As far as explanations went it was a bit dodgy, but Sophie opted to stand her ground and see where it went. She was finding it sort of enjoyable to see him all worked up.
“You named the dead—okay. Okay.” Gray closed his eyes as though praying for strength. “Ms. Dalton…”
“Sophie.”
“Ms. Dalton, first of all, the one-week trial was in no way contingent upon your ability to redecorate my office. And second of all, if you did assume the two were related, why in God’s name would you wait until the last possible moment on Friday afternoon to complete the task?”
Sophie waggled a finger at him. “Now, that I actually can explain. See, I intended to do it sooner, but it’s taken me this long to find Davie and crew a good home. I couldn’t just put them in the Dumpster, and none of the local donation centers accept…you know…dead animals. And Martin didn’t get back to me until this morning because he’s been in Europe, but good news! He’ll take his babies back!”
“I’m so relieved.”
“You don’t look relieved. You look annoyed.”
His jaw clenched. “Of course I’m annoyed! I came into my office expecting to catch up on filing and instead I find my assistant teetering idiotically on a ladder!”
“That would be upsetting to your delicate constitution,” she murmured.
“For someone who is so paranoid about getting fired, you’re certainly not taking care to get on my good side.”
Sophie bit her lip. He made a valid point.
Poking the beast with sarcasm wasn’t exactly the way to ensure long-term employment.
“Sorry,” she said halfheartedly. “I’ll try to be more biddable.”
“I doubt you know the meaning of the word,” he muttered as he turned and headed toward his desk.
She followed after him, deer mission abandoned. “Just out of curiosity, if the one-week employment trial wasn’t based on the décor update, what was it based on?”
His head snapped up, and something hot seemed to run over his features. “You know full well what I was trying to determine. Whether or not we could avoid that.” He nodded toward the ladder.
Sophie flushed slightly. Somehow she didn’t think he meant her falling so much as his catching her fall.
She hated that he made her feel disoriented. Her eyes narrowed. What was he after? He’d made it clear that even if he was attracted to her, he didn’t like her. Which meant only one thing…
The jerk was probably toying with her.
; So she hit back.
“How’s Brynn?” she asked, keeping her voice casual and plopping into the chair across from his.
His hands stilled from rummaging in his drawers, and she could tell the question had caught him off guard.
“I don’t see how that’s relevant.”
Sophie took the high road and didn’t rub it in his face that it was very relevant, given that he’d held her for a good sixty seconds longer than necessary when he was supposed to be interested in her sister.
Still, his response was reassuring and confirmed what she’d gathered from her latest conversation with Brynn. Their chemistry level was currently dwindling into the negative numbers.
Whenever Sophie asked one about the other, it was as if she’d just reminded them about a forgotten to-do list item. If Brynn’s bored tone and Gray’s indifferent expression were any indication, that “relationship” was dead before it even left the ground.
Not that Sophie cared one way or the other.
“Are you and your sister not on speaking terms?”
Sophie blinked in confusion at his question. “What?”