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hip. The slight lift of the T-shirt
bared some bronzed skin.
Yikes, he had it backward. The lust appeared to emanate
from him, not her. “Never used it before,” he answered.
“Word of warning – don’t. Most women run like hell from
that kind of talk. Besides, you don’t seem the type to need to
say it.” That was a compliment, right?
    “I’ve never made a woman run. Stomp out in a tantrum,
scream a little, or just stop caring, yes, but not run. The
question is, do you?” Yeah, smooth. Real smooth. What a dumb
thing to say. He decided to walk away before it got worse.
“Do I what—care?”
He shook his head. “Run like hell.” His hands shook a bit,
reminding him he was in uncharted waters, and probably
needed a life boat or something. Flirting never had been his
best skill.
“Oh.” She tilted her head to the side and he almost saw the
dimples come out. “Maybe. I’ll have to think about that a
while.”
“You do that. But don’t get all worried. I’m not really the
type to chase.” He held up the shoes. “Better get these back
to Eric. He’ll need them tomorrow.” He took a few steps
backward and tried to give her his best smile, whatever that
was. Unfortunately it was overshadowed by the fact that his
calf slammed against the bumper of her car. Reva erupted in
a full dimple laugh and threw back the cute little ponytail.
“Stick to humor rather than the lines, Todd. It works for
you.”
Okay, so he still had a bit of the old spark in him. That was
good to know. Annie attempted to kill that part but she
hadn’t succeeded. He was okay with humor. That could
grow into something, couldn’t it? Huh. Did he really want it
to? He raised his shoulders, and jogged back around the
block before he did something else really stupid.
***
    Avoidance was a great tactic when it came to pain and
ugliness. He dropped the shoes at Annie’s door and hightailed it out without even knocking. Normally he’d go in and
talk to Eric. He suffered through Annie’s complaints and
criticism as a trade-off for a few minutes with the kid. Not
tonight. Nothing was going to burst this bubble – he’d
enjoyed the time with Reva. When he was back home, he
sent a quick text telling Annie where to find the shoes.
6 CHAPTER SIX
    Tuesday morning came a lot sooner than Reva wanted. With
little progress on Brent’s project, she knew it was time for
that discussion. Still, after hearing Brent unload on Gavin
last
week,
she
questioned
the
possibility
of
a
positive
outcome. No worries, girl. This is what you do best. You love helping
people overcome obstacles and succeed.
She peeked into Brent’s office mid-morning and mustered
her best cheerful look. “Can you stop by so we can discuss
the status of your migration project?”
He stared right through her without even a twitch. “Yes,
ma’am.”
Reva
hung
around
her
office
until
lunch,
finishing
up
paperwork,
signing
off
on
invoices
and
updating
her
monthly status report for the board. Brent never showed.
He
knew
her
afternoon
was
filled
with
back
to
back
meetings and it annoyed her that he intentionally dissed the
request.
She opened her office door at 4:30 and dropped her keys
and notebook on the desk, before pressing a button on the
phone to check messages. There were fourteen waiting. She
heaved a sigh and dropped into the chair to work through
each one. Reva always jotted the message details on a legal
pad along with date and time, and then called back the
people individually. Four of the calls were questions about
Brent’s project. Apparently he’d told a few people it would
go live Friday! The project hadn’t even reached the first
phase of a four-stage deployment. No wonder the callers
were panicked. In the middle of the ninth message, three
taps reverberated on her door.
Forcing a smile, Reva lifted her head to answer. She halfexpected another annoyed staff member to confront her
about the timeline and what they should do.
“You wanted to talk to me?” Brent said. She