Evie ON MONDAY MORNING, I stopped by a coffee shop and ordered a gallon of coffee with all the extras on the side. I’d always been a fan of bringing treats to work, especially when I was new to a job. It was a good way to get to know people and a good way to ma ke friends. “Oh! You heard my prayers!” Tasha said, as I entered the lobby, coffee in my arms. I glanced at Lochlan, but he hadn’t even looked up. I set the coffee, creamer, cups, and sweeteners down on my desk. “Can I get you anything, Lochlan?” I asked. “I don’t drink coffee,” he said. I narrowed my eyes. I didn’t believe him. Who was that put together in the morning and didn’t drink coffee? “Are you sure?” I asked him. Then he looked at me. “Did you just ask me if I’m sure I don’t drink coffee? Because I’m pretty sure.”
We would never be work friends. I knew that fact to be true. I could go broke — well, more broke — bringing work treats trying to get any sort of cheery reaction out of him, and it would never make a difference. After Tasha made herself a cup, I gathered everything up and took it to the boardroom next to Rex’s office. I’d noticed his drink of choice was an Americano with no sweetener or cream, so I poured him a cup of black coffee. I listened at his door to make sure he wasn’t on the phone, and then I knocked softly. “Come in.” “Good morning,” I started to say, but then stopped when I saw Rebekah was there. She sat on the edge of his desk, her legs crossed. Rebekah smiled so mischievously, I wondered what they had been talking about. The grin on her face and her lingering eye contact made me feel like they’d been talking about me. “I’m, uh, sorry,” I said, backing up. “I can come back.” “Don’t be ridiculous. He’s all yours,” Rebekah said, standing up and walking toward me. “Oh, I...” I didn’t have anything to say. I was too caught up in picking apart her choice of words. All mine? Then she paused in front of me. “Did you, by any chance, get one of those giant jugs of coffee you always liked to bring in to the marketing d epartment?” “Y - yes,” I said. Why was I so unnerved by her presence? I knew her. I’d worked with her. She’d never been anything but kind to me. “It’s in the boardroom.” I let out a shaky breath. I was acting like this because I was lying to her. Rex was, too. At least, I assumed he was. Maybe he wasn’t anymore, and that’s why she was grinning at me like that. Or maybe he had k ept up the lies, and she was grinning at me be cause she thought we were really dating. I hated lying! When she left, I looked at Rex. He rarely appreciated uninvited visits to his office. We’d had a nice evening together at his parents’ home, but I didn’t know if that translated into a new relationship at work or not. I was assuming not. I wanted to be near him. I shouldn’t have felt that way, but I did. “I got you some coffee. I got everyone coffee, but I wanted to get yours to you while it was still hot. I’ve noticed that you like to sip yours when it’s really hot, I mean...”
How many times had I just said hot? I stopped talking. I’d noticed when he sipped his coffee? Really, Evie? “Thank you,” he said, no smile, no facial expression. “I’m going to leave the rest of the coffee in the break room. I offered some to Lochlan, but he said he doesn’t like coffee. Can you believe that? He didn’t like the doughnuts, either. I think he just doesn’t like me.” I was rambling, and I was doing it be cause that moment was one of the weirdest of my entire life. We had shared a kiss the night before that had felt real. It wasn’t, but I’d never experienced a pretend kiss before. It was harder than I thought it would be to fake physical affection. I’d thou ght he was handsome from the first moment I saw him, but now my attraction was different. Stronger. Seeing him in front of me again filled me with an odd mix of wanting to flirt with him and wanting to run out of the room. “Do you expect everyone to like you?” “Well, most people at least don’t hate me.” He didn’t look up. “If Lochlan is still not working well with you, tell him to come talk to me.” “No, he’s,” I paused, “he’s fine.” He looked up at me then. “I’m serious. If he’s bothering, harassing, or otherwise making your days difficult here, send him to me. I’ll take care of it.” I didn’t think tattling on Lochlan would bring peace between us. I was sure it would make things worse. But the protective tone of Rex’s voice made me smile in a way I couldn’t hide. Not that he noticed. He was looking down again, flipping through a folder . “Most people don’t like me,” he said. “You get used to it.” That hardly seemed like a professional statement. It seemed more of a personal confession. I wondered if he was feeling the aftereffects of the kiss as well, but he sure had a strange way to show it, if he was. “Well, it’s because you’re so serious. You don’t really give people much to go on.” I wanted to tell him I’d seen a more charming side to him at his parent’s house, just a glimmer of one, but I stopped myself. He still didn’t look up, but I saw the corner of his mouth twitch. “I’m sure if you, you know, talked to people or smiled at people, everyone would like you.”
He sighed. He was not giving me anything to work with. He very obviously did not want to talk about the night before, and he was probably right. This was not the place. I needed to get that kiss out of my head. I set his coffee gingerly on the edge of his desk, and then lingered there, telling myself to leave. Instead, I asked one more thing. “Isn’t it a little weird to pretend to be coworkers now?” He looked up at me and raised an eyebrow. The effect was dashing. I wanted to go back to that lake in his parents’ backyard — or whatever that magnificent green space behind their palace could be called — and stand on the dock and kiss him again, but this time I’d make sure the kiss wasn’t so innocent. “You know the deal, Ms. Day,” he said. I realized what I really should be doing was dumping some ice in my pants. Why had I asked that? This was how I was going to lose my job. “I’m sorry, Mr. Claremont,” I said. Then I turned to go. I needed to get out of here before I either rambled him into firing me or got giddy over our shared kiss. But just as I got to the door, I heard him say, “Wait.”