Page 21 of The Chase

I glared at her. “Like you don’t know.”

She laughed. “Fuck yeah, I do. FINALLY! I reminded him to go somewhere vegetarian-friendly.”

“People always forget! But I told him that was the only condition.”

“Yeah, but you also don’t speak up about it. I love you, girl, but sometimes you need to tell people how you feel. Especially men.”

She had a point. I could be timid and shy. In my last performance review, she told me I wasn’t aggressive enough at getting sales. I wasn’t very good at asking what I wanted. I was raised to anticipate men’s needs above mine, and it had been a hard habit to break.

Sometimes it amazed me I liked men based on the sexist rhetoric my parents fed me. But despite the way I had been treated before, I loved men. I loved a man’s rough hands on me while he held me in place and feeling his scruff scraping against my face when he kissed me.

And now I was daydreaming about kissing TJ while talking to his twin sister, who was also my boss. What the heck was I doing?

Rox snapped her fingers in front of my face. “Hello, earth to Maxine!”

I shook my head. “Sorry. What were you saying?”

She smirked. “Oh my god. Were you daydreaming about my brother?”

I was sure my face was crimson red. “Shut up, no. Get out of here! I have cold calls I need to make before I leave for the day.”

The smirk stayed firmly on her perfectly made-up face as she went back into her office. I couldn’t focus for the last couple hours of my workday because TJ was picking me up for dinner here, and I was nervous. So nervous, I’d had to reapply deodorant three times already. I was trying to tamp down my anxiety, but I was on the verge of another panic attack.

Would TJ kiss me again? Would we end up tangled in the sheets tonight? He didn’t exactly please me in bed last time, but maybe this time, I could work up the courage to tell him what I wanted. Anxiety built up in my chest at all the what-ifs swirling in my head.

Before I could start freaking out, the sound of footsteps approaching my cubicle distracted me. When I looked up and saw TJ standing in front of me wearing an impeccably tailored suit and holding a bouquet of tiger lilies, all my frantic thoughts melted away for a second.

He brought me my favorite flowers. I hadn’t even told him tiger lilies were my favorites when he asked about them on my desk. My heart did a backflip at the sweet gesture.

He smiled at me and handed me the flowers. “These are for you.”

I took them from him and placed them on my desk. “Oh, T, you didn’t have to bring me flowers. Thank you, they’re my favorite.”

His lips quipped up in a grin. “I know.”

I cocked my head quizzically. “You do?”

“You had them on your desk when I came by to see my sister. And then I asked her to confirm.”

“Really?” I asked.

That was really thoughtful of him, and it surprised me he even thought of it. Maybe I had misjudged him too harshly.

He reached out and tucked a tendril of my hair behind my ear. His hand lingered on my cheek, and I loved the feeling of his big masculine hand on me. “Anything for you, baby girl.”

I rolled my eyes. “Okay, none of that. Geez, does that work on the other girls?”

He smirked at me. “Maybe, but it seems to annoy you, so that makes it fun.”

I shook my head at him and stood up to grab my coat off the hook outside my cubicle. He surprised me again when he held it open for me and helped me into it.

We walked out to his car together, and he opened the passenger door of his Maserati. I never thought party boy TJ Desjardins could be such a gentleman.

I drummed my finger on the dashboard while he was shutting the door and running around to the driver’s side.

“What do you want to listen to?” he asked once he sat down and started the engine.

“I don’t care,” I said with a shrug.