Then again, fuck it. She spent these past few weeks at the center of the juiciest gossip to hit the Trendsetters offices in months. What was a little more?

Daniel turned his attention back to his computer, but she continued to study him from her side of the table. After several minutes passed, he lifted his head, a wary look in his eyes.

“What?” Daniel asked.

She wanted to bring up the near kiss but knew better than to do that while they were both in this big, empty office all alone. Instead, she thought about something else from their time at McKinney Falls.

“The other day, while we were hiking, you mentioned how quickly I’ve advanced in my career, but the same can be said for you. Based on the office grapevine—”

“I’m part of the office grapevine?”

“You’re practically the vineyard. At least among a certain population. The female population,” she clarified. “And according to that grapevine, you were in the military before going to college and graduating at the top of your class from Stanford. Are you some kind of whiz kid or something?”

“Or something,” he said.

She tapped her fingers against her lips. “I don’t think so. I think you were the whiz kid. I’ll bet you were one of those brainiacs who graduated from high school at fourteen.”

“Sixteen.”

Her eyes widened. “Sixteen?”

“I never said I wasn’t smart.” He shrugged. “But I don’t think I qualify as a whiz kid. I finished high school a year early and enrolled in Carnegie Mellon. I got a few semesters under my belt before I enlisted, and then transferred to Stanford once I put in my four years with the Marines.”

“Why the Marines?” She held up a hand. “And please, please, please tell me it’s because you love their uniforms.”

He grinned. “Those are some sharp threads, aren’t they?”

“Did you just say sharp threads?” She laughed. “You listen to nineties rap music and talk like someone out of a seventies sitcom.”

“Hey!” His injured look was cuteness personified.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I think it’s adorable.”

“Now that’s interesting,” he replied, his voice dipping an octave. “I take it adorable is a good thing in your book?”

Her gaze dropped to his mouth and the way it curved up ever so slightly at the edge. She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth and nodded. “Adorable is a very good thing.”

Slow down, girl.

It may be impossible, but she should at least try to resist him just a little bit longer. Maybe.

She took a sip of her watered-down iced latte. “So, how does a semi–whiz kid end up in the Marines?”

“Same way a software engineering genius earns a degree in early childhood education. Family tradition.”

“Touché,” Samiah said. “How many years were you a Marine?”