Tea in hand, I sat down at my desk the next morning. The bookmark that Max had given me was out of the box, staring up at me. I tried to move it out of the way, but it caught the sunlight that flooded in. Even if I wasn’t prone to accepting gifts, this one made my heart flutter. Not because of who gave it to me, but because Max seemed to know me better than he thought.

I pulled out one of the books I had in my bag and placed the bookmark in it. I smiled to myself; I never used quitter strips, but for once, it was nice to have one. Just in case.

I opened my personal email first and saw something from Adam. It was a listing for a house, down in the outskirts of Atlanta. Two bedrooms, two baths. Just what we needed to start our lives here. Something permanent. I scrolled through the email, looking for pricing, but only the basics were listed. Adam had a new job, but I just didn’t know if we had enough to be able to afford a house like this.

“Mornin’.” I looked up to see Greg. He was leaning against my desk but refused to make eye contact.

“Morning.” I drew out the word, trying to figure out what he needed. Adam had used this same tactic when he wanted something from me.

“So…” Greg was fidgeting now, and for some reason it amused me. “I have a favor to ask.”

Now I was intrigued. This was only my second day, and my boss was asking for a favor. It made me think that Lilly had told him about my reputation as a teacher’s pet. I could see her through the glass separating our desks, and the smirk on her face. Yup, she had ratted me out.

“Since you started out so well yesterday, I thought you could help me with a project.” I had positioned myself to look directly at Greg now, forcing him to make eye contact with me. He seemed tense, almost unsure if I would help him, but he also looked desperate.

“Absolutely!” He slumped forward, looking immediately relieved. “What would I be helping with?”

“Max set me up with a book a month ago.” And there was the ball dropping. Max. I knew he owned the company, but it felt like he was at every turn. “The proposal is due tomorrow, and I haven’t even started it yet. Max is a little ticked, so I need your help.”

I released a breath I didn’t know I was holding, realizing that Greg really did need the help, and it wasn’t just some ploy. Right then I knew I needed to say yes, and it wasn’t because I needed to impress anyone. I couldn’t avoid Max, that much I knew, but if I made it known that I was here strictly for the job, it might make a difference to the attention I was receiving.

“No problem. I can help you get through it all today.” There was shock on his face, and I realized that no one here knew I was a speed reader.

“That’s exactly what I need! I can order lunch for us if you want to finish up with what you’re working on.” He pulled out his phone and I could see he was checking what was in the area. “How about I order Chinese, and then you can meet me in my office.”

“Orange chicken with no veggies and extra orange sauce and you have me sold.”

“Done.” He walked away without another word. I turned back to my computer, sending the last email I needed to confirm the offer for the last client on my list. I picked the opportune time to look up. I was going to move over to Lilly’s desk when I saw Max across the room. He lifted his hand for a small wave. I didn’t know what else to do but wave back. He ducked into Greg’s office with a bounce in his step.

I didn’t normally have anxiety, but it struck me fast that I was stepping into a role that I only barely knew.

“I have no idea what I am doing.” I slumped the words out, and moved to sit on Lilly’s desk. She maneuvered towards me, resting her arms and head on my thighs.

“You know you’ve got this,” Lilly reassured me. I took three breaths, trying to slow my heart rate. “Just think of the opportunity, because don’t think I don’t know you want to go into editing and publishing.”

A knowing smile spread across her face, as she looked up at me. I had been working on editing romance novels, but Adam hadn’t seen it as a practical job, constantly saying that it wasn’t something I needed to be doing. I was so excited when Lilly was able to get me an interview with the financing department at The Ink Well. I would still be able to work in the world I had fallen in love with.

“Thank you,” I whispered. Lilly knew me all too well. A hand landed on my shoulder, and Erica sat next to me. She didn’t have to say a word for me to know that she was there for me just like Lilly was. It had only been two days, but I knew there was no separating us now.

“Girls.” Max walked by the moment our heads lifted. He didn’t look at anyone but me, didn’t stop either, as he headed towards the elevator. The edge in his demeanor from yesterday was gone. Maybe everything that happened yesterday was all in my head. Maybe Max being so intimidating was just my imagination. Maybe it was me wanting that initial spark again in my life.

Regret filled my heart.

I immediately pulled out my phone, sending off a text to Adam.

I love you.

I took another deep breath and removed myself from Lilly’s desk.

“Make sure you don’t do all the work!” Lilly yelled to me as I walked to Greg’s office. I chuckled to myself because we both knew that wasn’t going to be the case, and not because I had any idea how Greg worked, but because we both knew I was a workaholic who took charge. Sometimes I couldn’t trust people to do the work I knew I could get done in such a short period of time.

