Yes, Sir.

Chapter 12: Risk

Instead of telling him about the raging battle in my mind, I take another bite of my dinner. "Yum, this is delicious." When he says nothing, I sigh and ask the question I know he's waiting for. "So what exactly do you have against marriage?"

"Have you seen the divorce rate in this country?" Harry mutters, stabbing at his casserole.

"Yes, I have," I inform him. "At least sixty percent of couples live happily ever after. In fact, I think divorce rates are even dropping."

Harry evades my gaze. "Fine. Marriage can be great...for other people. Not me."

"Why not?"

"I wouldn't mind an exclusive relationship, except for the whole world and the girl involved with would think it means more than it really does," he sighs. "I don't want to give anyone false hope that we're more than just friends."

Ok, he's definitely hinting at me. I narrow my eyes at him and point out, "We're friends."

"Yeah, but that's different. I'm not taking you out places, or taking pictures with you, or..." His voice gets quieter with every word he speaks, but then he clears his throat. "Or anything like that."

"So what about you? Do you want to get married?" he asks, and I can tell that he went too far, too deep, too personal and needed to change the subject.

"Well, I was engaged," I say without any emotion whatsoever. Ryan is so far from my mind right now he could be in a different galaxy.

"What happened?"

"The amoeba cheated on me."

Harry chokes on his food in laughter. "Amoeba?'

I nod very seriously. "Ryan is so low I won't compare him to more than a single-celled organism."

"You seem a little...bitter," he smirks at me again. Asshole.

"I have good reasons. We were engaged for six whole months until one night I caught him sleeping with my best friend...who is now my ex-best friend," I say calmly, sipping on my water. "And, by the way, ranks below fungus and mold."

"Leah, I'm sorry," Harry says softly and I'm surprised to see that he actually looks sincere.

I focus back on my chicken but when Harry begins speaking, I look up into his bright emerald eyes once again.

"I know how it feels," he whispers. "To be hurt by someone you thought cared about you."

It seems like Harry might actually have a heart in that rock hard chest of his. Speaking of hearts, mine starts beating rather quickly when I realize we're both leaning over the counter, our faces closer before than when we first started talking.

I quickly look down before I start blushing and spot the power point slides, which reminds me why we're really here. I pick them up and smile at Harry.

"Ready to see the presentation?" I ask.

For the next half hour, we go slide by slide until Harry has perfected everything he's going to say. As the final slide whizzes onto the screen thanks to the transitions I added, Harry smiles.

"It looks really good, Leah, better than anything I could have done. How did you get all these pictures?"

"Just off the internet," I tell him. "And I took the ones of the office employees the other day with my camera."