To her surprise Dominic burst out laughing. He rose from his seat. “I told you so.”
“Yes, you did, but a real gentleman doesn’t say I told you so.”
He caught her gaze again. This time his eyes turned serious, smoldering with heat. She knew exactly what he meant when he said, “I’m not always a gentleman, Audra.”
She held his gaze. “No kidding.”
“No kidding.”
“I think, after almost three weeks of living with you, I know that. I know who you are.”
He thought about that for a few seconds. Finally, he took a deep breath and said, “I have to get back to work.”
She nodded.
He turned to walk away but turned again. “It was really nice to see you.”
Disappointment fluttered through her. She couldn’t have been more clear. And she knew he’d understood. But he didn’t want her.
“Yeah. Nice to see you, too.”
With that he walked away, and Audra sank into her chair. She’d just made a fool of herself.
CHAPTER TEN
A WEEK later, with the new nanny in place and no contact with Audra in seven long days, Dominic paced his huge office. He’d let the week go by to draw a clean line between their relationships. He didn’t want her to think of herself as an employee. He did want her to think of herself as somebody he was so darned attracted to that he sometimes couldn’t breathe in her presence. But he wanted a clear demarcation between their working relationship and their personal relationship.
He decided that would take about two weeks, but today he couldn’t stop thinking about her, and today—if he called her and she agreed to go out with him—all this sexual-frustration and missing-her misery could be over.
He strode to his desk and grabbed the receiver of his phone as he fell into the tall-back chair. While assisting him with Joshua, Audra had given him her cell phone number in case of an emergency and he dialed it from memory. She answered on the first ring.
At the sound of her voice he was suddenly tongue-tied and he said the first thing that popped into his head. “I thought you might want to know about things that have happened with Joshua.”
“Dominic?”
The question in her voice caused his stomach to tighten. Was she forgetting him? “Yeah. I just thought—you know—you would want to hear about things with Joshua, so I thought I’d call and let you know he’s getting a tooth.”
“Oh.” She laughed. “I’m sitting here thinking that’s adorable, but I’ll bet you’re having some sleepless nights.”
“Should I be ashamed to admit I’m not?”
She laughed again. “No. Not if you hired a nanny.”
“I did.”
“Then I’m sure that if the nanny can’t soothe him back to sleep when he wakes, you’ve told her to come and get you.”
Dominic settled more deeply, more comfortably into his chair. The sound of her voice, the very normal way she treated him, soothed him. “No. I didn’t realize I should tell her that.” He paused and then added. “I’m still not a pro with this baby stuff. What could I do to help her?”
“Having you hold him and comfort him might be enough.”
“Oh, okay. I get it.” He smiled. “So the kid loves me, huh?”
“Yep. There’s no accounting for taste.”
He burst out laughing, and his heart swelled. But the conversation had also died. It was his moment of truth. Take the risk that she wanted what he wanted. A simple, uncomplicated relationship. Or back away.
No decision had ever seemed so important. Or so difficult.
He heard the jingle of a phone in the background before Audra said, “That’s my work phone. I gotta go.”
He opened his mouth, but nothing came out. What if she said no? What if he insulted her by asking? He was so sure she’d been hinting the week before. What if he was wrong?
The phone on her end rang again.
“You know you can call me anytime you want.”
“About Joshua?”
“About Joshua.” She paused then said. “Or whatever.”
He took a breath and decided to jump in with both feet. “Or we could have dinner.”
Another pause. The phone in her office rang again. Time stretched out as she obviously debated. Dominic squeezed his eyes shut. He’d put her in the horrible position of having to refuse him. She knew, just as he did, that they were worlds apart. And she probably didn’t want the hassle of trying to fit into his.
“Okay.”
His breathing restarted. Okay? “Tonight?”
“I—” She paused again. Dominic waited, breath stalled in his chest again. “Sure. Why not?”