Tempting the New Boss(75)
The reference to her in his speech—extraordinary, special, exactly how she thought about him in fact—had floored her. As much as she wanted to see him, talk to him, suddenly she felt almost shy.
He stopped mid-sentence to see her in front of him. His mouth dropped open, and it took him a second to recover. The others forged on ahead, filling in the conversational gap as Mason stared at Camilla.
“And so I said to Jennifer that I could too so add in my head and then I—”
“Time to get going, Nathan,” the woman who was the master of ceremonies said. “I promised your mother I’d have you home by ten. You, too, Sue. We have to go.”
“Oh!”
“Say good-bye to Mr. Talbot.”
“Mason,” the young man corrected, and Mason turned back to him, smiling.
“That’s right.” He pulled out a card from his jacket pocket and handed it to him. “Now you give me a call. I’ll arrange for a tour of my office, and maybe we could go to lunch.”
With vigorous handshakes, the man assured him he would be looking forward to it and then Camilla had Mason to herself.
“He’s going to be taking you up on that, you know,” she said.
“I’m counting on it.”
“Marcia wanted you to know she’s proud of you, although she mentioned you didn’t use the speech she wrote.”
“But I liked the feel of it in my pocket while I was waiting.” He gestured to the seats. “Do you want to sit down?”
“Not really. I was hoping maybe I could see that four-story townhouse of yours.”
He smiled. “Really? I mean, yes, sure.” He glanced around. “Marcia usually arranges a car and calls me with the number.”
She put a hand on his arm. “Don’t worry. I know how to catch a cab. Or we could even take the subway.”
At his look of horror, she laughed. “Well, maybe you’ve confronted enough of your fears tonight. We’ll save that one for another time.”
He took her hands and just that touch felt so right after so long. He swallowed. “I’m not going to have to confront my biggest fear, am I?”
“What’s that?” she whispered.
“Not being…with you. However you want.”
She shook her head. “I’ve missed you.”
He brought her hands to his lips, and she felt sparks at his reverent kiss. “I ached for you.”
“Yes, and that’s part of what I wanted us to prove, to each other and to ourselves.”
“That I’m crazy about you?”
“That we’re crazy about each other. Although I have to admit I was worried you’d forget about me, like a baby who has his rattle taken away and maybe cries at first but actually thinks the rattle doesn’t exist after that and forgets all about it when another toy comes along.”
“I’m going to remember to be insulted on both our behalves for that comparison. As soon as I get over being so happy to see my rattle again.”
She laughed and he kissed her nose.
“And also, I’ve made some big changes.”
“What? Anything.” He pulled her into his arms. “I’ve never been to Michigan, but I’m sure it’s fine, quite nice probably.”
“Baby steps,” she warned him.
“Anything for my rattle,” he teased. “No, really, if you want to go back to Michigan, I’ll go with you, if you’ll let me.”
“No, I won’t plunge you back into the lion’s den just yet.”
“I’ll be better—”
“Shhh.” She held a finger to his lips, looking into those sincere eyes. God, she loved him! Even if she had to take some time to say it. Had to say it carefully. “You’ll fit in just fine with my family. I never should have doubted it. I love different. It’s an Anderson family trait. And after what you said up here just now, well, my parents couldn’t have handpicked a better man for me if they’d done it themselves.”
He tightened his hold on her. “Yes, but how do we convince them of that?”
“They’ll love you. Joey already does. He keeps asking me when I’m going to bring you around again, if you can believe it.”
“I’d like that.”
“And thank you for the donation.”
“What donation?” He kept his face straight, but thinned his lips at the effort.
“And I like that you’re a bad liar.”
He laughed. “You’re welcome in that case.”
She brushed the hair out of his eyes, lingering on the soft, springy curls. “My career was the other thing I wanted to figure out and I have. I’ve entered an MFA program.”