A Man Worth Shaving For: A Sweet Romantic Comedy

by Michelle Pennington

  “Will you please go back to your own office?”

  “No. Also, am I on the list now? I don’t want to brag, but I think I could give Chris some good competition. You haven’t even seen me with my shirt off yet.”

  The yet literally stopped my heart. I stood up, completely shocked at how much I wanted that to happen, and only then realized that I had no idea what to do next. Run away? Grab my umbrella and beat him with it?

  Running away wouldn’t get me fired, so I headed for the door.

  Unfortunately, Logan moved faster than I could have imagined. In the same moment I grabbed the doorknob, he leaned his right shoulder against the door, trapping me there. With a mischievous smirk, he took my hand in his and pulled it towards him.

  “Logan! People will see.”

  “Relax. I’m behind the door. I need to make a few observations.” He gripped my wrist with his left hand and ran his right pointer finger over mine. “Hmmm, your skin is so soft.”

  “Yours is too—for a man.” I pointed out in a dry voice. Unfortunately, the effect was ruined by the slight, revealing quiver in it. From the quick glance he threw me, he hadn’t missed it.

  But he focused on my hand again, this time tracing the shape of one of my fingernails. “No manicure. Clipped short—for a woman. But pretty and practical. What’s this?” His feather light caress tickled and set chills up my arm.

  My voice almost failed me. “A paper cut.”

  “Ouch. It looks inflamed. You should put something on that.”

  I tried to pull back since his grip had loosened, but his fingers closed tightly again—not painfully, just firmly.

  “What’s this? Tessa…you have chill bumps.”

  “It’s cold in here.”

  “And yet, you still look flushed.” Then he turned my hand so that my palm faced up, and he pressed his fingers to the inside of my wrist. “Is your pulse always this fast?”

  This time when I yanked my hand away, he let me go. I wanted to use it to smack the grin off his face. “Have you had enough fun yet?”

  “I don’t suppose there’s any way you’d go to lunch with me? We could leave separately and meet somewhere.”

  The sharp flash of temptation that shot through me caught me by surprise. But I hadn’t completely lost my good judgment. “I was going to ask Krista to lunch since it’s her first day. You’re welcome to come with us if you want.”

  He winced. “Uh, that’s okay—even though I am curious if the robot eats.”

  I chuckled. “I’ll report back. Now, are you going to let me out of here?”

  “Against my wishes, yes. But only because I see sparks of murder in your eyes.”

  As soon as he stepped back, I opened the door. But I paused. “Don’t forget your notebook. There’s a lot of confidential information in there I don’t want getting out.”

  “Not as much as there’s going to be. I intend to make a full analysis of this phenomenon.”

  If I’d had any hope that he was just teasing, the next two days proved otherwise.

  If I stepped away from my desk, when I came back, I found notes with compliments written in his familiar masculine script, little foil-covered chocolate hearts in my coat pockets, and even a Thor action figure holding a rose instead of his hammer. That was standing on my desk Friday morning in full view of anyone who came in. I wasn’t exactly sure what data he hoped to get from all of it, since he was never around when I got them, and if that had been all, I might have been fine. But it wasn’t.

  Before, he’d maintained the same serious, professional demeanor toward me at the office that he showed everyone else, except for our few private conversations. But now when our eyes met through the glass of our offices, he’d smile in a blatant, flirtatious way. If he passed me in the hall, he’d wink. In meetings he made a point of sitting beside me and accidentally bumping my leg with his. If he’d been anyone else, I would have shut him down in no uncertain manner…but the truth was that I liked it. No matter how I pretended to be annoyed, inside I fluttered and floated my way through the day, alternating between anticipation of our next meeting and sheer terror that someone would notice.

  As the time ticked by on Friday afternoon, I tried to wrap up all my work for the week but couldn’t concentrate, knowing that Logan was still working in his office. What would he do if we were both here till the building was empty? Would he want to see me over the weekend?

  My heart raced. What would I say?

