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Ten minutes later, I have a steaming cup of gloriousness in my hands as I wait for the elevator to take me down to my desk. With a ding, the doors open. The too hot, but so delicious, sip I was in the middle of taking tries to kill me as I sip and inhale in shock simultaneously. He’s standing there, my phone in his hand, glaring at the doors as they open.
Shit, shit, shit.
I can’t die now, death by coffee is an undignified way to go.
“Did you need something?” Mr. Sutton, Theo, the man who had his hands all over my body last night, says without a hint of recognition.
I shake my head, turn on my heel and head for the stairs. Four flights of stairs is nothing compared to being stuck in a confined space with him. I don’t think he recognized me, but I can’t afford to let him get a closer look. My hair is down, the fake glasses are tucked safely in a drawer at Lauren’s house and I’m back in my normal floral dress and cardigan combination. I don’t want to be late to get to my desk, but I can’t face him, not after last night.
As I make my way down the stairs as fast as I dare, I can’t help wonder why Sutton was headed down the elevator when this is the time he normally arrives. Did he leave something in his car? I didn’t notice if his Audi was parked in its usual spot near the door when I arrived, I was busy impersonating a vampire by keeping my eyes on my feet as I followed Lauren in.
My question is answered the moment I push through the stairwell door and see the elevator doors closing on his face. I’m directly opposite him as they close, allowing me to catch his unguarded expression for a moment. My heart whacks against my ribs at the hurt in his eyes, my stomach turns over and I can’t breathe. Hurt? Why would he be hurt? He’s the one who slammed the limo door in my face last night.
“Sophie!” Tina’s unexpected call startles me into sloshing coffee onto the cuff of my cardigan. Damn it.
“Good morning, Tina.” I fake my usual cheerful greeting, hoping she’s not going to be too chatty this morning. At least not until I get a chance to drink what’s left in my mug and eat one of the granola bars I have stashed in my snack drawer.
“Guess what?” Tina’s voice has the conspiratorial note of someone who’s got juicy gossip to share. “You’ll never guess what Mr. Sutton just dropped off.”
“How about you tell me, since I’ll never guess.”
“He dropped off a phone!” Tina bounces with glee to have the inside scoop. “It was his date’s last night and she left it behind in his jacket pocket. He dropped it off on your desk and said Lauren from Content would know how to get it back to her.” Tina starts walking away to share her news with Julian. “Oh!” she turns back to me. “And he said not to power it on. She turned it off for a reason and he intended for her to get it back that way. Isn’t that just the sweetest?”
He brought my phone back. I almost wished he hadn’t, that I could just walk away from the earth-shattering information that’s waiting for me when I turn it back on. That I could just leave it and pretend it never happened.
Instead, I put the phone, my phone, in my desk drawer, determined to ignore it for as long as possible. My morning passes quickly, fielding phone calls, spam calls and real calls alike, directing visitors and helping Tina get packages mailed out. I’m in the middle of helping one of the admins from accounting print labels when Lauren appears at my desk.
“Ready to get lunch?”
“Yeah, just give me one minute to finish this.” I keep clicking on my screen, emailing the finished labels back.
Tina pipes up before I can grab my purse. “Did you hear?”
“Hear what?” Lauren perches on the edge of my desk, always ready to hear the latest gossip in the office.
“Sutton went on a date last night and she left her phone in his jacket pocket! He brought it down this morning and said to give it to you since you helped set them up.”
I cough, shocked at how the story has been twisted.
“So? Who is she? How on earth did you manage to set Mr. Sutton up on a date? And can you set me up with him too?”
“Come again?” Lauren’s raised eyebrow is lost beneath her bangs. “I definitely did not set Sutton up on a date. I would never do that to my fellow womankind.”
“Bye, Tina,” I interrupt. “I’ll be back in an hour.”
“Don’t forget the phone!” Tina reaches over to my desk but I intercept her and pull the phone out, handing it to Lauren before she can say anything else.
“Thanks!”
I follow Lauren out the front door and down the block to our favorite Mexican place, Uno, Dos, Tres, before she speaks. “So…you wanna tell me why it turns out The Bastard-in-Chief had your phone?”
“Um, not really?”
I follow her inside the restaurant, the colored lights and bright decor creating a cozy atmosphere, the smell of fajitas banishing the queasy churning of my stomach. Suddenly, I’m starving. I follow Lauren to one of the high tables at the bar, knowing we’ll get in and out quicker, not because we’re intending to do a Mad Men and have one of their lethal margaritas with our lunch.
Although, I’m tempted.
“Soph, come on. Talk to me.”
