Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 89666 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 448(@200wpm)___ 359(@250wpm)___ 299(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89666 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 448(@200wpm)___ 359(@250wpm)___ 299(@300wpm)
“Well, I have. It’s just unfortunate that the guy I want to date and get to know works for me.”
“What’s your plan?”
“We’re going on ten dates. That’s ten chances for us to get to know each other and figure out if we want to be in a relationship. At the end of those ten dates, if we want to be together, I will move him to a new department so that he’s not directly under me—”
“At work,” Declan cut in.
I smirked at my friend’s lame attempt at a joke. “Yes, at work.” At home, I’d keep Byron’s sexy ass under me all night long. “Right now, my first choice is to make him your assistant.” As I expected, that got Declan’s eyes to light up. He desperately needed a new assistant. He kept scaring off all his assistants. Something about him being gruff, cold, and scary, which made it an uncomfortable work environment.
“Why can’t I have him now?”
“No.”
“But he’ll be safer if we move him now.”
Something like panic twisted in my stomach, and I grabbed my whiskey despite the earlier debacle with it. “It’s too early.”
“Okay. Fine,” Declan said even though it didn’t sound like he’d accepted my plan. “You date and things don’t work out. Will you still be able to maintain a working relationship?”
“Of course.”
Declan seemed even less convinced. “You’ve been infatuated with him for three years. You’re going to actually be fine if he doesn’t want to date?”
“I know it’ll hurt, but I believe he will examine this fairly. Besides, I don’t think it’s going to happen. We’re extremely compatible. We know each other, and we’re comfortable together. This is about taking the next step in our relationship.”
His friend sighed. “I don’t want to see either of you hurt. Please, be careful. Try to tone down the flirting in the office.”
“Fine. Fine. I’ll be careful.” I hadn’t thought I was being flirty, but Declan was probably right. He wasn’t the type of person to notice these things, but if he had, it was likely that I was being more over the top than usual.
And I didn’t want Byron to be hurt by any of this.
“Have you heard from Simon recently?” Declan inquired, and I was grateful for the change of subject. I didn’t want to contemplate a world in which Byron didn’t want to date me, where we couldn’t make a relationship work.
“He’s apartment hunting still,” I replied. The server returned with our espresso and coffee, and I asked for the check. This lunch had stretched long enough, and it was time to get back to work. “I offered to let him stay at my house if he wanted. That would give him time to get to know the area and figure out where he wanted to live, but he said no. Wants to do this on his own.”
“I think you need to talk to Pierce,” Declan stated as he picked up the small cup with the dark liquid.
“Why?”
“He’s being an ass.”
I snorted as I lifted my cup to my lips. “Pierce is always an ass. It’s what he does best.”
“He’s worse than usual, and it started when Simon began contacting you about moving to Cincinnati. What does he have against Simon?”
Closing my eyes, I savored the heat and rich flavor of my coffee, using the moment to mellow old, painful memories. “It’s not about Simon. It’s about Sawyer.” I opened my eyes and offered Declan a half smile. “Out of all of us, Pierce was closest to Sawyer. I don’t know if it was more than friendship, and that’s not a land mine I’m stupid enough to step on out of curiosity. Pierce hasn’t recovered from Sawyer’s death. And I’m sure Sawyer’s brother moving here is threatening to dredge up all those old feelings.”
“What should we do?”
I shrugged. It had been thirteen years since Sawyer’s death. I could only guess that Pierce had been closer to Sawyer than we all understood, and that was why it was a continued sore spot for him. As far as I knew, they’d only been friends. They hadn’t dated. Hadn’t even grown up together. They’d met at college, like the rest of us. The one exception was Declan and me.
“I’ll try talking to him next time I see him.” But I hated that I didn’t have high hopes for that effort. In the time I’d known him, Pierce had always been the one most reluctant to open up about things that were troubling him, and anything to do with Sawyer had a giant red flag on it.
Pierce was a good guy at heart and definitely cared about his friends, but he was also about as cuddly as a porcupine fucking a cactus. The man was all snark and bite. No fluff. Sadly, Sawyer’s accident hadn’t made him that way. According to his parents, Pierce was born grumpy and had never grown out of it.