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“Of course.” Because he truly seemed concerned, I reached out and touched his arm. “Don’t worry, bubba. I’m fine. I promise you. People are allowed to have some secrets from each other, aren’t they?”
He was suspiciously quiet before he murmured, “Yeah. I guess they are.”
But as soon as he said that, I started to wonder what he was keeping from me. And I began to regret putting up the border I’d just created between us because it felt as if I’d just lost an essential part of our relationship.
Damn, I just couldn’t stop messing everything up tonight, could I?
Chapter Twelve
Yellow
THE NEXT MORNING
From the moment I woke, I looked forward to the day. My boss had granted me permission to come in this afternoon and reorganize his filing system. I had no idea who had been his assistant before me, but filing had obviously not been a priority for them.
It’d also be nice to get out from under his thumb for a few hours. I couldn’t tell if Mr. Draper was a micromanager or what, but he made it extremely hard for me to get my job done when he was constantly calling me into his office to ask really meaningless questions and popping up next to my desk to talk. He was nice enough, sure, he was just kind of always…
There.
It’d be a relief to have some peace and quiet where I could orient myself and simply breathe in order to get some work done. Which led me to another reason I was excited about working on a Saturday.
And that reason was Gracen Lowe. I felt like a moron, but I hadn’t realized he was also an employee here—scratch that; I hadn’t known he was a freaking boss here—until my first day on the job when Mr. Draper had walked me around to introduce me to everyone. But apparently, Mr. Draper, Gracen, and some woman named Jada Batrick owned the business together and were all partners.
Yeah, I had really sucked in researching the company I was interviewing for. My jaw had nearly dropped to the floor when Mr. Draper had tapped on his door before opening it to reveal Gracen’s face inside, where he’d been sitting behind a desk, working on his computer.
Gracen hadn’t seemed all that shocked to see me, either. He’d known I’d been hired.
From there, he’d been polite but fairly distant with me, greeting me as if it was our first encounter and nodding stiffly before welcoming me to the team and getting back to his own business.
We hadn’t crossed paths since then. He had his own secretary, and I worked solely for Mr. Draper. Though I usually caught a peek or two of him every day from across the big workroom where the rest of the employees who weren’t owners sat in cubicles.
It was hard to concentrate on work when I was constantly searching for even a glimpse of him. So it’d be nice to get to focus solely on filing and organizing things.
As soon as my session with a fairly quiet and subdued—probably also hungover from his birthday—Parker was over, I’d hurried to the office and opened my computer, letting it boot up while I stashed my purse.
I could hear one of the agents over in a cubicle across the room, and someone was scuffling around in the breakroom. Other than that, the place was quiet. Perfect to
get some serious work in.
Though you know, a nice cup of coffee sounded like a good way to start the day. I could smell some from the breakroom, so I grabbed my mug and abandoned my desk that was located right outside the door to Mr. Draper’s office for a few minutes so I could stroll toward the breakroom, only to pull up short and gape when I passed Gracen’s office and found the door open with the light on inside.
No. He couldn’t be working today, too, could he? Fate wouldn’t be that cruel.
Except it totally would.
My heart skipped a beat, and my lips parted as I lifted my attention to the door to the breakroom ahead. I had a feeling I knew who was in there right now.
Wondering how he’d treat me, I slowed my step and debated on whether I should return to my desk until he was out or just stroll in there with him.
Damn, I was being foolish. We were both adults. We could do this.
I turned into the entrance of the breakroom and fell to a stop.
Dear God, how was I going to do this?
Wearing a gray suit jacket and matching pants with his back to me, he cut a strikingly professional but also insanely gorgeous picture as he stood at the counter shaking a packet of sweetener in order to get all the particles inside to shift to the other end so he could open it without making a mess.
A cup sat in front of him as he held a phone with his other hand and squinted at the screen, mumbling, “Shoe phone. Shoe call. Or boot. I guess it could be a boot.”
