The Spanish Love Deception

Chapter 16

Whoa, whoa, whoa. All text © NôvelD(r)a'ma.Org.

“We?” I ripped my planner out of his hold. “There’s no we here,” I scoffed. “And would you please leave

my stuff alone? What are you even trying to accomplish?”

His furtive hand moved again, going around the back of my chair. Aaron was almost sandwiching me

between the desk and my chair as his head hovered above mine, his eyes roaming around my things.

I waited for my answer, watching his profile and trying really hard not to acknowledge the warmth I felt

radiating off his body.

“There’s no way you can focus; your desk is all cluttered,” he finally told me in a matter-of-fact tone.

“So, I’m fixing it.”

My mouth was hanging open. “I could focus just fine until you got here.”

“Can I see the attendee list Jeff drafted?” His fingers flew over the keys of my laptop, opening a

window.

All the while, I felt my body growing … warm. Uncomfortable. But at least he had stopped touching all

my things.

“Oh, here it is.” He seemed to scan the document as I just stared at his profile, starting to feel

overwhelmed by his proximity.

Jesus.

“All right,” he continued, “that’s not a lot of people, so at least the catering will be relatively easy to get

sorted. As for the … outline you prepared, that won’t work.”

Dropping my hands on my lap, I felt dread spreading in my belly, making me wonder how in the world I

was going to pull this off. “I didn’t ask for your opinion, but thanks for letting me know,” I said weakly,

reaching for my laptop and bringing it closer. “Now, if you don’t mind, I’ll get back to it.”

Aaron looked down just as I glanced up at him.

He searched my face for a brief moment that seemed to stretch into a full—and very uncomfortable—

minute.

Stepping from behind me, he moved to my other side. He leaned on the table with strong forearms,

which I might have looked at a second too long, and turned on his own laptop.

“Aaron,” I said for what I hoped was the last damn time tonight, “you don’t need to help me. If that’s

what you are trying to do here.” That last part I muttered.

I rolled my chair closer to my desk as I watched him punch in his password, trying hard not to focus on

those infuriating broad shoulders that were right in my line of vision as he leaned on the wooden

surface.

Por el amor de Dios. I needed to stop … checking him out.

My starved brain was clearly struggling to behave normally. And it was his fault. I needed him gone.

ASAP. At a normal distance, he was extremely annoying, and now, he was … right freaking here. Being

extra difficult.

“I have something we can use.” Aaron’s fingers flew over the pad of his laptop as he looked for the

document I guessed he was referring to. “Before leaving my former employer, they had me put together

a list. A manual of sorts. It should be somewhere here. Hold on.”

Aaron kept typing and clicking as I grew more and more irritated by the second. With myself, with him.

With just … everything.

“Aaron,” I said as a PDF document finally blinked open on his screen. I softened my voice, thinking

maybe being as nice as I could ever be when it came to him was the way to go about this. “It’s late, and

you don’t have to do this. You have already pointed me in the right direction. Now, you can go.” I

pointed at the door. “Thank you.”

The fingers I was still watching gracefully tapped on the keys one more time. “It includes a little bit of

everything—workshop examples, key concepts for activities and group dynamics, and even objectives

that should be kept in mind. We can go through it.”

We. That word again.

“I can do this on my own, Blackford.”

“I can help.”

“You might be able to, but you don’t have to. I have no idea why you have this impulse to fly in with

your red cape like a nerdy Clark Kent and save the day, but no, thanks. You might look a little like him,

but I’m not a damsel in distress.”

The worst part was that I actually needed the help. What I had trouble accepting was that Aaron was

the one willing to provide it.

He straightened to his full length. “A nerdy Clark Kent?” His brows furrowed. “Is that supposed to be a

compliment?”

My mouth snapped closed.

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