  I was so lost in my thoughts that a light knock on my door nearly gave me a heart attack. “Come in?”

  Krista popped her head in. “Do you think I need to stay late since Mr. Jennings is? He’s on the phone, so I hate to interrupt him to ask.”

  I glanced across the hall. Logan sat in his chair, turned toward the window so I could only see his profile as he talked on the phone. “No, don’t worry about it. I know you’re still working out your notice at the restaurant.”

  “Thank you. I’ll see you on Monday.”

  I had to smile. “Definitely. You’ve been doing great so far, by the way.”

  She nodded and allowed a touch of warmth to soften her expression. “Thank you. I’ve enjoyed it.”

  After she’d gone, I soon found myself with nothing else to do and thus no more excuses to linger. Logan was still on his call.

  Shaking my head at my stupid disappointment, I shut down my computer and gathered my things. I walked slowly to the elevator, refusing to look at Logan again as I passed, and waited with what remained of my patience for the elevator to open. When it did, it took all of my self-control to step inside. But as I reached out to push the ground floor button, Logan’s hand caught the closing doors and pushed them open.

  My hand dropped in surprise as I stared up at him. The amount of relief I felt to be close to him, to see him one more time today was ridiculous but undeniable. “You forgot your coat,” I said stupidly.

  “I’m not leaving yet, but I couldn’t let you go without saying goodbye.” The doors closed but since I hadn’t pushed the button for the ground floor, the elevator didn’t move. Logan did though. Two slow, deliberate steps toward me. His hands drifted up to cup my elbows. With a gentle tug, he pulled me closer. “I have to fly back to Chicago for the weekend.”

  “Oh.” All at once, I knew I would have agreed to see him tomorrow if he’d asked, and Sunday as well. He’d managed to break down my defenses in just three days, but it took feeling the sharp pang of disappointment to admit it to myself. “You’ll be back on Monday?”

  “Yes. But how will I make it till then?”

  I chuckled. “The same way you made it before we met a week ago.”

  His eyes bored down into mine. “That seems like another lifetime.”

  Somehow it felt like the most natural and necessary thing in the world to wrap my arms around his waist and press my face into his chest. His arms tightened around me as he buried his face in my hair. I could have stayed there indefinitely, never getting enough of being in his arms. His waist was a slim column of toned muscle, and with my head on his warm, firm chest, I drifted on the rise and fall of his labored breath. Somehow, even this close to his perfection, I didn’t feel at all self-conscious about my soft curves. From the way he held me, I could not doubt his own attraction to me, so I let go of all my silly concerns and sank into the moment.

  Much too soon, he let out a deep breath and raised his head. When I looked up at him, he brushed a strand of hair back from my face and tried to smile. “See you soon, Tessa.”

  Wait. He wasn’t going to kiss me? I’d been sure…been waiting….

  As he hit the button to open the door, I put my arms around his neck and tugged his head down close to mine and kissed him. I stepped back, immediately sure that I’d just made a complete fool of myself. Acting on impulse, I hadn’t even aimed well, so my kiss landed at the corner of his mouth and my chin had bumped his. The elevator bell dinged, and the door opened, but Logan didn’t leave. He just stared down at
me, his eyes fixed on my lips. Then he moved like flash of lightening, and the air around us electrified. His hands gripped my hips, propelling me backward against the wall. His left arm slid around my waist while his right hand cupped my face, angling it up to his.

  As awkward as my kiss had been, his was poetry. His lips caught at mine, urgent and thorough. The elevator door closed again, but it barely registered in my foggy brain. No experience, not even our first kiss, could compare to this outpouring of emotion. So many pent-up feelings between us had at last found an outlet.

  It was Logan who finally pulled away, but only by a few inches and so slowly that our lips clung together. “Well, that was…”

  “Something,” I finished for him as hesitated.

  “I’m glad you finally admit it.” He stepped back like I was a cliff he might fall over. “And don’t you dare forget it while I’m gone.” With that said, he smacked the control panel and stepped back through the opening door into the hallway. We stared at each other, silently, but saying things with our eyes that there were no words for, until the doors closed again. My finger hovered over the open door button, but with more self-control than I knew I possessed, I hit the button for the ground floor and resigned myself to a very long weekend.

