Page 27 of The Exception

“Oh.” I picked the menu back up and tried to go about reading again, but it felt like an impossible task. My eyes scanned the words, yet I couldn’t seem to absorb anything because my body was too highly conscious of the man sitting a few feet away. Once again, I lowered the leather book. “What are you having?”

“The grilled salmon.”

My nose wrinkled. “I don’t love fish. Any other recommendations?”

“The blackened chicken Caesar salad is always good.”

“That I can do.”

The minute I set the menu on the table, an attentive waiter came to take our order. When he left, he took the menus with him, and I had nowhere to hide. Jagger’s intense stare made me squirm in my seat.

“So…” I said.

He smirked. I got the feeling he knew I was twisting inside, and damn it if he wasn’t enjoying watching me struggle. I was grateful when he threw me a lifeline by starting the conversation.

“I spoke to Edmund yesterday afternoon. He was happy that I was going to be your mentor. I take it you haven’t mentioned how we first met?”

I shook my head. “Definitely not.”

“Thank you. I value my privacy very much.”

“And I value people not knowing what an idiot I was.”

He smiled. “So tell me what your interests are.”

My pulse quickened. “My interests?”

He chuckled. “Not those interests, Sutton. I’m asking about your career aspirations. This is a mentorship, after all.”

“Oh.” I shook my head, feeling my cheeks heat. “Of course. Sorry.”

Jagger leaned in. “Though if you’d like to share yourotherinterests, I’m open to hearing them. I’m at a bit of an unfair advantage here, considering you know mine.”

“I think you have to actually experience things to figure out what you’re interested in,” I mumbled.

Jagger tapped his finger on the water glass. It looked like he wanted to say something but was in the process of thinking better of it.

I sighed. “Just spit it out.”

He squinted. “What?”

“Whatever you’re holding back. I was thinking about your strategy yesterday—admitting there was an attraction between us in order to move past it. I think it’s more than an attraction—there’s also a curiosity, at least for me. Maybe if we both say what we’re thinking or ask about what has us curious, we can move past that too. A friend recently reminded me that sometimes I get stuck on things I find intriguing. Perhaps we should go through the middle and stop trying to go around the problem.”

Jagger studied me. “This is a business meeting, and I’m your boss. Or more precisely, your boss’s boss’s boss.”

“Okay.” I shrugged. “Then I quit.”

His brows jumped. “You…quit?”

I nodded. “Now, can we speak freely for five minutes?”

Again I could see the wheels in his head spinning. After a long while, he reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out his cell. Punching a few buttons, he set it on the table between us. He smirked as he hit the button to start a five-minute timer and held out his hand.

“Ladies first.”

“I can ask anything and you’ll answer?”

He pointed to the ticking clock. “You’re wasting valuable time.”