I knocked on his door before opening it.

“Shit. I wasn’t expecting you so soon.” Greg’s question surprised me. So soon? Hadn’t he just asked me to help him? He shuffled papers around on his desk, trying to make some order out of the chaos.

“Sorry. I’d finished all the clients on my list from yesterday.” His eyebrows shot up. I seemed to just kept surprising him. “Where do you need me to start?”

He motioned for me to sit in the chair in front of his desk. There was a stack of papers there, maybe 100 pages. If this was what I was going to be working with, I questioned how Greg hadn’t finished it yet.

“I was supposed to coordinate a chart for the royalties for this a while ago, but I hadn’t had the time to sit down and read the book yet.” He handed me the pages I had been eyeing. “The client has asked to be kept anonymous, so we have to be precise with the numbers or we could lose the deal completely.” I started looking through the book to see if there were any notes already. Greg made sure to order food for us so it would be here in time for lunch.

“You know, normally this isn’t even something I do, but Max asked me personally. I may be doing this last minute, but goddamn, we’ll get this done.” Greg seemed determined in his actions as he started to pull out some sticky notes and pens after ordering lunch. I was glad he was including me in helping out with his business. I had been working all day yesterday with royalties and no substance, so it was nice to be able to read the book and then work it out.

“I’m glad I’m here to help, then.”

I grabbed a pen off Greg’s desk.

“I was surprised to see Max on the floor here yesterday.” Greg’s words stopped me at the first word on the page. I looked up at him while he was scrolling through his computer, like what he just said hadn’t mattered in the slightest.

“What?” I sounded more confused than I intended to, but I didn’t understand what he was trying to say.

“We were about to head to lunch when I told him you had started and he wanted to meet you. I haven’t seen him smile that much in the last few days, so hopefully his good mood stays.”

Instead of responding to Greg, I dove into the book. I tried not to think about what he said about Max being happy to see me. I didn’t even fully know him yet. By the time food was delivered to the office, I had finished the book once and was gearing to start it a second time, and maybe a third. It was one of those books that you could devour over and over again and never get tired of it.

By eight that night, everyone had left, even the janitors who came in at six. Papers were spread all across the floor, and Greg had ordered us pizza for dinner. I had already finished the book multiple times. My notes were next to me, Greg’s spreadsheets were printed out, and an argument had been going on for the past hour.

“If you think it should be that low, then you need to actually read the book like I did.” I had made a decently sized offer to Greg for the pitch, but he thought it was too much. All he had read were the first and last chapters of the book.

“We may be a high-end publishing company, but they shouldn’t expect so much from us, especially since we aren’t even sure who this actually is. This could be a complete flop.” He started to get some of the papers gathered back together. “Maybe I just need time to think about this and talk it over with Max and create a last-minute chart for him in the morning.”

“Fine, but I’m just letting you know that if this is some big-shot author, they aren’t going to settle for less than double your $50,000 quote. I’m telling you, at least $100,000 would be best to pitch.” I finished helping Greg reorganize everything back onto his desk. I went to grab my things, but before I left for the night, I wanted to thank Greg for letting me help him on this project. I realized in our haste of arguing, I hadn’t been grateful enough for the opportunity. As I reached his office, someone else had already made themselves comfortable.

“Alexa.” Max sat up straight in the chair I had just been in. He sounded surprised to see me. I remembered the bookmark in my bag and felt it burning a hole in there. “What are you doing here?”

“She was just helping me with the numbers for the pitch tomorrow, but we had a little disagreement, which is why I wanted to talk to you about it.” I couldn’t help but stand in the doorframe as both men watched me. “If you’re ready to leave, Alexa, go ahead. I think we can handle it from here.”

“Thank you, Greg, for the opportunity. Have a good night, you two.” I turned to leave. I heard footsteps behind me, as I stood waiting for the elevator. I turned to see Max stop in front of my desk. There was a smirk on his face. I knew he could see that the bookmark wasn’t there anymore. He didn’t know where it was. Actually, no one did. But I knew that he was thinking I had it with me. And he was right.

I tried to get home quick, not liking that I was leaving work alone and at night. I may have been in Atlanta for a week, but I still wasn’t as comfortable being on my own as I would’ve liked to be. I looked behind me, almost hoping that Max would follow me again, but frowned as I saw no one around when I crossed the street to Lilly’s apartment.

“How did tonight go?” Lilly questioned me when I entered the dark apartment. She paused her action movie, moving all of her attention to me.

