I tried to imagine what Grant’s reaction might be if he found out that Colin and I were going on a date that evening. I wasn’t sure what he’d say, but I didn’t want to find out. There was zero chance he’d be as excited for me as Angie would be.
I texted Angie right away to update her. The number of happy face emojis and exclamation points that flooded my phone’s screen was outrageous. I put my phone away, not wanting her extreme expectations to infect me.
It’s just a date, I repeated to myself as I tried to focus on the account on my screen.
When Maggie returned, she glided straight into her office. I supposed we’d never get a full account of her lost week. What we did get were meetings added to our calendar for each day.
“What a waste of time,” Grant mumbled from his side of our corner.
“The meetings? I can’t imagine what we need daily meetings for now,” I agreed.
“Probably a requirement from the new boss. Looks like GQ is going to micromanage Maggie.”
“Don’t call him GQ,” I said almost immediately.
“What does it matter to you what I call him?”
“It—it doesn’t. Ugh. Grant. I don’t want him walking by here one day and hearing that. It’s not very professional.”
“Oh, excuse me, Professional Kate.” We were sitting facing each other by this time, the smirk on his face taunting me and in no hurry to leave.
“Maggie wouldn’t like it either,” I pointed out.
“Probably not. But Maggie’s in there. It’s only you and me here, babe.”
“Do notcall me babe,” I said and got up to go to lunch.
When the elevator doors opened, I was both stunned and elated to find Colin and Kaitlin engrossed in a discussion.
“Hello,” I said, and they saw it was me. While Kaitlin’s indifferent smile didn’t affect me one bit, Colin Slade’s sudden change of expression was enough to make my cheeks warm.
“Hi, Kate. Having a good Monday?” he asked.
“Kate!” I heard my name being called. My shoulders dropped. Grant.
In a second, he was entering the elevator behind me.
“Hey, I’m sorry. I’ll—Oh, hello. How’s it going?” Grant pivoted upon seeing our VP and Kaitlin.
“Hi, Grant,” Kaitlin said. I didn’t have to look over to see that she was probably making sexy eyes at him.
I could feel Colin watching me. I stood diagonally from him, but I didn’t dare glance over at him. Grant was also looking at me, still trying to apologize for calling me babe. But I didn’t really care, especially not with Colin around.
I tried ignoring both of their stares and fixed my eyes forward at the door, praying for the first time ever that an elevator might plummet to the first floor so I could get out.
CHAPTER EIGHT
“Did you do anything fun this weekend?” Kaitlin asked, directing the conversation to Grant.
The lit-up floor numbers above the elevator door seemed to descend more slowly than usual.
“I watched the football game yesterday. Did you see it?” Grant asked her.
I looked at Kaitlin long enough to see her nose crinkle. “No, I don’t care for sports.”
My eyes darted around the elevator, locking with Colin’s for several seconds. In that short time, I had about a thousand sensations rapidly firing within me.
The butterflies… the adrenaline… the intensity in his gaze… The only reason I looked away was because I sensed Grant watching me again.