  Chapter Seventeen

  For the first time in our friendship, Madi and I avoided each other every time we were in the apartment together. While she was gone in the mornings, I lazed around on the couch under my favorite blanket, watching K-dramas and eating ramen noodles with chopsticks. Missing Logan like I was, I couldn’t bring myself to do anything more productive than wash a few loads of laundry—which became a pile of clean clothes on the end of my bed—and paint my nails in a soft, shell-pink polish.

  When Madi came home, we exchanged an awkward greeting before I disappeared into my room for the rest of the night. We’d probably figure it out later, but for now, I didn’t have the emotional reserves to work it out with her.

  Besides K-dramas that made me miss Logan even more, the best part of the weekend was texting with him, but he must have been busy because his messages only came early in the morning and late at night. Some were sweet, some funny, but all of them let me know he was thinking about me as much as I was thinking about him. The best one came on Monday morning—a selfie of him with damp hair, as if he’d just gotten out of the shower, with his blue dress shirt still unbuttoned at the collar.

  Heading to the airport soon. Can’t wait to see my valentine.

  I’d been half-asleep, but that jerked me wide awake. Not only was the picture devastating, I had completely forgotten what day it was.

  Should I have gotten something for Logan? What was I supposed to do for a guy I’d kissed twice but was not dating?

  Man. I’d been looking forward to this morning for two days, but now there was a whole new, complicated element to it that I had no idea how to deal with.

  As I rolled out of bed and got into the shower, I hoped that relaxing under the hot water would send inspiration. In the end, I only ended up shaving my legs…as if that even mattered. It wasn’t like Logan would even know. But somehow, it did give me more confidence.

  Deciding I could use all the confidence I could get, I dried my hair and curled in into soft waves even though it took forever. I spent more time than usual on my makeup, and since my legs were shaved, I wore my black pencil skirt with a white, flowing blouse that had thin, vertical black strips. Since it was Valentine’s Day, I opted for red heels and lipstick. Maybe I didn’t put enough effort into my appearance most of the time, but when I put my mind to it, I could crush it.

  As I got to work, I rode up in the elevator surrounded by memories of everything that had happened there on Friday. By the time the door opened, my heart was pounding so fast I couldn’t breathe normally. I was glad I had a few hours until Logan would arrive so I had time to figure out an appropriate gift for whatever our relationship was, but mostly I hated looking into his office as I passed and not seeing him in there.

  He still managed to drop a bomb on me though.

  Since I hadn’t even glanced toward my office, I didn’t see the huge bouquet of yellow roses on my desk or the giant white teddy bear sitting in my chair until I opened the door. I froze, gaping at them—cliché, over-the-top, but somehow still sweet. Sweet if it wasn’t for the fact that he’d just ruined everything. What the heck was he thinking? Did he not remember that this was an office full of women? There was no way to hide these. They were like a giant, flashing sign that there was a man in my life.

  Rushing forward, I pulled my coat off and dropped it in a heap on the chair in front of my desk with my purse. If I hurried, maybe I could stuff them in a storage closet until the end of the day.

  “Hey, have you gotten any more résumés for—?” It was Angela, her mouth hanging open, her eyes glued to my roses. “Tessa! You have a boyfriend?”

  “I’ve got something,” I said, not sure how else to answer. Angela would never know that the word something had layers of meaning for me it wouldn’t for others.

  She came forward and smelled the roses. “Wow. These are heaven. Who is he?”

  I grabbed the bear out of my seat and moved it to the top of my filing cabinets so I could sit down as I vomited words. “Look, this whole thing is really, really new and I wasn’t expecting this and I don’t know where things are going, so I’d rather not say right now.”

  When I turned around again, not only did I have Angela watching me with a gleam in her eyes, but Dawn as well, who must have just come in. “Yellow roses?” she asked, moving over to inspect them with Angela.