“It was really good. I got to see a different side to the business.” I moved to the couch next to her, then plopped my feet onto her lap as I lay down. “I mean, Greg and I didn’t agree on anything, but I liked to see his side of things.”

“Did you get to see Max today?”

I raised my eyebrows at Lilly. Her question threw me off. “Actually, I did. Why do you ask?”

“Greg and Max are best friends, so he comes down usually when Greg stays late.” A blush crept across her face. We hadn’t talked more about Lilly’s crush on Greg, so I pretended not to notice.

“Yeah, he was shocked to see me, and then I left, that was it. But Greg mentioned that he had been having a rough last few weeks, and apparently I had made Max smile again finally.” I laughed off my statement because as ridiculous as it sounded when Greg told me, it was worse to hear it coming from my mouth. It wasn’t like it was something I was proud of, or even wanted, but I didn’t know what else to say.

“Now that you mention it, he has been a little on edge, but I thought that was just because he hadn’t gotten laid.” If I would have had a drink in my hand, I probably would have spit everywhere. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen him show interest in someone like he has you.”

I didn’t respond to Lilly’s comment. She unpaused the movie when awkward silence started to fill the room. I tried not to think about Max and what Lilly had said. I checked my phone multiple times, wanting more than anything for Adam to call or text me. I hadn’t talked to him since last night, and having been crazy with work today, I hadn’t gotten to text him. I knew he would be at work, so I didn’t want to disturb him. I laid my phone across my chest in case it vibrated; this was becoming a bad habit, One I didn’t know if I was going to be bale to break.

Lilly and I watched movies till we fell asleep, both of us slumped awkwardly on the couch. The next thing I knew, I was rolling over onto the floor in front of the couch. I shot up to see Lilly in the kitchen with a coffee cup.

“We have about ten minutes before work. You still have time to change.” My head was throbbing. I turned to the coffee table to see a cup of tea there for me.

“Thanks.” By the way my headache was already forming, I knew today was going to be a long day.

“No problem. Now go get ready.” Lilly shooed me away, and I hurried to the bedroom, tea in hand. The best vice a girl could have.

I threw on a simple pair of black slacks with a black dress shirt. It may have been June, but as a girl from California, I could stand to wear black in 100-degree weather. I also didn’t feel like trying to be fancy today. Jeans and a shirt were my go-to, and this was the closest I could do. I was so used to Adam picking out my clothes for me in the morning, that it was sometimes odd to have to take out the extra few minutes to put together an outfit.

Lilly and I headed out together and met Erica in the lobby of The Ink Well. We made our way up to the office, and when I got to my desk, I had yet another gift waiting for me, but this time I wasn’t sure who it was from. I was staring at a rough hardbound copy of the book I had helped Greg with last night. I was surprised to see it bound so fast.

“You were right about the offer. Thank you.” I stared at Lilly as she read the note that was attached. “I guess you made a good impression on Greg.”

“Good job, rookie.” Erica gave me an approving hip nudge before heading to her desk. Today wasn’t going as bad as I had thought, and it seemed to go by fast. So did the rest of the week. Greg had to give me a new client list almost every day, and I had gotten to know Erica a lot more with our daily lunch visits to Baker’s. She wasn’t as shy as I thought, but she most certainly didn’t talk as much as Lilly and me.

When Lilly, Erica, and I came back to Lilly’s apartment Friday night, I couldn’t help but want to go out and clear my head. This week wasn’t as stressful as I had thought it was going to be, but a lot had happened that I just wasn’t prepared for. I hadn’t spoken to Adam in days, and my nerves were starting to get the best of me. I tried calling and texting, but all I ever got back were emails or late-night texts.

“I’m thinking going to a club would be fun.” Erica dove onto the couch, taking up the whole space. She had lived in Atlanta longer than Lilly had, and she seemed to know the greatest spots.

“Maybe we could do that tomorrow night. I was thinking dinner and drinks. Something simple after a long week.” My suggestion seemed to resonate with the girls, so we decided on a restaurant four blocks away. Erica said that it was a huge tourist hot spot and she knew one of the seaters there who would be able to get us on the seating list for the night.

By nine o’clock we were seated on the terrace of a five-star restaurant in our best dresses. Lilly had on a ruby-red dress with a slit along the side that stopped mid-thigh. Erica had on a simple blue dress with a large ruffle skirt. She looked so dainty outside of work, I wouldn’t have recognized her if I hadn’t myself seen her change. I was in a short black dress that was strapless and came down to about mid-thigh. The best part of the outfit, though, was the bright red pumps that matched my red clutch. Lilly had done a few whistles at me when I had come out of my room earlier, but I ignored her. It was my first night out in a long time and I wanted to feel pretty, just this once.

