Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 94279 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 471(@200wpm)___ 377(@250wpm)___ 314(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94279 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 471(@200wpm)___ 377(@250wpm)___ 314(@300wpm)
“Think I’ll pass and stay celibate.”
* * *
I looked at the time on my phone. Almost seven thirty. Hayes had said his son would be here about six. How long did I have to hang around and wait for this guy? Now I was going to miss not only the six o’clock hot yoga but the 7:45 Pilates class I used as my backup. If this appointment hadn’t been with the son of the CEO, I’d be long gone by now. People not respecting other people’s time was a pet peeve of mine.
I got up from my desk and stretched, moving the book I was reading with me as I shifted left to right, then went to the kitchen to fill my water bottle. The office had long cleared out—even the cleaning people had come and gone—so the sound of my heels click-clacking on the tile echoed off the walls. While I was filling my bottle, I continued to read my book until my phone chimed with a text from my brother. He wanted me to cover for him at the bar Friday night. I dictated a voice text as I walked back to my office, but I stopped abruptly when I saw a man standing in the hall.
“What the…” My water bottle clanked to the floor, along with my book, while my heart picked up to a gallop.
“What are you doing here?”
“Hello, Cupcake.” Wilder smiled. “I’m looking for you, of course.”
“Why?”
He bent and picked up the items I’d dropped. “Because you ran out on me the other night before I could get your number.”
I swallowed and started walking again, forgetting he still had my things. “I didn’t plan on giving it to you anyway.”
He narrowed his eyes, as if getting turned down wasn’t something he was used to. “Why not?”
“Because I don’t like you very much.”
He grinned. “You seemed to like me a lot in the coat closet.”
“That was an accident.”
His brows jumped. “An accident? You accidentally sucked face with me?”
“I remember it differently. You were the one who sucked face with me.”
“You didn’t mind.”
I brushed past him and walked into my office. He followed, setting my water bottle on the corner of my desk and holding the book out to me. Though he pulled it back to read the cover. “Finding Your Inner Self? Are you reading this crap?”
I plucked my book from his hand. “None of your business.”
He shrugged. “I like you the way you are just fine.”
“Look, Wilder. I’m flattered, but I’m also not interested. Yes, the kiss was nice. But you’re not my type. Besides, you said you live in England.”
“Nice? The kiss was more than nice. I think a writer could do better than that.”
Heart-stopping, breath-stealing, fireworks-worthy—even a simple amazing would be better, but I didn’t want to encourage this guy. Though, my dumb body seemed to have a mind of its own. My eyes dropped to his lips, and my chest heaved. Wilder didn’t miss any of it, either. When I looked up, he smirked, which only made me scowl.
“It’s not happening.” I walked around to the other side of my desk, happy to put a little space between us. The breathing room must’ve let me think straight for the first time, because it dawned on me that he was here, inside my office. “How did you get into the building? The doors lock at six. You need a passcode to get in after that.”
Wilder tilted his head, studying me, and smiled. “My father gave me his code.”
“Your father?”
He nodded.
Why the hell does he look so amused? “Who is your father? Does he work here?”
“He does indeed.”
Great. Just great. Now I’d dug myself a giant hole—posting a nipple photo of the big boss’s friend’s daughter and making out with some other employee’s kid.
“Who’s your father?”
“Ted.”
I flipped through my mental employee Rolodex, but came up blank. “Ted who?”
“Ted Hayes.”
My jaw dropped open. “But … the other guy is named Ted, the nice one from the wedding party.”
“Believe it or not, there are more than two men named Ted in the world. In fact, there are four in my family.”
“But you’re Wilder.”
“Theodore Wilder Hayes, the fourth. My grandfather is Theo, my dad is Ted. My father insisted I carry on the name, but my mother always hated it and called me Wilder instead.” He shook his head. “No one calls me Theodore or Ted.”
I closed my eyes. This cannot be happening. Maybe I was daydreaming. That happened sometimes. Usually I was on a sailboat in the Caribbean or sipping Chianti in Italy in my daydreams, but it was possible. I mean, that kiss with Wilder was pretty great. Yeah, that’s it. He’s not really here. I pressed my eyes shut for a few more seconds, attempting to manifest it to happen. But when I opened them, all I could see was Wilder’s goofy smile.