At least, I’m fairly certain it’s not.
I like her. Deep down, I really like her.
Lying here in the dark cloak of night, I make a deal with myself. I can spend more time with her—hell, I can even mess around with her if things come to that point—but I promise myself one thing. I won’t hurt her, won’t lead her on and make her believe this could be more. I’m going to be married in the next six months, and I know that true, everlasting love is a false promise that only lovesick fools would believe in.
Life doesn’t fucking work that way.
Chapter Eleven
Camryn
It’s Friday afternoon, and I’m at the office.
Being the good (nosy) friend she is, Anna has already sufficiently grilled me about my dinner out with Sterling this past weekend, and of course, our evening out last night. I downplayed the strange sexual tension that crackled between us.
The intimacy of the restaurant. The way his gaze stayed glued to mine. His low voice.
My cock is a big boy.
A shudder zips through me at the memory.
And then last night, the way he only had eyes for me, despite the roomful of gorgeous women clamoring for his attention.
There’s just something magnetic about him. Of course he’s attractive, but it’s so much more than that. His confidence. His candor. It’s all so intriguing.
If we were both single, I could see myself falling fast for him.
Well, we are both single, but it’s more complicated than that. He’s trying to get married, and I’ve sworn off men.
We discussed him swinging by the office today if he got a break in his work day. I’m sure we covered everything last night, but just in case there was anything we forgot, he insisted.
Now that he’s almost due to arrive, my heart is in a frenzy, and I swear I’ve typed and deleted the same sentence three times. Slamming my fingers against the keyboard, I manage to finish the e-mail without typos and finally click Send.
“You okay?” Anna asks.
Letting out a frustrated sigh, I nod. With the last-minute arrangement to bring on an assistant, I’ve spent a good part of the week getting Anna up to speed on all of my current projects, which means I’ve fallen behind big-time on answering e-mails and voice mails. But Anna’s a quick study, and is already off and running on creating a mock-up social-media campaign for a client that I’ll review tomorrow.
We’re sharing an office space, which is fine by me. I have a desk in the center of the room facing the door, and Anna is seated at the L-shaped desk in the corner, typing away.
I refuse to glance up and check the clock yet again, but when I hear a British accent, all bets are off and my gaze flies to the door.
Sterling’s in the hall, talking to Noah and Olivia. Today he’s dressed in a tailored navy-blue suit with a crisp white shirt and pale pink tie. Only a confident man wears pink.
A warm shiver passes through my body. Dear God, he’s attractive. He’s shaking hands with Noah and laughing about something.
I rise to my feet and wander out to join them. As I approach, Sterling turns to Olivia and gestures to her belly.
“May I?”
She shrugs. “Most people don’t even ask. Go ahead.”
He places one large palm against her belly and grins at her, his eyes crinkling in the corners. “Wow. This is incredible.” Pulling his hand away, he shakes Noah’s hand again. “Good job, mate. Makes me want to get someone pregnant.”
He chuckles, and I see several of the office girls smile in his direction while my ovaries do a dance of joy.
Get in line, ladies.
I approach and stop beside Olivia. “Hi, guys.”
Sterling’s gaze pulls over to mine like we’re two sides of a magnet. “Cami,” he says, his voice low.
“Are you ready to go over the plan?” I ask.
Noah and Olivia are watching us wide-eyed, and while I’m trying to figure out what’s up with their weird vibes, Sterling nods and says cheerio to Noah and Olivia before following me into my office.
The space seems smaller with his masculine presence looming.
Anna turns and her focus lands on Sterling, her gaze drifting up his six-foot-plus form. Her mouth opens and she just kind of stares blankly.
“Anna, this is Sterling Quinn. Our new client,” I say pointedly.
This snaps her from her likely erotic daydream, and she manages to say a shaky hi.
“’Ello, love,” Sterling says brightly.
“Go ahead and have a seat.” I indicate the floral-print accent chair in front of my desk.
Sterling obeys, and I sit across from him. The desk between us feels like a necessary barrier.
“I made some progress on our plan this morning, contacting a few local hotels to obtain quotes on renting ballroom space for our recruiting event. I think we’ll have a good turnout, and we’ll need the space.”
He nods along.
“I’m aiming to hold the event about four weeks from now. Make sure your calendar is free.”
“Of course,” he says smoothly.
“As soon as we have a firm date and the location nailed down, I’ll begin placing ads on the local dating sites to solicit candidates. After I screen them for the obvious stuff, like making sure they don’t have any felonies, or an ex-husband they tried to mutilate, you can have a look at the prospects and let me know if any of them suit you.”
He nods again. “Very thorough, Miss Palmer. I’m impressed. You’ve thought of everything.”