Faking It to Making It
Page 20
His voice was serious though, steady, making her feel as if he could see perfectly well through her bravado. Her insides felt suddenly squiggly.
‘Because if you were...’
‘Were what?’
Her thumping heart seemed to be working independently of her mind.
Please. Was she actually having a swooning moment over Harry Stephens of all people? After all she’d been through in the past had her body learned nothing? Did her heart have no reservations about reacting to the most unreliable playboy bachelor London had ever seen? Over the past year or so, he’d had more female workers in tears than she’d had hot coffees! She gritted her teeth. Obviously she’d been thrown off balance by discovery of the bet. Her usual defences had been scrambled.
‘If you were thinking about dating again, maybe you’d like to go for a drink,’ he said.
‘With you?’
The question exploded from her lips in the form of a laugh. Because it was laughable, wasn’t it? That after her past experiences she would look twice at someone like him.
‘Your amusement could be construed as an insult, you know,’ he said mildly.
‘I can’t,’ she said. ‘Sorry.’
Stock answer. No excuse required. Always worked on the run-of-the-mill guys in the office, those that dared broach the aloof distance she kept between herself and her colleagues. She could count the times she’d been asked out at work on one hand and, come to think of it, two of them had been in the last month or so. Her cheeks flushed hotly. Now she knew why—because there was a pot of cash waiting to be scooped by the man who managed to land her. She wondered again if Harry was involved.
‘Of course you can,’ he said. ‘No one works twenty-four-seven. Not even you. It’s only a drink. An hour. Everyone has an hour.’
‘I’m busy,’ she said again. ‘I don’t date.’
In Harry Stephens’s world, of course, no meant maybe. He realised it was a simple matter of finding the right approach. One that might appeal to her reluctance to get out there instead of feeding it. Start small. If she hadn’t dated for years, more than a drink or a coffee was going to seem monumental. And most important of all, offer some kind of incentive.
Make her think he could be part of the solution instead of part of the problem.
‘Just hear me out,’ he said. ‘I’ve got a proposition for you.’
‘What kind of proposition?’
The upset tone had slipped from her voice. He could almost hear the ticking over of her mind, her attention raised because he’d given his question a detached work-style tone.
‘I’m exactly what you need,’ he said. ‘To help you get back out there.’
FAKING IT TO MAKING IT
ISBN: 9781460316894
Copyright © 2013 by Ally Blake
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