  “A giant teddy bear too,” Angela pointed out.

  Dawn’s eyes flicked to the bear, but the roses had her attention. “My husband always sends me red roses. I don’t have the heart to tell him that I hate red roses. But these are so bright and pretty.”

  “They smell better too,” Angela said, pulling one out of the crystal vase for her to smell.

  It was best to just ignore them. They’d go away eventually. So I turned on my laptop and straightened my desk while everything loaded. For some reason, all the scattered paper clips, used post-it notes, and dust bunnies bothered me this morning. Maybe the roses made it all look shabby.

  “It’s kind of mean though, if you ask me,” Dawn said.

  I looked up at her warily. “What do you mean?

  She shrugged in that careless way of hers. “Red means love and passion, white means innocence or secrecy, pink means sympathy. My favorite is coral, which means desire.”

  “And yellow?” I asked, despite the fact that I was pretty sure I didn’t want to hear the answer.

  “Friendship,” she said as if relaying bad news. “Did you just get friend-zoned?”

  Silence fell between us as we all stared at the roses. Angela broke it first with a scoff. “No way. Nobody knows that crap anymore. Especially not men.”

  “Was there a note?” Dawn asked.

  My brows drew together. Had I missed one? “I didn’t see one.” I dug through the roses but came up with nothing. Angela and Dawn searched my desk too, undoing some of the straightening I’d just finished, but they didn’t find anything either.

  Finally Dawn shrugged and gave up. “I guess you’ll just have to ask him later, whoever he is. But chances are he has no idea that he just friend-zoned you with flowers.”

  I plopped back down in my chair and stared at the offending roses. This just kept getting better and better.

  Angela grinned. “Don’t worry—the bear definitely means he’s into you. He wants you to have someone to cuddle with when he can’t be in your bed.”

  Of course, Melinda chose that exact moment to come in. “Who’s in Tessa’s bed?”

  I wanted to die, but Angela laughed. “We don’t know. She won’t tell us.”

  “Nobody has been in my bed but me,” I informed them.

  “Of course not,” Melinda said as she smelled the roses. “She has a roommate, remember? They proba
bly go over to his place for that sort of thing.”

  This was becoming a nightmare. Surely I was going to wake up any second. “We don’t go anywhere for that sort of thing. We aren’t doing that sort of thing.”

  “Told you. You’ve been friend-zoned.” Dawn said again.

  “Dawn, can’t you see you’re making her feel bad,” Angela said. “Tessa hasn’t had a boyfriend in…well, I don’t remember her ever having a boyfriend. So just leave her alone, okay? Can’t you see she’s starting to freak out?”

  “Tessa has a boyfriend?” another voice asked from the doorway, yet another of the women in the office.

  I didn’t even look up to see who it was. This was the end of everything. Slumping over my desk, I dropped my head into my hands and clenched my teeth. The news that I was dating someone would sweep like wildfire through the whole office within the hour. The only thing that made me feel better was the thought that I finally knew what to do for Logan’s valentine gift.

  This time I really was going to hire a hit man.

  No. It would be more fun to murder him myself.

  Chapter Eighteen

  My office became some sort of Valentine’s Day tourist attraction as everyone in the office came over to check out my roses. Desperate to escape the attention and speculation, I grabbed my laptop and slipped away to the small meeting room that was becoming my second office. Even then, I couldn’t focus much as I waited for Logan to get to the office, but at least no one was around to bother me.

  Just when I thought I might go insane, I got a text from Logan.

  Where are you?

  In my hideout.

  I had to wait a few minutes before I got a reply. Melinda insists on meeting with me. Don’t go anywhere.

  Yeah. That wasn’t going to happen. My heart was beating in fluttery expectation of seeing him again, but I wasn’t about to leave this room until we’d had this out.

  Since it was almost an hour before he came, I was not exactly cheerful when Logan stepped into the room. Still, that first connection of our eyes since our kiss on Friday blew several fuses in my brain.