I’m a terrible friend.
I’m un-hirable.
I’m—
“Fine,” he says, cutting off my internal meltdown. He’s now looking at me in a way thatalmostresembles approval, despite the irritation still written across his face.
“Fine?” I ask hesitantly, unsure whether I heard him correctly. He nods.
“Fine. You’re hired.”
Sutton sighs, and when I turn to her, she’s rolling her eyes and shaking her head. “She was already hired, Graham.”
“Not by me.” His attention moves back to me. “Now, you’re hired by me, but I expect full professionalism and for you to take the initiative with your position. It’s not rocket science, and I don’t have time to show you how to do every single aspect.”
I nod. “Of course not. I wouldn’t expect you to. I’m very resourceful.”
A blush burns on my cheeks, and he watches me in a way I’m not sure I like, completely exposed to his assessing gaze, before he turns to his computer. An awkward moment passes, and during that time, I look to Sutton, unsure of what to do. She rolls her eyes, clearly exasperated by his antics.
“Now, are we done? I have to make a call,” he says, reaching for the phone sitting on his desk.
“God, you’re so pompous,” Sutton says, but turns anyway, heading back out to the door. Unsure of what to do, I nod toward Graham.
“Thank you, Mr. Hawthorne. I look forward to working with you.” His eyes leave his screen to meet mine, and there’s the slightest softening of his features, the tiniest tip of his lips, a reminder of the man I spent my night with last night, before it’s gone again, replaced by that cold demeanor.
Despite all common sense, something in me desperately wants to know what he’d look like if he smiled for real.
“Close the door on your way out,” he says in dismissal.
With a nod, I turn on my heel, quietly leaving and clicking the door behind me. It’s not until I hear Sutton laugh that the tension begins to leave my body, though it’s quickly replaced by something worse: panic.
“What the hell was that?” Sutton says in an excited whisper. “You made himsmile. He does not smile, like at all.”
“If that was a smile, then the bar must be in hell. That was a grimace at best,” I say with a roll of my eyes, trying to ignore the way my pulse is still pounding in my throat.
“For Graham, that’s basically a beaming grin. Do you guys like, have something? Did you guys hook up?”
I give her wide eyes and bite my lip, looking toward Graham’s door.
Graham.
Graham.
This is supposed to be my lucky summer, and this might just be the least lucky thing that haseverhappened to me.
My wide eyes trigger wide eyes of Sutton’s in response, which shift from me to the door and back again before she wraps her fingers around my wrist, dragging me to a storage closet, flicking the light on, and staring at me with her hands on her hips. She doesn't look angry, which is good, I suppose.
“Okay,spill.”
I groan, turning away from her and hitting my head against the wall. A roll of paper towels falls, hitting me on my head and rolling to the ground.
“We hooked up last night,” I grumble.
“No way,” she says in disbelief, and I throw my hands up.
“It was a last-minute thing!” Quickly, I tell her about bumping into him and the lottery ticket and how I didn’t see him after that until I sat beside him on the bench.
“So that means…” she says, understanding moving over her face before a huge smile splits it. “Oh, my god, this is perfect.”
