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Ugh.She knew she was in for it the moment he leaned in that damn doorframe and called her ma’am.
“Want to share what you’re smiling about?”
Sophie turned that smile into a wicked smirk and walked through Levi because she knew how much it bothered him. “Nope.”
* * *
LEVI
He shouldn’t be surprised. Sophie’s attitude had made itself known the moment she turned three and had only grown roots since.“Liar. This is exactly like Billie from three years ago. You have a type.”
She snorted. “With women, I have a type. With men… I have a problem.”
Levi could only shake his head. If only she’d let Mitch see this side of herself. The witty, self-effacing side. Sure, the kid was already knee-deep in his crush, but Sophie wasn’t making it easy on him. Or herself.
“No, you have shitty luck and a habit of pushing people away when they get too close.”
Sophie darted a look at the door. “What’s the point? You’ve seen what happens every time I try.”
And he had. It was why he was trying everything he could to help her. Because he’d come too far to fail her now. Loved her too damn much.
“What if he’s different? What if it works out this time?”
Just give it one more chance, he wanted to add.
But Mitch was walking back into the room before Sophie could reply. Her lips were pursed tight, as if she was holding back. A faint blush settled on her cheeks when Mitch placed a coffee— pale with cream and probably thick with sugar, just the way Sophie liked it— on her desk.
“Thanks,” she rushed.
With that, Levi paced over to the door. There was something good here, and he refused to let it pass them by.
* * *
MITCH
“Ouch. Thumbs-up emoji. That’s cold. Who did you piss off?”
Mitch followed Sophie’s gaze to his phone. When she suggested showing him how to action the sealed document requisitions, he hadn’t expected her to roll her chair over until they were shoulder to shoulder.
It was incredibly distracting.
“Nah, that’s just my dad. I’m lucky if I get punctuation. He still messages like he’s using an old Nokia.”
“Better than my mom. I’m lucky if she texts back at all. She’s so time poor. It’s always a phone call between meetings. She’d probably faint if I tried to explain emojis to her.”
“You, ah—” He had to tread carefully here. “Don’t really mention her much.” Ever.
“People only ever bring her up to gain favors. Meg, my ex-friend, who worked here before you… she um,” Sophie shifted, crossing her legs, “used Mom to get a job with Capital Global. Nagged me for weeks about meeting her, then put a shot of the two of them as her LinkedIn profile picture and pretended to have interned for her. So yeah, I’m a little protective.”
“Seriously? What a shit friend. I hope you told her where to shove it.”
Sophie ducked her head. So that was a no. Fuck. He could read this Meg the riot act right about now.
“How does your mom feel about it?”
“She threatened to call the CEO and get her fired.”
Go, Mom.“You really never use your name at all? Not even to get better seats at the movies?”
