I walked into work the next morning and hoped I would not run into Cayden. Part of me wanted to see him, but the other half was embarrassed after our conversation last night. I hadn’t wanted to admit what was bothering me, but I couldn’t hide it anymore. Even after our romantic dinner and sex, I still felt like something was off. I could not accept the fact that someone like Cayden was interested in someone like me.

I still couldn’t believe we had sex on Saturday night. I flat out told Mandy that I would not give it up that easily. All it took was two dates and a fancy dinner to get in my pants. I didn’t even make him try! I’d to blame it on the wine.

As I entered the building, I noticed that it had been decorated for the holidays. There were multiple decorated trees, garlands, and silver stars hanging from the ceiling. While others were commenting on how great it looked, I could only fake a smile. Everyone was excited about the holidays except for me.

Once I walked into my office, I saw a huge bouquet of pink roses and a cup of coffee sitting on my desk.

“Are those mine?” I asked Nikki. She was sitting at her desk with a grin on her face.

“I believe so,” she said. “The florist just dropped them off and was looking for you. The coffee was already there when I came in, so you may want to warm it up.” I was baffled. This surely was a mistake. No one had ever sent me flowers before.

“Is there a card?” Nikki asked. I walked closer to the flowers. I always loved the smell of fresh flowers, but Brad never got them for me. I would always buy my own at the local farmer’s market. I looked around, but there was no sign of who they were from.

“No card,” I said. Weird.

“Are you sure they were for me?” I asked Nikki. She nodded.

“He asked for Tiffany Martin,” she responded. “They are definitely for you.”

“Odd,” I said. I took a sip of the coffee. It was a little cool, but still good. I’d actually overslept that morning and had been unable to grab a cup of coffee on the way in.

“Well, you’re one lucky girl,” Nikki said. “I spent all weekend with Maurice and I didn’t get shit this morning.” We laughed.

“You have no idea who those are from?” she asked, turning the attention back to the flowers. I shook my head. Of course, I’d some idea. There were only two men in my life that they could be from. One was a longshot, and one was the better possibility.

When I first saw the flowers, I instantly thought they were from Brad. Even after all that had happened with Cayden, I was still secretly thinking about Brad. Ever since I thought I saw Jessica on Saturday, Brad had been on my mind. What if they broke up and they both came back to town? What if the flowers were a way to win me back and apologize for how we ended things?

It took me a minute to come back to reality. Of course, they weren’t from Brad. He didn’t know where I worked, plus if he did, I highly doubted he would ever do something like this. Toward the end of our relationship, he couldn’t even pick up my dry cleaning for me, let alone pay for flower delivery.

Chances were high they were from Cayden, but why did I want them to be from Brad? What was wrong with me? Brad had cheated on me. He constantly put down my appearance and told me my dreams of being a reporter were stupid. He was part of the reason that my self-esteem was so shattered.

Cayden, on the other hand, was always supportive and was always complimenting me. He was obviously a much better man for me. Why could I not let Brad go? It had been over a year. He had moved on with someone else and seemed much happier. Why could I not let myself do the same thing with a great guy?

“Tiffany,” Nikki said. “You over there dreaming about your mystery man or what?”

I blushed, embarrassed that I’d been caught in a daze.

“Sorry,” I apologized.

“So, I was asking if they were from Cayden,” Nikki said. “They have to be, right? Maurice told me that Cayden is majorly sweating you. Did you hear from him at all this weekend?”

I debated telling Nikki the truth. If I told her about Saturday night, she would tell Maurice and then the rest of the office might find out. I didn’t even know what I wanted from Cayden. I couldn’t let the rest of our co-workers know that we had slept together.

“No,” I lied. “He must have been busy.”

Nikki rolled her eyes.

“Figures,” she said. “Typical man wants a girl but doesn’t want to put in any work. I would offer to hook you up with Maurice’s brother, but it appears that you already have someone in your life.”

I shrugged and changed the topic of the conversation. I didn’t want to talk about the flowers or Cayden anymore. I was beginning to get a headache. This was getting to be too much. I couldn’t let myself fall further for Cayden. I needed to stop this before it had a chance to really get started.

The morning went by quickly without a Cayden Lewis sighting. He was usually tied up in meetings on Monday mornings, and I was glad. I still wasn’t sure what to say to him, especially after the flowers and coffee on my desk. While I was flattered, it also added another layer of confusion to the equation.

