My brain supercharges instantly, screaming at me to walk away. My face still feels warm from where his hand was, the look on his face shows concern. What on earth is he thinking? Touching me in front of our coworkers like he has the right to be in my personal space.
You want him there.I shake my head, throwing away the notion.
Stumbling away against my heart's wishes, I quickly make the trek a few feet to my office and close the door. I breathe in and out slowly, trying to remind myself why I’m being nice to Weston. We can’t keep having these moments or touches or I’ll go insane. My brain’s in such a mist over what’s happening between us and the instant replay is like a roll of continuous film. Dammit, there I go thinking about him again. I curse myself, attempting to trap those thoughts and send them back to the deepest recesses of my mind.
The truth is, I hadn’t slept well last night because all of my dreams are of him. I’d been up early thinking a run would burn him out of my mind, but that doesn’t work when he runs into me on said run. Pulling out my phone, I drop a text to Adds. Knowing she’s been waiting patiently for me to spill my guts about our plan. Once I do that she may set me straight and give it to me for real.
ME: Hey, girl. You busy?
ADDS: Never for you, what’s up?
ME: So operation “be nice to the enemy” is a complete bust.
ADDS: Oh, no. Was he mean to you? What happened, hun?
ME: Well, he asked me if I fell and hit my head when running this morning and then told me I was acting weird. Followed by the confession that the office thinks I'm this cold-hearted bitch because I’m never friendly. I bought them breakfast today, and they literally compared me to Jim Jones trying to kill off his cult followers with freaking purple Kool-Aid. How does that even work?
ADDS: That’s awful. I’m sure he didn’t mean for it to come out that way.
ME: I’m sure he did. This is Weston we’re talking about here, it’s how he’s hard-wired. I think trying to be nice and be friends with him will prove a harder challenge than initially expected. Maybe I should go back to hating him. At least it was easier that way.
ADDS: How about we have girl’s night out tonight? You and me, sitting at a bar flirting with hot guys and trashing those we can’t stand. AKA,Weston.
ME: Only if you help my ass home when I get drunk because we all know that’s probably where tonight is heading based on how the day is going.
ADDS: Best friends are for making sure their drunk friends get home safely, and if all else fails, I’ll call Reece to help me carry you into the hotel.
ME: See, you’re the freaking best, Adds.
ADDS: I know. Try and avoid him for the rest of the day. Stay in your office with the door closed. I’ll have someone bring you lunch.
ME: Again, the freaking best. Talk later.
I sit my phone back down and get back to the project I was editing earlier before everyone arrived at work. It’s a piece on dating as a professional. Overall, it’s fantastic and I understand both sides of the arguments made in it, but my mind keeps slipping away. I can’t focus to save my life. My eyes keep drifting back to my phone, wishing for it to ring and for someone to have an emergency that requires my attention right now. Being in the office today is suffocating me and I can’t help but feel annoyed.
He’d taken this away from me. I used to love the serenity this office brought to me. It gave me a routine, a schedule, but today I’m out of sorts.
Like she promised, Addison had lunch delivered to me and I didn’t even have to leave my office. She’s the best. I try to bury myself in work, spending some more time looking at columns that need editing. Halfway through the afternoon though, my brain is in a downward spiral thinking about everything that has happened the last twenty-four hours and I’ve had enough.
Work isn’t getting done right now.
I pack up my briefcase and bag, make sure my bobblehead turtles are all lined up with the perfect space between them and make my way to the door of my office.
Cracking it, I peek out to see what everyone is doing. It’s cleared out and I know sneaking out won’t be a problem.