A Man Worth Shaving For: A Sweet Romantic Comedy

by Michelle Pennington

  “I like it too,” I said, amazed at how the two letters seemed to glue all the pieces of my heart together.

  “Okay, the first thing we need to think about is attraction.”

  “Why that first?” I asked, the humor of the situation starting to rouse me from my embarrassment and shame.

  “Because it’s the easiest and most obvious part of this equation.” He wrote Attraction? on the board and turned to face me again. “What do you think? Are you attracted to me? You can look in my notebook if you need to see some of the data.”

  “You made notes about me being attracted to you?” I grabbed the notebook and starting thumbing through it. He took it from me and turned it to the right page.

  I looked down the page, my cheeks burning as I saw each item. “Blushes when I tease her. Looks at me often. Likes it when I take my suit coat off. Eyes get drowsy when we kiss…” I couldn’t keep going and still meet his eyes, so I shut the notebook. “Well, apparently you already know my answer is yes. What about you? Are you attracted to me?

  He raised an eyebrow at me. “That list is on the next page. Since this one made you blush like that, you should definitely wait to read it.”

  “Dear heavens. And Bree read this?”

  With a careless shrug, he said, “I can only assume.”

  “No wonder she wanted to hurt me.”

  “Most likely. Now, please direct your lovely eyes back to the board. We’ve established that there is absolutely no issue in the attraction area.”

  I held up my hand. “Wait a second. If we’re being for real with each other, I have to know. Are you really okay with…my size?”

  Logan blinked at me. “Your size?”

  “Yeah. That I’m not skinny? I mean, I think you are, but there’s just this lingering, nagging voice that tells me I’m not your usual style.”

  Logan kept eye contact with me as he grabbed a chair and swung it around in front of me. He sat down and took my hands. “For the record, I don’t have a usual style. I’ve never dated much. In high school, the girls weren’t interested. By college, I was too focused on my studies.”

  “So you never noticed beautiful women.”

  “I noticed, but there was never one type that I preferred more than others. And when I first saw you, I didn’t think Oh, there’s my type. I did think you were a strikingly beautiful woman. You had an intelligent and, dare I say, sassy glint in your eyes. But truthfully, it was the defiant way you told me you were having problems with your stick-on bra that caught my attention.”

  Embarrassed all over again, I pressed my hands over my face. “Oh, that night. I never would have admitted that if I thought I’d ever see you again.”

  He chuckled and pried my hands away. “We both acted out of character that night. But look what happened because of that. If I’d met you for the first time here in the office, I would have forced myself to ignore you, just as I’ve done to other women I’ve worked with, but because we’d already opened Pandora’s Box, so to speak, it was impossible. Not that any of that actually answers your question, does it?” He took a deep breath. “Yes, Tessa, I love your curves. You’re so feminine, and if you must know, I love the way you feel pressed against me—the way you fit in my arms. I could stare at you for hours and never stop thinking how beautiful you are.”

  I had to bite my lip to keep from grinning like an idiot. “Thanks.”

  “And while I’m confessing here, that night at your apartment, I went out to the kitchen for a drink of water after Madi had gone to her room. I could have gone home that night, but I didn’t. There was nothing that could have dragged me out of there when I had a chance to cuddle with you all night.”

  My heart had gone into overdrive. “I should probably get onto you for that, but I loved waking up with you too much.”

  We sat and smiled at each other for a long, sappy minute before Logan shook his head and stood up. “Okay. Back to business.”

  “This is business?”

  It was the first time Logan had ever looked vulnerable. “Yes. The whole data collecting and analysis has been a bit of joke, but in reality, I have no idea what I’m doing here. This is my way of trying to force an emotional, out-of-control, unpredictable phenomenon into logical parameters.”

  I nodded, oddly touched. “All right then. Let’s do this.”

  He turned back to the board and wrote obstacles in bold, black letters. “Okay, it’s been a problem that I’ve been consulting the business you work for, but that’s over with.”

  “True, but when people find out I’m dating you instead of Damien, they’re going to draw conclusions about how I became CEO.” I paused, uncomfortable at a new thought. “They wouldn’t be right, would they?”

  “Not at all. If anything, I very nearly ignored my better judgment about it because I wasn’t sure it would make you happy. It will be a stressful job, and, frankly, it will take up a lot of your time in the beginning—time that I want all to myself. But in my official capacity, I knew I had to recommend the person who was best for the job.”

  “And that’s me? You really think I’ve got what it takes to be the CEO?”

  “You’re perfect. Maybe not for another company, but you are for this one. You believe in the product, you love the company’s mission, and you definitely know how to get the right people in the right places.” And then he grinned at me. “You embody Booms and Nibbles.”