“Do you want to grab lunch?” Nikki asked me, shutting her laptop.

“No thanks,” I responded. I wasn’t feeling hungry and I knew she would want to talk more about the flowers and the mystery man.

“Alright, I’ll see you in a bit,” she said, leaving our office. I stared at the flowers for a bit after she left, still confused.

“Hey, Tiffany,” a voice cut through my thoughts. I looked up to see Cayden standing in my doorway. Of course, he looked absolutely stunning as always.

“Hi,” I said. “Thank you for the flowers.”

He walked into the office and grinned.

“Beautiful flowers for a beautiful girl,” he said. “I just didn’t want to leave a card because I knew Nikki would have read it. I just wanted to do something for you to put a smile on your face.”

“That was very thoughtful of you, Cayden,” I responded. “Can you close the door?”

He grinned and closed the door. He walked over to me. He was expecting a kiss, but I quickly stood from my desk and backed up from him.

“What’s wrong?” he asked. There was a genuine look of concern on his face.

“I can’t do this,” I told him. “It’s just too much.”

He wrinkled his eyebrows. He was confused. To be honest, so was I. What was I doing?

“What is too much?”

“This,” I pointed to the flowers. “The flowers, the dinner, the weekend. It’s too much. And, we work together. We shouldn’t be doing this.”

He stood quietly for a minute, taking in what I’d just said.

“But, we had such a great time on Saturday night,” he said. I sighed. It was true, we did. I couldn’t dispute that.

“I’m not just letting you end this before it begins,” Cayden said. His response took me by surprise. I thought that I could just tell him I couldn’t do this, and it would be the end. I would go back to my boring life alone and he could go find someone who looked better with him. I didn’t know what else to say to him. I would need to give him a reason that he couldn’t argue with.

“I need a solid answer, Tiffany,” he continued to speak. “I’d such a great time with you last week. I don’t understand where all of this is coming from. Did I do something wrong?”

I shook my head. I wanted him to leave before someone, namely Nikki, came into the office to witness our little lovers’ spat.

“I am just not ready,” I told him. “I am not ready to move on, and I don’t know when I ever will be.”

He pursed his lips, thinking about what I’d just said. He was weighing the options in his head, thinking about what to say next.

“Will you just meet me for drinks on Wednesday after work?” he asked. His question took me by surprise. After all of that, he still wanted to go out with me again?

“Wednesday?”

“I have meetings the next two afternoons that will undoubtedly run late,” he explained. “Please, just meet me for drinks on Wednesday night. That’s all I ask for. One more date.”

He was relentless. When I didn’t respond, he began to speak again.

“I know how hard it’s to move on,” he said. “Believe me. I get it. Can you please just meet me on Wednesday?”

I nodded.

“Is that a yes?” he asked.

“Yes,” I said. “It’s a yes.”

“Great,” he responded. “I will be in touch.” He turned and left the office.

I sat back down in my chair and thought about what had just happened. Before he walked in, I was firm in my decision to not pursue things any further. Now I was going out with him again?

I’d to admit, I was intrigued by his past. I never thought that he would understand how hard it was to move on. What had happened in his past with his wife? Maybe I would find out more on Wednesday night.

Should I tell him about Brad if it came up? I was nervous to talk about my past relationship with him. Wasn’t that against one of the new relationship rules, anyway? You should never talk about your past. I was scared that if I talked about Brad, it would open the floodgates of emotion. After that, there was no turning back.

“So, I saw Cayden heading in here after I left,” Nikki returned to our office. She sipped on her smoothie as she waited for me to respond.

“He did,” I said. I knew what she was getting at, but now I really did not want to talk about it.

“He is the mystery man, isn’t he?” she whispered, shutting the door. “I knew it!”

“Hush!” I said. Even though the door was closed, our walls were thin, and I didn’t want the people in the next office to hear any of our conversation. Nikki giggled.

“You’re so lucky, Tiffany,” she said, walking over to the flowers. “If Cayden Lewis sent me these, I would die. I can’t believe you snagged him. Way to go, girl!”

I blushed.

“It’s nothing serious,” I told her. Although I wasn’t sure which one of us I was really trying to convince. It was something serious. Despite trying to fight it, I knew that this was a battle that I was about to lose.