The Heart Wants What It Wants

“Don’t you want to?”

There were those eyes again, looking into her, as if he’d know if she lied. He couldn’t possibly, of course. Nobody could know, not like that. But…

“I do want to.”

“Then we’ll have dinner together.”

Just like that, it seemed to have been decided.

Diana wasn’t sure how that had happened.

But then the carrot cake was served and she didn’t care.

“Oh look at it, isn’t it perfect? It’s perfect! It’s absolutely perfect! Do you think it tastes as good as it looks?”

“Only one way to find out.”

She took a bite and closed her eyes in sheer ecstasy.

“Oh my. Oh. Oh.”

She had no idea what she was doing to him, with her eyes closed, her face turned up, such pure pleasure on her face.

When she opened her eyes, finally, and grinned at him, he grinned back.

“Yes, I’m definitely taking you to dinner,” he told her, and she chuckled.

“If there’s cake, I’m in. This makes this entire trip worth it, really. I wasn’t too keen on it. No, that’s not quite true. I had to squeeze five days of work into four to make it, and I’m giving up my weekend to do it. Not like I get paid for that, it’s considered a perk, but it’s not a perk for me because I was planning to spend today with my best friend and instead I’m here, stuck at a conference and convention that I don’t know anything about, trying to sell I don’t know what kind of service to a bunch of people who seem to think they’re the next best thing to gods, so they will never really need lawyers. Or maybe they think they’re better than gods. They seem to have no idea about consequences of actions at all. It’s all about being the next shiny new thing, and whatever havoc might be the fallout of that, nobody seems to care. At least this makes up for some of it.”

“Cake makes up for it?”

“Hey, cake makes up for a lot,” she told him, making him chuckle again.

By the time he checked the time and declared that they needed to be getting back, she was fortified and ready to face the rest of the day. At least now she had something to look forward to. Sure, she might have to pretend to listen while reading an ebook while some self-righteous, boring genius gave a keynote address for an hour, but she was now happy enough to deal with that fate with equanimity.

She could handle it.

“We’ve got twenty minutes before the keynote speaker. I bet they won’t miss us if we pop into that florist’s shop and look at flowers…”

“I think they might, Diana. Come on.”

Diana sulked a little, but she walked beside George and went back to the room where everybody was beginning to settle in. There was quite a bit of jostling for the seats up front. Who was this keynote speaker, anyway?

“I’ve got the nice seats over here,” she told George with a grin, but he shook his head.

“I’m afraid I’ve got to go and mingle a bit before the talk. It’s expected.”

Diana sighed.

“I suppose it is. Well, I’ll be here, reading a book.”

“Not going to listen?” asked George casually.

“I don’t think I’d understand more than a word and a half even if I tried, so I might as well give myself a break, don’t you think?”

“I guess you might, said George, his lips quirking as if fighting back a grin.

He wasn’t a bad sort, really, and he was definitely gorgeous. The man had cheekbones for the ages, and it was really unfair how salt and pepper hair and a few laugh lines made men’s faces more appealing. Women got a bum deal.

Well, at least she wouldn’t have to worry about bad skin for a long time yet. Genetics did help her in some things.

“Maybe you won’t be too bored. See you tonight, Diana. I’ll call you.”

Diana smiled and nodded, glad that she had given him her number. It had seemed so natural, after that carrot cake, to hand him her phone for him to feed it in and ring himself from her phone.

Diana was settled down, engrossed in her book, when the keynote speaker was announced.

“George Hemsworth, Founder and CEO of TechSplain.”

Diana raised her head slowly, her heart sinking rapidly, and saw George standing on the stage, grinning, those blue eyes sparkling at her.