean against his desk. He folded his arms, and the way he studied her made her feel even more naked than she’d felt when she’d confessed her feelings for him. “I guess we have to figure out where we go from here.”
“What do you mean?” There was probably a simple answer to that question. But it appeared that any brain cells she’d had before this conversation started had completely disappeared. Maybe it was because she’d had a crush on him since the very beginning, and somewhere inside her heart, she had settled with the understanding that he wouldn’t return those feelings. She stepped toward him. “Are you suggesting you want to try… to see if things…” Her face flushed and she looked away. There was no delicate way to say it that didn’t sound like she was some fifth grader asking a boy out for the very first time.
“Do you want to go out with me?”
Constance snapped her head up and gazed at him, a smile tugging at her lips. “Really?”
“I don’t see any other path, do you?”