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Eva chuckled. “So you aren’t going to do anything about this?” Typical.
“I didn’t say that.” Levi winked and, in a flash, was across the room.
ChapterFive
MITCH
Aweek later, Sophie was holding firm, still only speaking about work-related subjects. “Have you seen the discovery request from Brendan? I can’t find it in the inbox.”
“Yeah, I took care of it since you were dealing with the report for Rufus. The boxes should arrive tomorrow.”
“Oh.”
There was an 80 percent chance that Sophie would be mad, but when he risked a look, her smile stole the breath from his lungs.
“Thanks. I thought I’d have to stay late to get it done.”
“Same team, remember?”
And knock him over, she nodded, the light in her blue eyes burning itself into his memory. It was so raw, so open. “I remember.”
Her face was so expressive. But, knowing Sophie, the last thing she’d want would be to let him get underneath her armor.
And he got it. Cracking himself open and sharing the deepest parts had never been easy for him either. He could make a joke, get a laugh, even make himself the punch line, but emotional honesty? Shit, Sophie could probably teach him a thing or two there as well.
Her everything-on-the-table, no bullshit way of talking to him pushed all his buttons, and every day he bit back a secret in the same way Sophie held back her smiles.Poorly and with increasing regularity.
How was she simultaneously so determined to keep people away and constantly going out of her way to care for them?
It wasn’t until Sophie turned away again that Mitch remembered how to breathe.
* * *
SOPHIE
Something was absolutely going on, and Levi was behind it. Not only had he been showing up more often, but he looked far too pleased with himself these days. She didn’t understand what he hoped to achieve, but his usual shenanigans had escalated in the two weeks since Mitch had started.
So far:
her headphones had gone missing, only to appear on Mitch’s desk (even though he was adamant he hadn’t touched them).
Mitch’s ball cap had made its way under her desk three times before she taped it to his desk.
A flyer for a ’90s nostalgia drag brunch was miraculously nestled between pages of a customer requisition form. Which could not be more up Sophie’s alley if it was wearing a Union Jack one piece and singing “Wannabe.” It had also encouraged Mitch to hum “MMMBop” for the next four hours. But at least he hadn’t caught Sophie tapping her foot along with him.
the elevator doors refused to close each and every time Sophie tried to ride alone, resulting in awkward silences with Mitch twice and half the team on another occasion.
In the last two weeks, Sophie had endured more small talk than she could handle.
Mitch was officiallythe worst. He was content to start conversations out of thin air and without a shred of shame. Everything from what show he’d watched the previous night (a baking competition that Sophie had binged immediately after hearing about it), to stories from his annual father/son bonding trip, which were in turn hilarious and mortifying (you couldn’t pay her to enter a tent now).
Which made him a problem because none of those things were meant to be endearing. Sophie shouldn’t want anything to do with Mitch, and yet, every day, it got harder to not fall under his spell.
“Poor guy had to wear an adult diaper out of the hospital, which I will never let him forget. His station buddies were hiding blood sausages in his locker for a month,” Mitch said, while Sophie shuddered. “Leeches are nasty. I’m glad it wasn’t me.”
Yep, that confirmed it. She was never going camping. Ever.
Nothing good came from making friends, but come on; how could she hold her tongue in the face of that story?
