So of course she’d had to accept.
Plus, the three of them clearly didn’t have the whole “family” thing figured out. Not that the Daltons were perfect, but at least they didn’t avoid conversation with one another. If Gray was left to his own devices, he’d end up treating the twins like either children or clients.
If anyone needed to build solid familial relationships it was Gray Wyatt.
But what had sounded like a harmless idea on Tuesday was a lot more daunting when she was actually standing in front of her boss’s condo building on a Friday evening.
Sophie thought uncomfortably of the last Friday night she’d spent with him in the office. She certainly didn’t need a repeat of those uncomfortable emotions.
At least tonight the twins would be there as a buffer. No chance of her getting the hots for her sulky employer with his siblings looking on. She glanced up at the high-rise condo building. It looked like a museum. No doubt, the interior of his condo would be more of the same. Monochromatic, cool, and tidy. Boring.
Still, a promise was a promise, and so here she was. Sophie slowly reached out and punched the button next to his pretentious-as-shit name. Dinner in a restaurant would have been awkward enough, but actually going to her boss’s home officially crossed the fragile boundary between professional and personal. She had no idea why Gray had agreed to it, but it could have something to do with the fact that Jenna had the personality of a Rottweiler and biceps like Jillian Michaels. One did not mess with her master plan.
A flash of sanity demanded that Sophie turn and run, but then she heard Gray’s rough voice on the tinny intercom.
“Yeah?”
“It’s me,” she said.
“Sophie?”
“Um, no, this is Mimi, the hooker from Vegas? You called for a genital massage?” She smiled at the elderly couple approaching the building, hoping they were hard of hearing.
“I’m so amused,” Gray’s voice crackled through the intercom. “I hope you like Top Ramen, because that’s all you’re—”
Sophie punched the call button again to end the cheery discussion and scooted in the front door behind the couple. They turned to size her up, and she gave them her sweetest smile. “You don’t mind if I slide in behind you, do you? My boyfriend’s a little grumpy because I forgot it was our one-month anniversary. Honestly, how is a busy woman supposed to remember these little things?”
The blue-haired woman’s expression softened, and she patted Sophie’s shoulder. “Oh, don’t you stress about a thing, dear. Men pretend they don’t care about that stuff, but they’re so sensitive! Walter here pouted for a nearly two hours when he thought I’d forgotten our forty-eighth wedding anniversary.”
Walter harrumphed, sending his white mustache twitching. “That’s bollocks. I was just upset that the tennis tournament got canceled for those blasted cheerleading competitions!”
“I didn’t exactly see you reaching for the remote to turn the station away from those scandalous little skirts.”
Walter flushed slightly. “My arthritis was acting up, Joyce. You know I can’t just go gallivanting around the living room trying to find the remote.”
The little woman rolled her eyes at Sophie. “You see what I mean? They’re sensitive. Now you go right on up there and make amends with your man. Cook him a nice meal and maybe give him a little nookie!”
Sophie smothered a smile at the throwback to a different era. She didn’t have the heart to tell Joyce that “her man” would actually be cooking her dinner, and that nookie was so not an option.
Saying good-bye to the now-bickering couple, Sophie found her way to Gray’s apartment, giving a perky knock. She tugged nervously at the hem of her tight white sweater. She knew this wasn’t a date, of course. But maybe she’d taken a few extra minutes getting ready.
And the results were worth it. She was wearing her cutest (and tightest) jeans, and the sweater she’d just picked up from Nordstrom. The cashmere kept it classy while the tight fit made it sexy. Not that she wanted to be sexy. He finally answered the door, and all thoughts of her own appearance vanished.
Because Gray looked…gorgeous.
She realized this was the first time since dinner at her parents that she’d seen him outside of a suit, and while he admittedly filled out a suit very nicely, casual was a surprisingly good look on him. He wore dark jeans that were either designer or personally made for him, because he looked like a freaking male model. The gray sweater was layered over a crisp white shirt and made his eyes look, well…actually they looked downright stormy and pissed.
But it was a sexy picture nonetheless.
“How’d you get into the building?”
“It’s called charm—I’ll write a report on it on Monday so you can begin to understand the how the concept works. Short version: you smile at people and they like you more.”