“Does he want you to invest in an MLM scheme? Don’t do it, girl. Don’t ask me about how many essential oils my mom has right now,” Luke said, Miles shaking his head in agreement.
“Although that one oildidhelp with your weird fungus on your toenail,” Miles said, making his brother shove him.
“No, wait. I got it! Does he want you to be his fake fiancée to make his ex-girlfriend jealous because she ran off with his best friend and made him lose his job, and that’s why he’s at Earth Organix?” Sofia asked excitedly. When we all stopped and looked at her, she asked, “What? I saw it in a romance book.”
Shaking my head, I said, “Are you serious? Just stop. I’m not telling you. And Luke, you’re still getting that fungus? Dude, you need to see a doctor.” Luke growled and shoved Miles again just for spite.
They continued listing off the most ridiculous guesses for another ten minutes when I finally yelled, “Alright, alright. I’m going to be his dating coach!”
There was a collective gasp followed by silence. The air stood still, as did every human on that back patio. I was sure none of us was even breathing.
“Oh, this issomuch better than the fake fiancé,” Sofia said like an evil Disney villain.
“Don’t get any ideas, you troublemaker,” I warned.
“Here’s what you’re going to do. Invite him to game night,” Sofia said, her face set in stone, letting me know there was no getting out of this. I looked at Vicky for help.
Shaking my head quickly, I growled, “I don’tlikehim like that.”
She slowly held her hand out, palm facing up. “Rage,” then flipped it over with a wicked grin, “passion.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Nikolas
Two weeks had passedsince my lunch with Leyla, and her offer to be my dating coach hung over me like a blinking notification I refused to click. We were both extremely busy at work, which was a gift until I could decide what to do about it. My team and I were putting in overtime to stay on schedule with the sunscreen project, so that was buying me time.
Leyla was just as busy. She had a few out-of-town meetings and a conference in New York, so we hadn’t seen each other much since then.
As anxious as I was about the idea of having Leyla help me practice date, I could not deny that I was starting to miss her and was looking forward to her getting back in town.
“Niko, I was hoping to go over the report that came back from our formulation technician,” Marshall said when I stepped out of my office. I checked my watch. It was almost five, and I was exhausted, but I knew I’d be wondering about the report all night.
Stretching my neck side to side, I motioned for him to step inside the office.
“Show me.”
He grimaced and said, “It’s a lot of information. I was heading out for the night, but I know this is important. Just wanted you to know I’m willing to stay, but we may be here a while.”
I nodded and looked at my cup on my desk.
“Let’s grab some coffee and come back. I don’t think I’ll be able to focus until I do.”
“Sounds good. I’ll be right behind you,” he said, heading to his desk.
My feet dragged toward the break room. I was starting to feel like I lived between my office, the lab, and the break room. The long hours reminded me of college, but I was older, and my body didn’t care for being forced to lean over a lab table or sit at a desk for twelve hours.
While bemoaning my decrepit-feeling bones, I walked into the room that smelled like this morning’s donuts and old coffee. Movement in the corner of the room made me tilt my head up.
My tired brain was not prepared to see Leyla digging through the refrigerator, muttering to herself. She spun around, a bottle of kombucha in her hand.
“Oh,” she squeaked, nearly dropping the bottle.
“You’re here,” we both said simultaneously.
She chuckled, and I rocked back on my heels. My mind and heart had a visceral reaction to her presence. We were staring at each other, she with her bottle, me with my plain, white coffee cup.
“I didn’t know you were back,” I said, trying to calm my racing heart.
