Chapter 5

Drayer

I looked at the newly posted schedule and couldn’t stop the cheer that came out of my mouth. Jimmy had told me he was trying to get me a weekend replacement, and it looked like he had done just that, which meant I was getting Saturday and Sunday off.

Sure, not having the overtime would suck, but I already was at forty-four hours, so I supposed I didn’t have much to complain about. Besides, I could really use the downtime and a chance to not have to wear a scratchy beard and big, fake belly.

A quick look at my watch told me I still had about fifteen minutes before I needed to start getting dressed, so I headed toward the break room, figuring it would be empty since all of the openers were still, well, opening.

Sure enough, only Nick was there, helping himself to some break room pastries and generally looking like he could use a few more hours of sleep. I grabbed one myself and sat across from him, leaning my chin on my hand while I chewed.

“So,” I said around my food.

“So?” he responded, sounding like he needed some more sleep too.

“You excited about the Christmas party next Saturday?”

His eyes widened like he had completely forgotten about its existence, which, knowing sleepy Nick, he totally had. “Oh dude, that’s in, like, uh …”

“Eight days,” I answered quickly. “If you count today.”

“Right, right. Yeah, man, I’m totally excited. I really think this will be the year I finally hook up with Jo.”

I dropped my pastry for a moment and had to scramble to catch it before it hit the ground. “Wait, you want to get in with Jo?” It had taken me two days to learn the name of what seemed to be Ella’s best friend, and while she was cute, I was surprised to hear that Nick was into her.

“Yeah, man. I’ve liked her basically since I met her. She’s just so goddamned adorable and snarky. I don’t know if I wanna pinch those chubby cheeks of hers or bend her over.”

“Whoa,” I said, quickly looking around. “You probably don’t want to say those things in the workplace.”

But he only shrugged and continued munching like what he said was completely normal. “There’s nobody else here. And even if they were, they didn’t know who we were talking about, so I could make up some—”

The door creaked open, and I quickly stomped on his foot. Nick let out a surprised yelp but managed to get his wits together enough to shut the hell up right as Ella walked around to the edge of the table.

“Hey, what were you two talking about?” she asked, her tone light enough for me to hope she hadn’t overheard my friend talking about what he wanted to do to her friend. Although I could easily see myself doing the same to Ella, over a desk or even a couch, her rounded behind growing red with my—

“The Christmas Party next week,” Nick said idly, interrupting my sexy daydream.

“Huh, you guys are really obsessed with that, aren’t you?”

“Well, you know how it is for us lonely souls. We’ll do anything for a chance to pretend we have friends.”

“Oh yes, I’m sure you live the lives of real pariahs.”

“Yup, that’s us. Just a couple of social outcasts.”

She laughed and shook her head, leaving our table to grab something from the fridge. As much as I wanted her to stick around and continue our little verbal exchange, I did so love watching her hips sway. And when she bent over, good lord, it was not right how her ass looked in those tight, black pants.

I managed to avert my eyes by the time she stood, lest I look like some kind of creep. After all, I wasn’t only interested in her for her body, although her body was banging. What I liked about her was her sense of humor and the way her eyes lit up every time she cheekily thought up a new comeback.

“Well, I better get back to work. Don’t be late now. We wouldn’t want the children to riot.”

“Oh no, heaven forbid. Not an army of little knee-biters.”

“Exactly,” she said with a nod. “Especially since I just cleaned up all the displays in the front third of the store.”

“I promise I will keep your shelves safe from the Santa-hungry tykes.”

“Good.” She gave the two of us a little salute and exited, whistling slightly.

“Dude,” Nick said with a chuckle. “Can you wipe the drool off your chin, or do you need me to get you a napkin?”

“What?” I said, hand going to my chin. “I’m not drooling.”

“You practically were.” He shook his head like I was so hilarious. “Wow, you really have it bad for her already. ‘I told you so’ just doesn’t seem like enough anymore.”

“Shut up,” I countered, grabbing his pastry and shoving it into his mouth. “I have to start getting dressed anyway.”

But he was absolutely right. I had it for Ella, and I had it bad for everything about her from her full lips to her short, shiny hair to even the way she smelled. It was like someone had taken the blueprint of a perfect woman out of my brain and had given her the personality to boot.

But, despite my interest, one thing was for certain. I didn’t think it would be appropriate to ask her out or even really come on to her at work, where she might feel pressured to reciprocate a certain way. The holiday party was going to be my make or break it kind of deal, and if she didn’t seem into it, I was going to respect that and settle with the flirtations every now and then.

But by God, I really hoped she was as into me as I was into her.