  I raised an eyebrow at him. “Oh, I do, do I?”

  He nodded and let his eyes sweep over me. “Perfectly. Now, back to obstacles. How are things going with Madi?”

  “Better. We’re fine.” I crossed my legs and smiled up at him teasingly. “In fact, she seems to be completely over you. Though she does want to murder you right now, but I’ll probably be able to change her mind on that once I explain that I made a mistake.”

  After an exaggerated wince, Logan said, “Let’s hope so.”

  “Now, what about your work schedule? How often will I be able to see you? Cuz if it’s not often, I’m going to have a major problem with that.”

  “That’s actually why I went back to Chicago last weekend. I’m working out a deal with the owner of the consulting firm to open a new branch here and let me run it. I thought of different things I could do to move here, but honestly, I love what I do and I’m good at it. Luckily, he liked the idea. With Dallas and Houston so close, there is a strong market here. It might take some time, but one way or another, I’m moving here to be close to you—and I will travel as little as possible.”

  My eyes prickled with tears. “You’d do that for me?”

  “Of course, but my decision was selfishly motivated as well. I simply can’t stand being away from you.”

  “Same,” I said, my voice soft and uneven.

  He held my gaze for a long minute, then turned back to the board. “And now we come to the last point. What exactly do we feel for each other?”

  “We have to figure that out? Exactly?”

  “Yes.” As we spoke, he focused on drawing a horizontal line the length of the board. At the far end, he wrote Acquaintances, and then at even intervals he wrote more levels such as admiration, attraction, crush, like, love, devotion. At the very end, he wrote, Forever.

  I couldn’t help but notice that his writing was messier than usual since his hand seemed a bit unsteady. And when he turned and handed me the marker, his face looked tense.

  “You want me to say where we are?” I asked, appalled.

  He nodded.

  I took the marker from him and put the cap on it before dropping it back onto the table. Then I stepped up to him and put my arms around his neck. “I don’t know exactly where we are—where I am. I haven’t let myself be brave enough to think about it yet. But I do know I’m crazy about you and I want nothing more than for us to be together. The truth is, this might be love. Or maybe it will become love. But whatever it is, I want to discover it with you.”

  His eyes shifted to my forehead as he smoot
hed back my hair before trailing his finger down my cheek. “I don’t think it will take us long to figure it out. For the first time in my adult life, I don’t feel lonely—and not only when we’re together. Even apart, we have a connection that makes me feel finally at home. You have no idea how incredibly easy it is to fall for you, Tessa Young. I might just keep falling for the rest of our lives.”

  “Let’s fall together.”

  When we kissed, it felt like a promise, our lips speaking more fluently with kisses than they could with words. As always, I could have stayed there forever with him, basking in the warmth and pleasure of just being close to him. But he had a plane to catch, and I…? Well, I had a company to run.

  Finally dragging ourselves out of the meeting room, we passed Krista, leaning against the wall, an endlessly patient expression on her face.

  “Thanks, Krista,” I said, in passing.

  She smiled. “Anything you need.”

  Logan turned back, laughing. “Then you might want to go erase the board in there. And, uh…don’t judge us too much.”

  I nudged him with my shoulder and laughed. “I can’t believe I forgot that. My brain is always such a mess when you’re around.”

  “Well, it won’t be a problem from now on, CEO.” He paused in the hallway between the doorway of my old office and my new one. “I’m going to miss this, but really, today is just the beginning of amazing things.”

  Even though we’d held each other and said a long, thorough goodbye in the meeting room, I longed to hug him one more time or at least reach for his hand, but we still couldn’t risk anyone seeing us like that. “I’m going to miss seeing you every day.”

  He raised my hand to his lips and kissed it before pulling away. “I know. But I’ll make sure you don’t have to miss me at nights.”

  My heart completely melted at one more sign that he cared for me as much as I did for him, so I sent him my sweetest smile as he left.

  He turned back before he got to the elevator. “Or in the mornings either,” he said, winking at me as he pushed the elevator door open.

  And of course, the door opened immediately for him. He disappeared from my view, and that was all it took for the sharp pain of missing him to shoot through me. But he’d be back as soon as he could make it happen. From here on out, our futures would be bound together. And right now, I had work to do for the company I loved.

  “Okay, Booms and Nibbles,” I said softly, heading for Melinda’s office to accept my new position. “Let’s perk things up around here.”

  ***

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  Acknowledgements

  I would like to thank my family, as always, for their love and support.

  Thank you to my cover designer, Lynn Lee

  Special thanks to my editors Cara Seger and Arielle Bailey

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