“Yes,” she finally breathes.
All the air rushes from my lungs at her confession.
“Good. Because I like you too.” More than I think I should.
I keep that final thought to myself as I climb out of the car and begin gathering up the grocery bags.
“It is very pretty,” Freya muses, and when I look over, I find her circling her new car.
“Just like its owner.”
She instantly stops walking and lowers her head as she battles to accept the compliment.
“There’s another bag to grab,” I say, pulling her from her trance.
“Oh, yeah. O-okay,” she stutters before rushing over and grabbing the last bag.
I could have easily taken it, but her words from earlier about being able to look after herself and not needing a man have stuck with me. If she needs to carry a bag to feel independent, then she’s more than welcome.
We step into the elevator side by side.
“Did you see that this elevator is going to be out of action soon?”
“I did.”
The air between us crackles as we climb through the building.
We’re almost at the top when I turn to face her and speak again. “Have you forgiven me yet?”
33
FREYA
Istare up at him with that question floating around us.
I might be frustrated over the whole situation, but at no point did he ever need forgiveness.
I shake my head in disbelief, and his expression falls, thinking I’m saying no, that I don’t forgive him.
“I guess I’d better try harder then, huh?”
“No, that’s not…I have nothing to forgive you for. You haven’t done anything wrong, not really. I just…I freaked out and…” I avert my eyes for a second before looking back up into his. “Thank you,” I whisper, my heart pounding inside my chest.
Things have been intense since the moment I looked through the store’s front windows and found him watching me. It didn’t matter that there was glass between us; he may as well have been standing right in front of me for how it affected me.
His lips twitch at the corners.
“You’re welcome.”
Those words float around us as our eye contact holds. Urges I haven’t felt in a very long time surge through me, and it’s almost impossible not to reach up on my toes to kiss him.
He’s your boss.
He’s your boss.
Your incredibly hot boss who just bought you a car…but still your boss.
I startle when the elevator dings. Neither of us moves for long seconds, but then Cole releases a heavy breath that dances over my skin, making it erupt with goose bumps, before he takes a step back and gestures for me to go first.
