The alarm on my phone went off at four in the morning. For a solid ten seconds, I genuinely forgot who I was and what city I was in. Setting an alarm this early should be illegal. No one should be awake at this hour besides bakers and cat burglars.
I considered calling in sick. My bed was feeling extra cozy and toasty. No one could blame me for sleeping a few more hours. No one but my boss, Dane Kavanaugh.
Getting out of bed and navigating the subway system in the dark to get to some warehouse in the depths of the city felt like it should come with hazard pay. But I promised myself I was going to be the kind of employee who showed up and went above and beyond. I wasn’t going to let a little thing like ungodly early morning hours get in the way of doing my job.
Before long, I stumbled out of my apartment building into the frozen January darkness. A chill wind sent a shiver through my bones. On the bright side, it helped clear some of the cotton stuffing in my head.
The more awake I got, the more I buzzed with nervous energy. It had become my default state over the past three weeks. Three weeks of being Dane Kavanagh’s full-time executive assistant. Three weeks of sitting at my desk directlyoutside his office, managing his schedule, fielding his calls, and doing my very best to be efficient and invisible.
I was definitely succeeding at the last part. Sometimes I considered checking the mirror to see if I still existed. Had I died of embarrassment after the Secret Santa exchange, and now I was a ghost refusing to give up her dream job?
Dane barely spoke to me. When he needed something, he messaged me on Slack. He walked past my desk all the time but he rarely even glanced in my direction. If I delivered him coffee, he said nothing.
I convinced myself it wasn’t just me. He wasn’t a very personable guy. That was all. Surely, it had nothing to do with the bright pink mug incident at Christmas. The mug he definitely wasn’t using.
I made it to the address Lucas had sent me. It was a little sketchy but I trusted Lucas.
Inside was chaos. The coffee must be extra caffeinated this morning. I needed to track some down. Production crew members rushed around with equipment, working like army ants. People set up lights on tall stands, creating pools of daylight in the cavernous space.
A set had been constructed in the center. It was all veryCupid’s Arrowwith its strategic pops of pink and gold against an otherwise minimalist backdrop.
And there, in the middle of all of it, was Dane.
My heart stuttered the way it had been doing every time I caught a glimpse of him over the past three weeks. He was wearing a perfectly tailored suit. I knew it was designer and expensive. He, of course, looked far sexier than any boss should.
Well, sexy with his broody, cranky look.
A makeup artist was trying to apply powder to his face while he leaned away like she was holding a knife instead of a big fluffybrush. Even from across the warehouse I could see the muscle ticking in his cheek that meant he was seriously annoyed.
“Ina!” Lucas materialized beside me, looking far too awake and energetic for five in the morning. He was holding a travel carrier with multiple coffee cups and thrust it into my hands. “Perfect timing. Can you distribute these? I need to go tell Dane he’s not under attack. We’re all on the same team.”
“Godspeed.” I took the coffee carrier and watched Lucas speed-walk toward where Dane was now actively arguing with the makeup artist.
Honestly, I was on Dane’s side. The dude was perfectly handsome just the way he was. He was masculine and gorgeous and the slightly rough exterior made my knees weak and wobbly. If I was fourteen, I would have been doodling his name in my notebooks and staring at pictures of him in my locker.
But I was an adult now, able to compartmentalize my personal feelings. At work, I kept things professional. Even when I worked beside pure temptation itself.
I tore my gaze away from my boss and wiped the drool from my mouth. People needed coffee. I snagged one for myself and drank as I passed them out. The tray didn’t take long to thin out.
Lucas was now arguing with the director about something, gesturing wildly with his hands. The director was shaking her head. Dane wore his perma-scowl. Meanwhile, Heidi, the marketing manager, was pacing back and forth while talking rapidly into her phone, her expression getting progressively more furious.
“This is adisaster,” I heard her say as she stalked past me. “I don’t care what her excuse is—no, you know what? Idocare. Tell her team that she’s blacklisted from any future Cupid’s Arrow campaigns. Yes, I’m serious. Do I sound like I’m joking?”
I winced and tried to make myself smaller. Maybe I could find more coffee to stock my tray.
“Ina.” Heidi had spotted me, phone still pressed to her ear. She covered the microphone. “Is that coffee?”
I nodded and offered her the last cup. She took a grateful sip and went back to her call. What followed was a very creative string of profanity. Now there was a woman who needed decaf.
I turned my attention back to Lucas and Dane.
“It needs to come off,” Lucas was saying. “We need you to look rumpled. Casual. Like you’re a real person who found real love, not a CEO who sleeps on a pile of money at night.”
“Iama CEO,” Dane said flatly. “I wear suits all the time.”
Lucas shook his head and tried to peel the jacket off of Dane. “We need warm. We need approachable. We need ‘I found my soulmate and my life is complete.’”
Dane glowered. “Who the fuck said I’m unapproachable?”
