I wasn’t sure why I lied to her during breakfast. I probably didn’t sound very convincing, because Mia froze for a brief second before she continued eating. She took her time chewing and swallowing her bite of pancake.

“Okay.”

That was all she said. Okay. My proclamation didn’t seem to bother her a bit. I was shocked. I thought she’d push back or argue with me. Anything. But the calm, cool, and collected way she continued to eat her breakfast told me one of two things:

Either she wasn’t attracted to me at all, which implied I’d read her all wrong or…

She thought I was completely filled with horse shit.

I was more inclined to go with the second option. I was, after all, a matchmaker and there was no way possible I could have been that wrong about the signals she was throwing my way the night before. 

And if option two was correct, she didn't believe a word I'd just said. Not that I did either.

I cleared my throat.  “Can we at least pretend that I meant what I said?”

She gave me a sultry grin. “You're the boss.” 

That shouldn't have made me hard. It really shouldn't have. But damn…

“Did you sleep okay last night?” I asked. Maybe a change of subject would help.  

Help what? I didn't know. 

“I did. And if I didn't say it before, thank you for everything you did.”

“No need to thank me, Mia.”

I wasn’t sure she would thank me if she knew how much I’d enjoyed holding her during the night or how I’d spent a lot of the night battling my erection.

We fell into silence as we finished eating our breakfast. We would start meetings soon and we had plans to continue business through lunch.  But tonight I had plans. 

Plans that didn't involve Benjamin. Meetings. Or anything remotely similar to behavior my lawyer would approve of.  

Which made me wonder why I even spoke that lie about us never happening.  Maybe I should have worded it differently. Much differently. 

By the time we made it back to the hotel at four that afternoon, I was tired of meetings. They had gone extremely well and if things continued on the path I envisioned, Bachelor International could be a franchise by the end of the year. That made the business part of myself very happy. Now if I could get things worked out with Mia, life would be sweet indeed.

She had been impressive during the meetings, exactly the way I’d thought she’d be. She was whip smart and asked a few questions I hadn’t thought of. In fact, seeing her today and the easy way she fit in by my side, like she’d always been there, had me thinking, it might be in the company’s best interest for her to be in charge of the Atlanta office, once it was up and running.

The only downside being she’d have to move to Atlanta, and I didn’t want to go there right now.

Our cab pulled up to the hotel. I glanced to the woman at my side. Unlike me, Mia seemed to be energized by the meetings. Her cheeks were flushed and I swore if I touched her, I’d feel an undercurrent of electricity pulse through her.

Had she not bounced out of the cab the second it pulled to a stop, I would have been able to test that theory when I helped her out. As it was, I felt fortunate she didn’t take off and disappear into the hotel before I finished paying our driver.

“Would you like to have dinner with me tonight?” I asked her before she could sprint away from me.

Her eyes automatically went to the restaurant in the lobby. Like I’d take her there. “At the risk of sounding conceited—”

“Too late,” she said, but at least she smiled when she said it. “If you have to say ‘at the risk of,’ you know you are what you’re saying you’re not.” Her forehead wrinkled. “I’m not sure that came out right.”

I didn’t want to try to unravel that sentence. “I made us reservations at a well-known, but out of the way place near the Chattahoochee River. It came highly recommended.”

Her eyebrows raised in interest, but she wasn’t about to give in that easily. “Highly recommended by who?”

Busted.

“By the hotel concierge when I asked for a nice place to eat.” I didn’t add the second part of my request to the concierge. That I also wanted a place that was quiet and on the romantic side. Fortunately for me, the young woman working the desk when I made my request knew exactly what I was going for. She said she knew just the place and in fact, had been there a few weekends ago for a wedding.

“Pretty sure of yourself, Tenor Butler. Aren’t you?” She teased.

“I was until right this second.”

She laughed and I grinned at how much I loved that sound. “I love how you never back down from telling the truth.”

I never backed down from telling the partial truth, but I wasn’t about to admit to that at the moment. Not when I’d almost gotten her to agree to dinner. “Is that a yes?”

She wasn’t ready to give into me just yet. “What time did you make them for?”

“Six,” replied. “Plenty of time for you to shower, change, and for us to get there. And if we’re early, we can walk by the river.”

Her eyes lit up. “We can?”

“Yes, and if we get there and we don’t have time to walk before dinner, there’s plenty of time after.” I wanted to walk either before or after dinner so we could get to know each other better. The fact she wanted to do so as well, made me want to take her in my arms and kiss her.

“Yes. Let’s do it.”

By that time, we’d made it to our rooms. “I’ll knock on your door in an hour.”

“I’ll be ready.”

I could only hope I was, because I had a feeling tonight would change everything.