Page 82 of Love In Hiding

Coy burst out laughing. “No one gets under your skin but me at times. And I do it on purpose when we know we are relaxing.”

“She’s got the talent.”

“Is she attractive?”

“Stunning. Tall. Almost blonde. Blue eyes. Looks like an angel but comes at you like the devil.”

Coy whistled low. “Ah. So that’s the problem.”

“It’s not a problem.” He let the words drag out. “It’s an…irritation.”

“Right,” Coy said. “And I’m only mildly fond of my wife when she’s like that.”

He rubbed a hand over his face. Coy was no idiot.

Angel got under Coy’s skin too. That was why he was talking with his best friend.

Not just for female advice—which he even hated that he might need. But the whole workplace situation.

“I’m serious. She pushed every button I didn’t know I had. She questions everything. Challenges every call I make. And she does it looking like she knows exactly how to make me lose my mind.”

“Sounds like she’s good at her job.”

“She’s incredible at her job,” he admitted, his voice dropping. “It’s infuriating. She doesn’t always have the smoothest of approaches, but she can admit when she’s wrong and that’s huge.”

Most people couldn’t.

London almost always knew the exact moment she overstepped, then backed up and tried to correct before she made the next move.

“Uh-huh. And you’re calling me because…?”

Because he needed to say it out loud. Because he needed someone to tell him what the hell to do with this storm brewing in his chest.

“Because I don’t want to screw up,” he said quietly. “This is the first time in a long time that I feel like I’m heading down the right road with my career. And the last thing I can afford is being distracted.”

Coy was silent for a beat.

“Is that what she is?” Coy asked. “A distraction? On top of being an irritation?”

He hesitated too long. “Yes,” he lied.

“You sure?” Coy asked. “Because the way you just talked about her sounds less like distraction and more like gravitational pull.”

Fuck! He didn’t know why he was trying to make this out to be more than it was. Or more like less than it was.

Maybe because he didn’t know what was going on in her mind, but hearing her voice a few days ago, the vulnerability and uncertainty spoke volumes.

“Coy—”

“Hey, I get it,” Coy cut in. “Strong, smart, gorgeous woman who stands toe-to-toe with you? Hard not to notice. Harder not to feel something when you do notice.”

He didn’t respond. He couldn’t.

“It doesn’t feel right to jeopardize something we’ve both worked hard for. She’s feeling the same way. We’ve talked some.”

“You’re not doing anything wrong,” Coy said. “You’re human.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of.”