AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I was staring, and after a minute, the corners of Brady’s mouth twitched and turned up slightly.
Is he smiling?
At me?
I tried to bring back the confidence—real or fake, whatever—that I’d left my car with a moment ago, but… nope. It wasn’t happening. With Brady looking so hot and smiling like that?
Yeah, I was too flustered to even think straight.
“I just had a hard time sleeping last night,” he said with a sheepish shrug, saving me from blurting out something stupidly inappropriate. “So, I figured I’d get a head start on the day. Plus, my body seems to still be on NFL time, no matter how good sleeping in might sound in theory.”
I smiled, trying to relax a little. Or, if that wasn’t going to be possible, at least trying to get the image ofBrady in bedout of my mind. Thankfully, he seemed to be in a good mood, and hopefully that meant we’d be able to avoid a repeat of the awkwardness from the day before.
“I had a little trouble sleeping last night, too,” I said, trying not to blush as my mind immediately supplied me with vivid memories of exactly how Brady had played a part in my… sleeplessness. I cleared my throat, continuing, “But yeah, this building creaks and groans and makes all sorts of weird noises at night. I can’t imagine trying to sleep through it. I assume you heard all of that from upstairs?”
“Oh, God no.” He shook his head, his eyes going wide. “Nope. No way I was sleeping up there. Not yet. I just… need a little time. I’ll probably keep my room at the hotel down the street for at least a few more days.”
I felt a little jolt of compassion for him as I realizedwhyit would have been hard for Brady to sleep upstairs.Of course. I hadn’t even been thinking of how difficult it must have been for him to be surrounded by all of his father’s old things.
I wanted to say something comforting, but I just didn’t know him well enough to know what to say, or how to say it—or even if Brady would’vewantedme to say anything. Probably better to just keep the conversation light and keep it moving.
Fortunately, he changed the subject on his own.
“I stopped at the coffee shop next door,” he said. “Grabbed you a coffee when I got mine. I didn’t know if you might like sugar or creamer or maybe some of the pink stuff or the blue stuff…” He cleared his throat and looked away as his cheeks turned a very distinct shade of pink. “So anyway, I just grabbed some of everything. And the, uh, coffee. Here.”
I laughed as Brady shoved the cup into my hands, doing my best to ignore the little flutter in my chest at the unexpected consideration. “Wow. Just… wow,” I managed, less-than-eloquently.
“I know… I probably should have just waited until you got here and then gone next door, but… I wanted coffee, and I saw your cup and bagel sitting here on the desk yesterday, so…”
“No, it’s perfect. Thank you.”
I dug through the small pile of sweeteners and creamers that he had dumped on the desk, amazed that Brady had noticed that level of detail while I’d obviously been caught up in my own memories of Henry the day before.
“I was just… surprised, I guess. I’m not used to having anyone get me… well,anything, really.”
Itwasa weird feeling, but I had to admit that it was kind of nice. Kind of…reallynice. And definitely made even better by the sight of Brady looking so deliciously pink.
I hid my smile behind a sip of coffee. I had to assume that Brady wasn’t used to wearing that particular color, but it certainly suited him.
“Well, hopefully you like it,” he said, thankfully acting oblivious to how flustered his small act of kindness had made me feel. “If not, I can always go back and get—”
“No,”I interrupted, probably too emphatically. “I mean I do. Like it—coffee. I likecoffee.”
Chapter Ten - Joanne
I took a deep breath and set the cup down on the desk.
I needed to get the conversation back on track before I did something unfortunate—like tell Brady how hot he was first thing in the morning, when we still had to spend the entire day together.
“Okay, so,” I said, trying to collect my thoughts and focus onwork. “If you want, we can go over a few—oh, I see you’ve already found the profit and loss reports from last month.”
I nodded to the stack of papers next to the computer—the computer that I also couldn’t help but notice had started right up for Brady.
Beginner’s luck, no doubt. Or else maybe it liked him as much as I was thinking I might be starting to.
It was good to see that my new boss was taking initiative, though. It was what I had been hoping for, in fact.
One of my many fears was that Brady would come to take over the business, only to decide it was too boring or too difficult, then end up half-assing everything.
