“We might have to take a client out to dinner.”
“I thought the goal was to appear like I don’t have a big bank balance.”
“I guarantee I could find a suit that’s cheaper than that pair of jeans you’re wearing.”
She took a bite of her biscuit, suddenly realizing how self-conscious she was. Every bite was taken with extreme caution, like she didn’t want to appear as though she didn’t have manners. How could she be attracted to someone who made her feel so out of her element?
“I’m not really a clothes guy.” He shrugged, propping one arm on the back of his chair while he looked around. “My ex bought most of my clothes.”
She nearly choked on the bite of biscuit she’d just swallowed. “Ex?”
The word came out sounding strangled, but she couldn’t do anything about that. The thought of some woman picking out his clothes and sharing his life… It was ridiculous for her to feel jealous about it, but her emotions seemed to have taken over her common sense lately.
“I was engaged for three years.” He looked at her then, making her immediately dab at her mouth with her napkin in case food remained. “It didn’t work out.”
“Three-year engagements rarely do.”
She mumbled that, but the way one side of his mouth lifted revealed he’d heard. “Why do you say that?”
Sighing, she set her napkin back in her lap. “My friends and I have a rule. If we’re in a relationship for more than a year and he hasn’t proposed, we end it. I had a friend, Amelia, who was engaged from the time she started college until a year ago—that was a seven-year engagement. It’s just kind of obvious that if things stall for too long, there’s something not right about the relationship, right?”
He took a long sip of coffee while he seemed to mull that one over. Then he looked at her. She forced herself to return his stare, but she had to fight with everything she had to avoid looking away. His scrutiny was that intense.
“You’re right. It wasn’t right. I knew it, deep down, and I’m pretty sure she knew it even though she was furious when I broke it off.”
Brooke nodded slowly. “You broke it off.”
“I think she saw it coming for a while. She was getting clingier and more jealous, and eventually, I knew I was dragging it out too long. I think I was afraid of being alone.”
Okay, of all the things she expected him to say, that was the last. It showed a vulnerability she hadn’t anticipated. He’d seemed so cocky when he was talking about the three-year engagement, she’d assumed he’d cut her loose and felt nothing about it, but here was this side of him again. It was a side she saw every now and then when he let his guard down and revealed that right now, he was feeling very lost and broken.
Brooke took a deep breath and set her napkin on her tray. “That’s why I’ve stayed single the past couple of years. I want to be comfortable being alone. Happy, even. Then I’ll know when I do fall in love, it’s for the right reasons.”
Crap. He was staring at her likethatagain. She smiled at him, trying to act as though she hadn’t just put the words “fall in love” in the air between them like it was no big deal.
“We should go,” he said without breaking the stare. Suddenly, he stood, leaving her with that warm, melty, shaky feeling she got every time he looked at her like that. She was going to have to get control of herself so she could focus on doing her job. It was the only option right now.
Maybe she was misreading the looks he was giving her, or maybe she wasn’t. But either way, the only option was to keep things professional.
6
This woman was driving him to distraction.
Justin was well aware that he was her boss and anything personal was one hundred percent off-limits. But he couldn’t seem to fight this overwhelming urge to pull her into his arms and give her the kiss of her life.
“This is it.”
They’d been walking through the exhibit hall, looking for their booth, when she’d come to an abrupt halt. That meant the big box of supplies she’d been rolling behind her came to a stop as well, putting it directly in his path. He barely stopped himself in time.
He had to start paying better attention to his surroundings.
“What?”
“This.” She pointed to the right of her, and with sinking disappointment, he turned to look. Yes, that had been exactly what he’d feared. This small walled-off area was their booth. It had the plain blue partitions that surrounded every other booth and no signage at all. Not that he was surprised—but when he’d had a full marketing team, he’d arrived at these events to find things were already done for him.
“I have everything we need right here.” Brooke pointed to the box she’d been toting around. It had been shipped to the front desk and was waiting, with Alyssa’s name on it, when she arrived. Then he remembered they’d had to cancel the setup they’d previously ordered, as it was ridiculously elaborate and expensive. Yet all around them were big, professionally-designed, light-up signs and tables that looked like they’d been borrowed from an Apple store.
“It’s all about image, right?” Brooke reminded him. “Come on.”