Page 83 of Chasing the Dream

“The conference room, the scene of your fantasy.”

She swallowed hard.

“If I could, I’d lay you out on this table right now and…”

A knock on the door interrupted them. Morgan turned away and started gathering her papers from the table while Gabe shouted, “Come in!”

A man entered bearing a large vase overflowing with colorful blooms and wearing a shirt with the name of a local florist on it. “Sorry to bother you, but I have a delivery for Morgan Delaney. I would have left this at the front desk, but I was instructed to deliver it directly to her.”

Since her hands were full, she said, “Thank you. You can set it on the table.”

After he’d left, she and Gabe exchanged glances, and then she plucked the card from the plastic stand in the middle of the bouquet. She read it silently and then handed him the card.

Looking forward to working with you. Bryan

Gabe shook his head and handed it back to her. “We’ll talk more later,” he muttered, and then he turned and walked out.

She didn’t see him again until the end of the day, when he came by her office to announce they were leaving. It was earlier than usual, and she suspected it was because he wanted to talk to her in private.

Surprisingly, after they got into his car, he didn’t immediately bring up Bryan, but he still looked pensive. Then she remembered what she was supposed to ask him and thought it might be the perfect distraction.

“Maria wanted me to ask you something.”

“What now?”

“She invited us to go out to dinner with her and Matt one night this week.”

He was quiet for a few beats, and she worried this might not have been the best time to ask after all.

“You mean like a double date?”

She bristled at his tone. “Of course not. She just wants us to meet Matt, that’s all.”

He shot her a glance, but his expression was hard to read.

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t want her to get the wrong idea about us.”

She scowled, but he was staring straight ahead, so he didn’t notice. “We can have sex, but we can’t go on a date. Is that it?”

“I thought you said it wasn’t a date.”

She threw her hands in the air. “You’re impossible!”

He didn’t respond, and they sat in awkward silence for the remainder of the drive. When he pulled into Maria’s driveway and put the car in park, she turned to him.

“Should I tell her no, then?”

“I need to think about it.”

“Don’t hurt yourself,” she spat. Then she flung open the passenger door and hurriedly climbed out. She forced herself not to look back as she stomped up to the door and let herself in. Once she was inside, she leaned her back against the door and listened for the sound of him driving away. Her heart was beating so loudly that she thought she might have missed it. Turning around, she looked through the peephole and saw that he was still parked in the driveway and he looked conflicted.

She felt the same way. They’d gone from making out in his office to arguing about Bryan to barely talking all in the span of eight hours. She was emotionally drained, yet, she hated the idea of him driving away angry.

Deciding to extend an olive branch, she swung open the door, but it was too late. He’d already backed down the driveway and was driving away.