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As she pushed back her chair and hurried out from behind the front desk, I made my way back to my cubicle, still slightly flushed as several people watched me.
“That was so sweet of you, Taylor.” Sharon sighed, gazing at me as I passed her. I spotted the top of Tim from HR’s head as he peered over his cubicle, narrowing his eyes at Sharon’s compliment. When our eyes briefly met, he quickly ducked down out of sight.
“Wow. You got a secret admirer, bud?” Lance asked as I sat back down and carefully placed the vase on my desk. “Haven’t you got a partner? I swear you mentioned him when you first started working here. He’s never sent you flowers to the office before.”
No, Marcus had never done anything like this for me in the entire ten years we were together. I’d known Holt for less than a week and he’d already gone to the trouble of dressing up as a delivery guy to hand deliver my favourite flowers to me at work on a Monday morning.
I wanted to swoon as I stared at them, then reached in to get the little envelope.
“We split up a few years ago,” I told Lance absently as I opened it. “I’m… seeing someone new.”
The little card inside had a handwritten message.
For your excellent photography and conversation skills. And that moussaka you’re going to make me soon. H xxx
A wide, uncontrollable grin spread across my face as Lance chuckled behind me.
“Well, they must really like you, bud.”
“Yeah,” I croaked, my belly warming. “I… guess they do.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Larkin’s Impeccable Workplace Behaviour
When the elevator opened onto the front lobby at the end of the day, I stepped out carefully holding my vase of sunflowers. Tim from HR almost walked into my back when I stopped abruptly at the sight of Seb sitting on one of the benches, an ankle crossed over the opposite knee while he did a crossword.
Other people were roaming around, leaving their offices to head home, and it was kind of mindboggling to me that no one was really paying any attention to the giant werewolf disguised as a man casually sitting in the lobby.
Tim huffed and skirted around me when I didn’t move, striding for the front door. At the irritated sound, Seb glanced up. When he spotted me, he calmly closed his puzzle book and rose to his full, towering height before making his way over.
“Evening, Taylor.”
“Hi, Seb.” My insides were already squirming with excitement, because did this mean Holt wanted to see me?
As if he’d read my mind, Seb said, “Holt’s been in calls all afternoon, but he wanted me to ask if you’d like to join him for some takeout in his office. Downstairs,” he added quietly as a few people walked past.
I nodded quickly. “Yeah. Yes. I’d love to.”
Without another word, Seb turned and headed for the door that led to the maintenance stairwell. I glanced around self-consciously as I followed, but the lobby had momentarily cleared out.
Seb produced a key from his pocket and unlocked the unmarked door at the end of the bare corridor, then held it open for me.
“Thanks.” I stepped through and made my way down the metal staircase, hearing him lock the door back up. When he fell into step beside me, I glanced over and asked, “How come he didn’t make Larkin come and wait for me?”
I mean, Larkin was Holt’s assistant. Even if he was a somewhat crappy one.
Seb’s mouth twitched the tiniest amount, but his expression remained mostly flat. “Because Lark is likely to say something he shouldn’t in front of other humans.”
That, I believed wholeheartedly. Larkin did have a big mouth. And zero filter.
“How long have you worked for Holt?” I asked Seb, deciding to try and use this opportunity to make the big, quiet werewolf like me. He didn’t talk much.
“About four years now.”
I nodded, clutching my vase carefully as we reached the bottom of the stairs. I didn’t want to accidentally drop it. “How about Larkin?”
Something briefly sparked in Seb’s brown eyes, but he masked it quickly. “A year and a half.”
