Page 111 of Getting Down to Business

“You okay?” Grayson pointed at her pout.

“This one is running off with some strange guy to Philadelphia. All my friends are growing up and I don’t wanna.” She stuck her tongue out at Mia who returned the gesture adding devil horns.

“Stop it, both of you. If you’re good, I’ll take you for ice cream later.”

“I’ll be good,” Mia offered.

“Sorry, my offer was meant to cheer up Liss, not consort with the deserter who I have no shot of getting into bed. I’m sure they have ice cream in Philly.” Grayson’s joke made them all laugh.

“It probably sucks.” Alyssa added, and Mia gave her the finger.

“Enough, girls. Liss, I came in here to tell you we have a meeting. The grown-up kind. So get your crayons and come on.”

“Shit!” Alyssa grabbed up her tablet and folder as she headed for the door. “We’re not done with this conversation.”

“Yes, we are.” Mia waved and started off toward the elevator.

“Last I saw her, she was sitting on some guy’s lap,” Gray mentioned.

“Not some guy, apparently. The guy.”

Liss sat next to Gray in the meeting room, mainly because it was the only seat available, but also because she felt unsettled and being close to Grayson made her feel more secure. He was like a security blanket with a penis.

As the meeting started, Alyssa found herself thinking about where this was going. Being close to a man was a bad thing, something she wanted to avoid. Somewhere in the next hour, she was so focused on how she was feeling about Grayson, she wasn’t paying attention.

“…and we want to congratulate Alyssa for taking on the Leedom Enterprises account. I’m sure it’s the first of many we’ll be able to throw her way.”

She jumped when Randy said her name. Everyone smiled and clapped. She nodded in thanks, hoping nothing was said before that. No one asked for a speech, and the meeting continued, so she could go back to her analysis.

“You okay?” Grayson whispered while reports were handed out.

“Yeah. I’m good.” She wasn’t good. She was freaking out. If Mia could flip from the detached single person to love-swept automaton in the span of a weekend with a perfect stranger, what hope did Alyssa have of fending off Mr. Perfect sitting next to her?

It was the damn feelings from that night on the dock that had messed up everything. Ever since then, she was having difficulty getting things back to normal. Well, she was going to do something about that. Their first encounter was nothing more than attraction and sex. It had worked for her many times before. She would go back to what she knew worked. Plain old sex without any connection.

Right now.

Or as soon as the meeting was over.

* * * *

Something was up with Alyssa. Grayson was sitting two feet away from her and could feel the tension snapping in the air.

He had an idea it had something to do with Mia and her new development. While he had doubts about a relationship developing into love in only two days, he did feel optimistic that it was possible to turn a committed single person into a romantic. Maybe he had a shot with Alyssa. They hadn’t talked much about their confessions from last Friday night. They’d chatted, and talked about work, but she’d slept in her own room on Saturday and Sunday night. He hadn’t pushed.

When the meeting was dismissed, he was surprised when she followed him back to his office. And even more shocked when she closed the door and slid his guest chair over in front of it.

“You okay?” he asked.

“No. I need sex.” Giving the door a look and a nod she stepped up in front of him and reached for his pants.

“Now?”

“Yes. Now. Just sex. No funny comments that only we would understand. No telling me I’m pretty or sexy or any of that. Just sex without emotions or speaking.”

“I don’t have a lock on my door.” He studied the chair and frowned.

“That’s why I braced it shut with the chair.”