Conflict of Interest (Employee Relations Book 1) (42 page)

“I’m going to grab my things. Be back in a few,” Gabriella announces.

“I’ll meet you downstairs when you’re done. Be sure to lock the adjoining door.”

“Got it,” she calls over her shoulder.

As soon as she’s out of sight I flee to the lobby to clear my head.

Thirty minutes later the elevator chimes and my head lifts sensing it’s her. Mesmerized, I watch Gabriella walk across the lobby and I take a minute to appreciate her beauty. A slow smile spreads across my face at the sight of her, immediately followed by panic.

I’m not picturing her in an elevator or half dressed in a sexual way, though I’m glad I have that image. It’s the image of her sprawled out in
my
hotel bed, wearing
my
t-shirt like she belongs to me that has me grinning like an idiot.

As she approaches her lips pull up at the side. “Trying to figure out how to tell me I snore?”

“Not exactly.”

“Talk in my sleep?”

We walk side by side to the garage. “Nope.”

“Drooled on your pillow?”

“Closer. It was a bodily function.”

Gabriella halts. “You’re kidding, right?”

With a straight face I toss the keys in the air and catch them. “I’ve spent my adult life believing women weren’t human. Thanks for clearing that up.”

Standing stiller than a statue, the look for mortification is frozen on Gabriella’s beautiful face. I open my mouth to tell her the truth but she lifts her chin and walks past me, completely self-possessed.

“Serves you right. You practically forced me to eat that bean dip.” She spins around to face me, walking backwards. “On the bright side this should help with our friendship.”

Royally screwed. There’s no other way to explain it because she’s wrong. Even if she had done what I implied it wouldn’t change a thing and I have no idea what to make of that.