Chapter 11
Izzy Izzy pushed her hair out of her face, cheeks on fire, and had no idea what to say. Shiiiiiiiit. Had she seriously just launched a full-scale mouth assault on Blake’s face without his consent? Seriously?? He calmly sat down beside her on the sofa, like she hadn’t just behaved like a maniac, and she wondered what time it was. What time it was, and also if there was a time machine to launch her back to five minutes ago. What the hell had just happened? One minute, she’d been having a sexy dream about Blake. He’d been kissing her – the world’s hottest kiss, for the record - and in her dream, he’d said her name in a total sex voice. But then she’d opened her eyes and he was there – leaning over her – looking down at her with hungry dark eyes as she freaking clawed at his chest like…shit…like some aggressive something with claws that she couldn’t name because her brain was no longer functioning. Oh, Gawwwwwwd. She wanted to die of embarrassment. “I was having a dream and it was super realistic,” she blurted out, not expecting him to believe her, but desperate to convince him. She didn’t want to lose him, so she had to make him understand that nothing had changed between them. His jaw was hard, his eyes intense on hers as she started rambling incoherently. “I didn’t hear you come in and I don’t even know how you got to the sofa but somehow my brain thought your presence there was part of the dream. I kissed you,” she said, her cheeks getting even hotter as she tried to convince him, “but I was kissing someone else in my dream, I swear. Please believe me that I would never, ever break our agreement.” She realized as she said it that she was lying. If he wanted to break it, she would shatter it in a hot minute. He didn’t say anything, just swallowed with that distracting Adam’s apple of his, and she knew she’d ruined everything. “Blake – say something. Tell me that you aren’t mad, or grossed out, or ugh – that I didn’t make you feel violated. This was just a very surreal – very bizarre – mistake, a misunderstanding of epic proportions, and things with us are technically no different than they were last night when we watched Top Chef together on Facetime.” “Izzy.” She talked over him, her embarrassed nerves making silence impossible. “I meant it when I agreed with you that we’re both adults and can control ourselves, and this spontaneous moment of macking was entirely the fault of my unconsciousness.” Blake looked at her intently, his jaw clenching and unclenching, and she hated that she’d put that serious expression on his face. She cleared her throat and said, “If I could take it back I would, but I can’t. I swear it--” “Okay. Who was it?” he asked. Izzy blinked and took a deep breath. “What?” His voice softened when he said, “Who were you kissing in the dream, Iz?” She bit down on her lower lip and squinted her eyes. He was watching her, waiting for the answer to his question, and she hoped everything would be quickly fixed if she just spewed out a name. Think, think, think. But just like that, every name on the planet was erased from her mind. There had to be millions of names in the world, but the only one she could think of was Blake. She cleared her throat and said, “You don’t, um, you don’t know him.” She rolled her eyes. At herself. Izzy, you suck under pressure. “But you do?” he asked. For a split second, she wondered what was the worst thing that could happen if she told him the truth. Fortunately, her brain quickly responded with You would destroy whatever this is with Blake; is that what you want, dumbass? Honestly, her brain could be so mean sometimes. She sat up straighter on the couch and turned so she was facing him. “Just a celebrity. No big--” He tilted his head. “Which celebrity?” “You’re going to make me say it?” she asked, wanting off the hook and also wanting to simply vanish from existence. “Just say it.” “You want a name?” she stalled, “You want me to say his name?” “Name him, Shay.” She groaned. His mouth slid into a smirk and he said, “If you don’t tell me his name--” “Fine. Tom Colicchio!” She nearly shouted it, and then she crossed her arms over her chest. Nodded her head and said, “Yes, I was kissing the Top Chef.” “Tom.” He stared at her, slightly smirking, making her feel marginally better. “Colicchio.” She nodded again. Rubbed her lips together. Added, “I guess you could say we were having our own little quick fire.” He barely let her finish before he said, “So are you ready?” “What?” What? “Wait. For what?” He pulled his phone out of his pocket and glanced at the display as he said, “I’m starving, so I thought we could drive-thru Bruegger’s when I take you home. Bagels sound good?” Good lord, the quick shift in conversation was giving her emotional whiplash. And he was sure in a hurry to get her out of his apartment. She nodded, but couldn’t stop herself from saying, “So we’re okay?” “Of course.” He put the phone back and held out a hand to help her up. “Thank God.” Izzy grabbed his hand and let him pull her to her feet, but every cell in her body ceased to exist except for those in her fingers. His big, warm hand swallowed hers and the slide of his hot skin on hers was electric and sexual and--shit. It made her literally look down at their hands. Before quickly letting go. WHAT WAS WRONG WITH HER? She needed to calm the crap down. “But Iz?” he said, his voice quiet and deep. “Yeah?” She shook out her fingers at her sides. “The way you kissed Tom Colicchio,” he said, his dark eyes hot on her, “Was fucking sinful.”
