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“Are you all right?”
I swallowed, then in a voice that was high-pitched enough to hurt my own ears, whispered, “I’m perfectly fine.”
“You don’t look it,” he said drily, placing the tray on my desk. “I got you a latte.” He peered at the cups that were scrawled with the indecipherable language that was barista. “Women like lattes, don’t they?”
I blinked at him again. His tone was so strange, almost like he was talking about Romulans or Klingons, another species rather than just women.
Despite myself and the panic that was still clogging my chest, I whispered, “I like lattes. Thank you. You didn’t have to, sir.” The coffee was totally unexpected, especially after the way I’d made a fuss, but I wanted it badly. I needed it to replace the nasty taste in my mouth that always came with a flashback.
I needed food too. Anything to settle the emptiness inside me, but it was a few hours until lunchtime and I don’t think Derek would have appreciated me grazing on rice cakes as I worked.
“Nonsense,” Max said cheerfully, interrupting my thoughts, but that cheerful note was feigned, I knew. “Drink some. You need the sugar.”
Derek cleared his throat. “It will be hot, Max.”
Max turned his head to look at his PA. “No, it should be cool enough to drink.”
“Because they always make coffees-to-go tepid,” Derek grumbled.
Hearing his sarcasm, I had to bite back a smile and just that felt like the sun peering through gray clouds on a stormy day. I didn’t smile after a flashback. Didn’t even want to twitch my damn lips as my body and mind processed the injustice of what had happened to me.
An injustice those closest to me insisted I get over.
Get over.
Yeah.
Like a twisted ankle or a busted nose.
I’d been raped, for fuck’s sake. Someone had taken over my will, had forced themselves on me. It wasn’t like someone had cut in front of me at Walmart. They’d…
My throat choked at what he’d done to me, and I made a concerted effort to clear it before I pressed the coffee cup to my lips, then winced as the latte, as Derek had stated, was pretty damn hot. Still, it did make me feel better. It was syrupy sweet, not usually what I’d drink, but the sugar did something to me. Something I took note of.
After a flashback, it was easy to forget to eat, hell, to forget to drink too. But the sugar settled me in a way that surprised me.
I wished the drink wasn’t so hot so I could gulp it all down.
“Thank you, I do feel better,” I admitted, and saw a kind smile curve my new boss’s lips.
“I’m glad.”
Derek cleared his throat. Again—he seemed to do that a lot. “Max, I have that meeting in five. Are you going to be okay on your own?”
That had him scowling. Not down at me though, thankfully. Boy, that scowl shifted his features. He was handsome, with black hair and blue eyes that reminded me of David Gandy. He was tall and strong in his custom cut suit, but the tailoring couldn’t shield his size—he was huge. I didn’t like huge on a man, not even before Nida, but for some reason, Max Greene didn’t make me want to cower.
Not even a scowling Max Greene.
“I’m not five, Derek. Of course I can manage.”
The PA’s nostrils flared with irritation as he got to his feet. He retrieved a leather satchel from a drawer and began to shove papers into it. “Never said you were five,” he grumbled. “More like three.”
If Max heard, he didn’t seem to find offense at that insult. It surprised me though. It wasn’t often a PA spoke to their boss that way, and I gaped between the two men as Max, seemingly quite content to perch his ass on the corner of my desk, looked at me, while I looked at Derek who watched us both.
The tableau was close to amusing—another shock. I should be in the deep freeze for at least a day. Instead, I was amused.
But, Derek and Max were funny together.
Like an old aunt and uncle who’d been married for eighty years and who knew what the other would say without anyone actually saying a damn word.
