“Hey, Charlie.” Rose stuck her head into the photocopier room. “Got any of those calendars left?”

I straightened, turning toward the door. “I’m getting out of the rogue printing business.”

“Too bad. Hey, would you mind helping me with some expense claims? I’ve been trying to fill out that form twenty-five for international trips, and I keep getting bounce backs.”

“Oh, that’s easy. If you check a box on the previous page, you don’t get an error. I’ll show you.”

A relieved smile stretched across her face. “Thanks, Charlie.” She hesitated. “It was nice of your boss to send us for lunch.”

“Yeah. Nice.”

Avery’d left his card number with me last week and hadn’t said anything about canceling the lunch since our fall out this morning. But I hadn’t been able to eat a bite of the lobster I ordered.

Looking around my friends’ smiling faces, I reminded myself we weren’t meaning to do any harm. Just having some fun.

So why did I feel so damned guilty about it?

“He said hi in the hallway to me last week.” Rose’s words brought me back. “He even asked my name, because I think he forgot it.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat. “Yeah? Well, he’s going to need a new assistant.”

Her eyes went round. “What? Seriously?”

“I’m leaving. In a couple of weeks, actually. Looking for new opportunities. HR isn’t making a big deal of it, but I’m sure they’d consider you.”

“Wow. I can’t imagine this place without you, but I’ll definitely apply. Thanks, Charlie.”

“Listen, I have to do something, but I’ll come by in a few, OK?”

After she left, I moved away from the table and pulled out the box of calendars I’d brought from my desk.

Staring out at me was Avery Banks.

I pulled the top calendar off the stack and fed it through the paper shredder. Then the next. I thought it would be more satisfying to feed his face through the shredder. It wasn’t.

The last calendar in hand, I flipped it open. The other guys who’d been chosen from the esteemed panel of me, Emma, and Kristal had always appealed to me. Now, though, I couldn’t get any more excited than “meh” about a single one of them. Even Blake from derivatives, who everyone said had the best six-pack in the building.

He wasn’t Avery. He didn’t have my boss’s icy blue eyes that would warm when you worked for it.

Staring at the picture of Avery, I didn’t have the heart to shred it. I ripped out July, folded it, and stuck it in my pocket before shredding the rest.

* * *

“Hey. Charlie.”

“Yeah.” I lifted my gaze to see Payton peering over the top of my cubicle.

“Mallory said all the associates have jobs for the gala. Do you know mine?”

“Sure.” I pulled up the document, scrolled through. “You’re working in the back.”

“Of course I am.” She groaned, rounding the partition and dropping into the spare chair across from me in my work area. “I’m pregnant and now I’m never going to get noticed in this company. What are the other associates doing?”

I read down the list. All the men had more visible jobs. Greeting clients. Helping the CEO.

“This sucks. Maybe you could talk to Avery about getting me something more visible?”

I glanced toward the closed door across the hall. “It’d go over better if you did it.”

For the past couple of days he’d stayed true to his word. He’d stopped sending me requests unless they were absolutely necessary. He barely acknowledged me in the hall.

Mallory kept me busy enough that I was only at my desk half the time anyway, but still.

I’d expected it to be uncomfortable.

I didn’t expect it to hurt.

“What happened?” she prompted. “I thought you guys were…” she glanced around, lowering her voice. “Getting along.”

I tapped my fingernails on the top of my desk. “We were. Until he got a little reminder Monday. Of my jokes.”

She winced. “Do I want to know?”

“Better not.”

“Well, for what it’s worth I don’t think you can outlast him. He’s stubborn as hell. If you want him to forgive you, you might have to work for it.”

She rose from her chair, shooting me a look before heading back to her office.

I studied the closed door for what felt like an hour after Payton left.

Eventually I got up and crossed to it.

I had to knock twice before the harsh answer came back.

“What is it.”

I opened the door slowly, meeting Avery’s hard gaze.

So much for hoping he’s over it. Forty-eight hours hadn’t seemed to have cooled him off.

Still, I stepped inside and crossed to the chair facing his desk. “I wanted to ask about Payton’s role for the gala,” I said, shifting into the seat.

“What about it.”

I folded my hands in front of me, mostly to keep letting on that I was self-conscious. “She’s upset because she’s not going to have a chance to get ahead. I mean, assuming this place doesn’t burn to the ground.”

Avery shot me a look. “I don’t understand. Payton’s capable. Professional.” I tried not to wince at the dig. “She works hard, she’ll get ahead.”

“Not if no one else knows she’s good. She needs to be visible. Which is never going to happen, even though she works her ass off.” I blew out a breath. “Avery,” a muscle in his jaw ticked at my use of his name, “Please don’t let the fact that you’re mad at me hurt her.”

He tugged on his shirt cuffs. “I’m not mad. I told you. I don’t like being taken advantage of.”

I studied him. “I get that. More than you realize. Do you know how many times men have made jokes about me? Hit on me?”

At least now I had his attention.

“Dozens. The problem, Avery, is they work here. They’re your bosses. Your blood.”

He shifted in his chair.

“And it’s not just me. Bobby needs Emma to help him every single quarter with finances, but he makes more than her. A lot more. And the reality is, Jamie got Payton the promotion to associate, but he’s on leave and not coming back, which means Payton will have her baby, and all the senior management will forget she exists. If they even know her now.”

He hesitated before speaking. When he did, his voice was conflicted. “What are you asking me for.”

“Nothing. But I wanted you to know.” I shifted out of my chair, starting toward the door.

“Charlotte.”

I turned back, hope rising up in my chest.

“I have a lunch in New York Friday.”

“Before the gala?” My eyebrows rose and he nodded. “Do you need help?” Usually he was hopeless with travel arrangements.

“It’s under control. Just look after the gala and make sure everything’s ready.”

“OK.” I cleared my throat. “Is there anything else?”

I thought he was going to say something.

That things would be OK. That he didn’t hate me, didn’t think I’d betrayed him.

“No.”

Swallowing the disappointment that rose up like a wave, I left.