I sent Adam a picture text of me once I was ready, but I hadn’t heard anything back from him. We ordered calamari appetizers as our entrée and paired that with blue raspberry martinis. I finished my first drink in ten minutes, with hope that Adam would text me back.

“Am I going to need to take that phone away?” Lilly’s question popped me out of the sadness I knew was about to overcome me. I put it back in-between my thighs instead of answering her. Alcohol slid down my throat while both Erica and Lilly stared me down. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah.” I didn’t know what else to say to her. Everything was okay, but with not having heard from Adam, all I felt was thinking sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. Right before I moved out here, there had been some tension between us, but we had always tried to figure it out., We had never gone so long without talking to each other, and I didn’t know what to do.

“I feel like you’re lying.” Erica’s soft voice filled the loud patio. I look over to her and smiled. She was intuitive and I knew I wouldn’t be able to get off this subject for long.

“Maybe I just don’t want to ruin the night and how amazing this week has been.” I raised my drink to the girls, hoping that they would take the bait. They did, and our glasses clinked together, the sound merging with our laughter. We were there for an hour, three drinks apiece, when the waiter came back to us with three glasses of pink martinis.

“Courtesy of the gentleman over there.” We all turned around to the table the waiter was pointing out to see a group of businessmen sitting there enjoying some food and wine. It wasn’t until I caught Max’s eyes that I realized the drinks were from him. He winked at me and I blushed, not able to control it.

“We don’t want them.” I finally looked away and made sure to put all of the drinks back onto the waiter’s serving tray before I shooed him away. It was one thing to come on to someone at work, but outside was something else. You couldn’t misconstrue flirting outside the office, because that was exactly what this was, flirting.

“What did you do that for? It was free alcohol!” Lilly complained. Disappointment shone on both her and Erica’s face.

“It was from Max.” The women straightened themselves up and searched the table that the waiter had previously pointed to. They found him immediately, concern forming across both of their faces.

“Now that’s a first.” Erica’s statement bothered me, not because it sounded odd, but because I thought that she was lying. Lilly had basically said the same thing earlier this week, and I was trying to understand why Max had such a fascination with me. I wasn’t having it though. I needed to make sure he knew that I wasn’t interested in him in that way.

“Then it will also be the last.” I pulled out cash to pay for our food and drinks. Erica and Lilly protested, but I promised they could pay next time. “Let’s go.”

We made our way out of the restaurant but were stopped outside by a man in a black suit.

“Thank you, Rick.” Max’s voice filled the night air. “I’ll take it from here.”

I turned around to see him standing in front of us in a three-piece suit. It was dressier than anything I had ever seen him in at the office, but it suited him well. He moved his attention from Rick to me. The girls stood behind me, waiting, as I was, to see what Max wanted.

“Nice to see you, ladies. I was wondering if I could steal Alexa from you for the night. I promise to return her safely back home later.”

Both women stepped in front of me, blocking my line of vision to Max. Lilly chimed in to my rescue. “We were just heading home, so I think the answer will be a no, Max.”

“If Alexa doesn’t want to come with me, I want to hear it come from her mouth, not yours.” The words reverberated from him, sending a shiver through me. He didn’t say another word but waited for my response. I could feel the agitation emanating from Max, but he wasn’t the only one. I took a deep breath and pushed Lilly to the side so that I could make eye contact with him.

He stood there confidently, with his hands in his pockets, just like he had on the first day I had met him. He didn’t just own the room, he seemed to own the world as the people passing by looked him up and down. This man could have any woman he wanted, so then why was he so focused on me? I was the new girl at work. I shouldn’t matter this much to him.

“Max, I have no interest in seeing you outside of work.” The words didn’t seem to faze him. He took a step towards me. His hand reached out to grab mine and I stepped back quickly. If Max was oblivious to why I couldn’t see him, then it was finally time to shine the light. Going after a married woman wasn’t good form.

“Alexa—”

“I’m married.” My words stopped him as he tried to take another step closer. His eyes widened in panic and he took a step backward. Lilly and Erica moved back to their positions, blocking me from Max’s view.

“I didn’t know. I’m sorry, Alexa.” The apology seemed sincere as he went to the town car down the road from us. He didn’t say another word. This situation was over just as quickly as it had started. I stared at his back and Rick opened the door for him. He took one more look back at me, catching my eye before dipping inside.

Erica hailed a cab for us to head back home. Lilly stood with me, both of us staring into the distance as Max’s car drove away from us. No one said a word when we entered our cab. We parted ways once back at Lilly’s apartment, with an understanding that tonight had never happened.