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“Leaving so early?”
I spin on my heels at the sound of Riley’s voice. I quickly scan her in the light brown, wide-leg pants and black top. Her makeup is light, her lips slightly tinted. She’s not wearing red lipstick, and part of me wants to ask her why not, while the other is happy that she doesn’t wear that color at work.
I can only imagine whom I’ll have to fucking fire if they see her in that shade of lipstick.
The thought pisses me off.
“Going for a walk,” I reply and turn away to head to the elevator. Not even a beat later, I hear the sound of high heels behind me. I stop abruptly, and Riley almost walks right into me.
“Where are you going?” I ask, narrowing my eyes at her as she stands next to me in front of the elevator.
“We’re going on a walk,” she says cheerily.
“I’mgoing for a walk … to clear my head.” I don’t know why I give her the added explanation.
Her smile increases. “Is that something you do often? Take breaks throughout the day? It’s a good habit to have. You know, I read a recent study …” She continues going even as I step onto the elevator, following me.
I should tell her to stop talking, but I can’t help but enjoy the melodic sound of her voice.
“It’s a coping strategy,” I admit. “For my dyslexia.” I punch the button for the ground floor.
That gets her to stop talking.Why did I say that out loud?
“I didn’t know,” she says.
I shrug. “It’s not a secret.” As we step off the elevator, I turn to her. “And I’m not ashamed of it.”
“Why would you be?” Her question sounds sincere enough.
My shoulders relax a little as Riley falls in step with me. As soon as we’re out on the sidewalk, I move to the outside so that I’m closest to the street.
“Where are we going?” she asks.
“There’s a park a few blocks from here.”
“Oh, that pretty one with the duck pond,” she gushes.
I give her a sideways glance.
“I’ve gone out there a few times with a few Townsend employees during our lunch breaks.”
“With who?” My voice comes out sharper than intended.
She doesn’t notice or read much into it as she shrugs. “Uh.” She taps her chin. “Sandy from accounting, Gene from marketing, Sherri from real estate, and Bethanny from Sam Waterson’s finance department.”
I sigh in relief, not hearing any men in that mix. Unless she left their names out on purpose. If I find out Barry from marketing has been sniffing around her during lunch breaks, he will have a problem.
“Do you like pretzels?” she asks as we approach the park.
I raise an eyebrow, and she nods at the pretzel stand far from us.
“I only ate half of my lunch, and I’m starving. Indulge me.”
I find myself following her to the pretzel stand. Yet, when she pulls her wallet out of her bag, I cover her hand with my own. My fingertips burn from the skin-to-skin contact. For the briefest moment, Riley’s eyes meet mine. When her eyelids widen, I wonder if she can see how much I want her in the depths of my eyes.
“I got it.” I hand the guy money for our pretzels and don’t bother to wait for the change.
“This is early for you to leave the office, huh?” Riley says in between bites. “It’s not even six o’clock, and you’re out of the office. Must feel like a vacation day for you,” she comments.