“Dude, come on.” Josh held his arms out at his sides before letting loose with a high kick. “That seems like bullshit. Work is a flimsy-ass reason for you both to be alone.” Izzy ducked her head as her cousin swung his leg around. She was sitting in the grass of their front yard while Josh and six of his friends practiced some sort of martial-arts yoga-stretching thing. They were all silent as they meticulously followed the leader’s movements, so she took the opportunity to sit beside him and tell Josh everything about her and Blake’s situation. Captive audience and all that. “I know it sounds that way, but it actually isn’t,” Izzy explained, burrowing her chin into the top of her hoodie. Fifty-five degrees was nice, but a little on the chilly side when you were just sitting in the cold grass. “He’s this, like, established big-wig who totally believes in the values and ethics that go along with his role. He would never get involved with someone who reports to him because it’s wrong.” “Is he religious?” “No - I mean, I don’t think so. I think he’s just a good human with a career to look out for.” “Well if it’s that perfect between you two,” Josh’s pink-haired friend to her right said, hissing out his words as he slowly lowered to a squatty-lunge, “Why don’t you just find another job somewhere else?” “Butt out, Stan,” Josh said, raising his left leg and rotating it out. “She shouldn’t have to quit.” “Dude, I didn’t say she has to quit,” Stan muttered, giving Izzy a know-it-all look. “But it does sound like a quick, somewhat obvious fix, right?” “Yes,” Josh replied, also lowering his body toward the ground, “But she’s found a job she likes with a solid career path. Does she really want to jeopardize that for a man?” Izzy wrapped her arms around her legs, resting her chin on her knees. “You’re missing the point.” “We are?” Stan asked, his limbs shaking as he held his pose. “What point did we miss?” Josh said, letting out a long, quiet groan as the sun reflected off his forehead. “If I were to quit my job, which I totally don’t want to do because I love it, what would that say to Blake?” Izzy pictured his face when he’d leaned over her on his couch and she sighed. “Wouldn’t it seem…desperate, that I’m willing to quit my job for him even though we’ve never even gone on a date?” “No,” Josh said, at the exact minute Stan said, “Yeah - totally.” She gave Josh a look, which made him point at his friend and say, “No one ever listens to him. Stan’s always wrong.” Stan raised his eyebrows at her, giving her a long, meaningful look. Was Stan right? “I am totally stealing your I-swear-it-was-a-dream move, by the way.” The group leader smiled as he effortlessly held his leg up against his ear like he was a Rockette. “Sounds like a patented Roy move.” "Who's Roy?" she asked. "He is," Josh said. "Shut the fuck up and breathe, Roy," Stan said before doing what appeared to be the splits. Somewhere deep inside her, Izzy knew better than to listen to advice from a bunch of guys doing ninja-yoga outside in the middle of the day. Still, the situation with Blake consumed her and she had to get it figured out somehow.
Blake Blake slid his feet into his running shoes and was reaching for his keys when the phone buzzed. At a glance he could see who the email was from, and he didn’t want to open it for multiple reasons. For starters, it was Sunday morning. Ever heard of work-life balance, Brad? He had a lot of respect for his boss, but the man worked 24/7 and Blake was not about that. Blake worked his ass off, too, but he also valued his free time and refused to let it get polluted by constant emails and phone calls. But more importantly, he was on his way to pick up Izzy and go work on her car. He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t excited to see her, even as he knew he shouldn’t be excited. But the kiss - holy shit, THE kiss. The kiss had been playing on a constant loop in his head, and a large part of him wanted to just forget the world and find a way to make it happen again. And again. And yeah - a-fucking-gain. But it wasn’t that easy. He’d worked his ass off for his career and it meant a lot to him. It’d taken years to get where he was, and it was foolish to risk everything when he and Izzy had never even been on a date, right? Right? Maybe they were destined to be just friends, or some other bullshit platitude that was destined to fucking kill him. Blake grabbed his keys and headed out, thinking of Izzy’s I like your door comment as he locked the deadbolt. Even though he knew better, he opened Outlook and started reading Brad’s email as he walked down the hall and got into the elevator. He hit the “G” button, the doors slid closed, and Blake clicked on an attachment titled New Org Chart, Final Draft. Now that the acquisition had gone through, and because the company was nearly doubling in size as a result, there would need to be a certain level of re-organization. But when the color-coded chart opened and he looked at his division, his ears started buzzing. Human Resources had shifted, and that department no longer reported to him. When the elevator doors opened, Blake sprinted to his car.