Chapter 10

Emma

By the time Monday morning came around, I was happy that I hadn’t given in to my desire on Friday. I couldn’t imagine how awkward it would be to come in to work and see my boss, while the same time remembering the way his kiss had tasted. Coming in to work and remembering the way his body had felt under my wandering hands was embarrassing enough.

I didn’t have much time to stew in this embarrassment, however, because as soon as I got to my desk I noticed a big bag of gourmet pretzels sitting on top of my keyboard. I frowned at them, wondering if somebody had misplaced part of their lunch. Then I saw the note.

The little piece of paper was tucked under the corner of the bag, and I lifted it out to read it.

Just in case.

I knew right away that the pretzels were from Max, and was touched that he’d remembered my weird love of pretzels and Pinterest. It was an unexpectedly kind gesture, not because I thought he didn’t have it in him, but because I’d never expected him to take the time to remember something so trivial about me. He was surprising me with stuff like that a lot, lately. I would have never pegged him as a guy who pulled his new, awkward assistant up for a dance to make her feel better about a lousy ex, either. Maybe I needed to re-evaluate how I thought of him.

I turned on my computer and put down my things, moving the pretzels to the side of my desk. I thought about opening them up right then and there, just because I could, but it was the morning and I wanted to save them for their true purpose. I knew that this time when I was sad and eating pretzels while Pinterest-ing, it would take less time than ever to feel better.

I took a few minutes to settle in before I went to thank Max. I was still all fluttery from the dance on Friday, and now that he’d given me such a sweet gift I needed to gather myself a bit before I saw him. I could almost feel his presence behind the heavy oak door of his office. A couple days ago there’d been nothing between us but a few inches of empty air, and now it was like I was extra tuned into him. I wondered if he could sense me too. Was that crazy?

Once I’d set everything up at my desk for the day, I couldn’t put it off any longer. Nervous or not, I needed to go thank Max for the gift. I wanted to go thank Max for the gift. I wasn’t entirely certain what I was going to say to him, but I’d figure it out. I just wanted to see him.

I rose and started walking for the door. My hand was just resting on the handle when I heard a disturbance behind me. I turned out of curiosity and saw an elegant middle-aged woman with dark hair strutting down the rows of cubicles toward me, her heels clicking loudly. She walked with her head held high and her shoulders back, like a true aristocrat, and barely even glanced at the people she passed. The disturbance I’d heard was her kicking a trash can out of her way, evidenced by the little black bin rolling in a semi-circle by the elevator.

She was headed right for me. Or for Max, more likely than not. Was I supposed to stop her? Who was this woman?

I walked back over to my desk, but stayed standing, greeting the woman with a friendly smile. She looked familiar somehow, but I couldn’t place her stormy blue eyes.

“Hello, can I help you?” I asked.

The woman narrowed her eyes and gave me a once over. “You must be Emma.”

I recognized that voice. Instantly, it all clicked in. Who else could this woman be besides Paulina Westfield? I should have known from the way she walked—like she owned the place—and the cloud of expensive perfume now tickling my nostrils.

“Mrs. Westfield, it’s so nice to finally meet you.” I extended a hand for her to shake, which she did with a claw-like grip.

“Likewise, darling. I’ve been looking forward to seeing Haddie’s successor in person. However are you? And please, you know you can call me Paulina. I insist upon it.”

Paulina and I had built quite the rapport over the phone these past two weeks. She’d been calling every couple of days, and loved to chat if her son wasn’t available—which he often was not.

“I’m great, thanks. Did you have a nice weekend?”

Paulina smirked. “You wouldn’t believe the weekend I had if I told you. Let’s just say I’m a little peaky this morning, and that’s the good news. It was a blast though, simply a blast.” She winked. “I’ve come to see my son, though, I’m afraid. Since he rarely takes my calls, I must take matters into my own hands.”

“I’ll go check if he’s available.” I turned and walked to Max’s door, but I realized a moment too late that Paulina was following me.

She cackled. “Oh, no need for that. If he’s not available, I’ll make him available. I brought him into this world. He didn’t get his dreadful manners from me, mind you.”

With that, Paulina cut in front of me and busted into Max’s office. I stumbled in after her, blanching when I saw the look of irritation that crossed Max’s face.

“There is the prodigal son,” Paulina crooned. “Working hard, I see. Do you have anything to drink?”

She made a beeline for his liquor cabinet as I mouthed to him that I was sorry. He merely smiled and shook his head in a bemused fashion. I supposed there was no stopping Paulina Westfield.

I took my leave then, silently pulling the door behind me. I would thank Max after Paulina had left.

Paulina had already started loudly proclaiming the purpose of her visit, before I even closed the door. “I’m setting you up with a lovely girl named Constance Klein for the charity dinner on Friday, and I absolutely will not take no for an answer. She’s beautiful and of course comes from a very good family. You need a date you know and you could...”

Now that the door was closed, the rest of what she was saying became muffled. Not that I wanted to hear any of it, anyway.

What could be more of a reality check than this visit from Paulina? Max would never go for a girl like me. The dancing, the pretzels, it was just him being nice to me. But when it came down to it, Constance Klein was the kind of girl he’d be taking out on a date, not me. I was his employee. Nothing more.

I slumped down into my chair and started working, half-tempted to rip into the bag of pretzels. If only they hadn’t been marred now by my foolish hope. Thank God Paulina had showed up. I had been about to go in there and thank him, and maybe we’d talk about Friday and even flirt a little. And where would that get me?

Heartbroken. Again.

This crush was no good. I needed to put my foot down and stop giving in to the little fancies I had that told me there was something between us. Even if it had felt like there was on the dance floor.

Even if I wanted it more than anything else in the world.

Paulina left about twenty minutes later, in triumph. She chatted with me on her way out, proclaiming that her job there was done, but that she’d see me again soon.

I figured it was best to catch Max just after she’d left, since then he wouldn’t have a chance to get back into whatever he’d been working on. I knocked lightly on his door, and a second later he called for me to come in.

“Hey,” Max greeted, running a hand through his hair. He stood up when I entered and gestured for me to come sit down.

I shook my head politely. “I actually just wanted to thank you for the pretzels.”

All traces of stress eased from his face, and his eyes crinkled at the corners when he smiled. My heart thumped. After two weeks of working here, I still hadn’t gotten used to seeing him. I still reacted every time.

“I’m glad you like them. It seemed like the least I could do.” He thrust his hands in his pockets, and nodded in the direction his mother had gone. “She’s something, isn’t she?”

I hadn’t intended to come in for a chat. It was supposed to be an in and out kind of job, wherein I’d thank him for the pretzels and get back to my desk—before I got another woeful reminder that he was so far out of my league we weren’t even playing the same sport. But bringing up his mom had the opposite effect.

I nodded. “Yep, she’s one hell of a lady.”

Max hid his laugh with a cough.

“Well, I better be getting back to work.” I turned on my heel, not waiting to see his reaction.

Starting today, I needed to put more of a professional wall up when it came to Max. It had been so easy to slip into in the kind of casual environment that existed before I got here, to blend in like an extension of Haddie. But I wasn’t Haddie. She didn’t have a crush on Max, and I doubt she’d ever been as close to kissing him as I had been on Friday night. Fool that I was. He wasn’t interested in kissing me, even if sometimes it felt like he was. He was just being a nice guy. The only way I could get that message through to my body, however, was to put him at a distance.

So that was what I was going to do.

Even if it killed me.

Which it might.