“Not a problem.”
I’m surprised when she leans in, placing her hands on my shoulders and kisses me on the cheek. The skin there prickles with heat underneath the feel of her lips.
“The door is always open for you, neighbor,” she whispers before pulling away.
My hand itches to come up and touch the spot that still simmers with heat. I curl it into a fist, forcing it into my thigh instead.
“I have to go.”
I turn and leave, feeling my irritation set in once again.
The woman has a way of teasing every one of your senses, making them all light up at once. I don’t just feel her lips on my cheek, I smell that floral sent following me into the hall, I taste how dry my mouth is, making me swallow hard, that vision of her in her robe is practically imprinted on my eyes, that tinkling laughter echoes in my ears.
No, I definitely won’t be stepping foot into that honey trap of a party tonight.
Chapter Seven Giuseppe
The rest of the morning flies by without incident once I’m in the office.
It’s a rare morning that I don’t run into Todd and Co., since we work on the same floor.
This was blessedly one of those mornings.
I’m so heavily focused on re-reading a particularly dense contract that I helped put together, I don’t even notice when someone walks into my office. At least not until she’s practically at my desk.
“Emily,” I say in surprise, tearing my eyes away from my computer once I sense her presence.
In person, she looks even better than the picture they finally took down from her old job. The straight, dark brown hair once held back by those annoyingly oversized headbands is now cut to her shoulders and parted on one side making her look more mature and sophisticated. The sweaters and tweed jackets straight out of a Ralph Lauren ad have been replaced by a smart suit that is streamlined along her thin, athletic figure.
She smiles, revealing a row of perfectly white, small teeth.
“Your door was open,” she says apologetically. “I thought since I’m the one invading your home turf, I should be the one dropping by to say ‘Hi’ first. I have a break in between orientation. Do you have a moment to catch up?”
For her, of course I do. “Sure. Come in.”
“Looks like we both ended up in New York after all, and at the same firm. Go figure,” she says as she takes one of the chairs across from my desk.
“You deserve to be here as much as me, obviously. I always knew you’d make it to New York, and here you are.”
“And here I am.” she echoes. “I wasn’t sure how to tell you about it before I came. I figured once you saw the notice the firm sent out you’d get in touch with me first.”
“To be honest, I usually glance over those things without paying too much attention.”
She nods with understanding, then tilts her head to give me a sentimental smile. “You look good, Jesse.”
She knows my real name of course, but I went by Jesse all through Harvard and she never considered calling me Giuseppe.
Then again, I also never encouraged her to use it.
Somehow it didn’t feel right.
“You look good too, Emily.”
Suddenly, her brow wrinkles in confusion and she leans in closer to inspect me. “Is that…a pink feather?”
My eyes widen in surprise and I drop them to the point where Emily’s focus is. It’s somewhere near my collar underneath my jaw, so I don’t see anything. Instead, I blindly swipe at it, hoping it falls away on its own.
“No, let me,” Emily says, standing up and rounding the desk to bend in closer.
She reaches out and I feel her fingertips briefly glance across my neck. But what sends a mild tingle through my nervous system is the whisper of something light and fluffy that could only have come from one woman.
Dammit, Honey!
Thank God I didn’t run into Todd, Vaughn, and Andrew this morning. I can only imagine the fun they would have had with this.
Emily pulls back and laughs in bewilderment, giving me a hesitant look as she places it on my desk. “I guess someone left a little souvenir with their goodbye kiss this morning. Better than lipstick on your collar I suppose.”
I hear the tinge of jealousy in her voice and I’m not ashamed to be pleased by it.
Still, I’d rather it wasn’t this, of all the most absurd things, that brought it about.
“It’s not what you think. I have this neighbor who—never mind.”
Emily’s lips twist with uncertain amusement.
I think she’d be less amused if she knew it was someone like Honey that had just made her jealous.
My mind plays back the events of this morning, and I rethink that assumption.
But the point is moot.
After all, Emily is right here in my office only a little more than a foot away, staring down at me with obvious longing.
It’s the perfect opportunity to—
Emily perks up, taking two steps back to widen the distance between us. She coughs to compose herself and circles back to the other side of the desk.
I get it; not in the workplace.
There will be plenty of time to catch up later, maybe with drinks after work. Hell, we could probably pick up right where we left off.
Just looking at her in that suit, how well it fits into this law firm environment is a reminder of why I was with her so long in the first place.
I’d gone to Columbia University prior to Harvard Law, so I didn’t completely feel like a fish out of water by the time I headed up to Cambridge. But up there, I was surrounded by the kind of heavy hitters in life that could make anyone feel like they didn’t belong.
I had the smarts, and eventually the grades and class rank, but I never fully broke out of that poor-boy-from-New-Jersey mold I’d been
