I picked up the sandwich, quietly unwrapping it and taking a small bite. Ham and cheese. So simple, it shouldn’t have tasted so good. I took a bigger bite, then snapped a picture, sending it to Benny.
7:00 a.m. B:
[blushing emoji]
7:00 a.m. B:
Your hand.
Shit. I opened the picture, scanning it to make sure there was nothing he could use to identify me. A sudden paranoia, as if “hand of Harper Lorens” would be written on it. But it was just a hand, holding a boring-looking sandwich that tasted really good.
7:01 a.m. B:
Send me your lunch too!
7:01 a.m. H:
Are you giving me orders, pup?
7:01 a.m. B:
Send me your lunch too?
I huffed.
7:03 a.m. H:
Have a good day.
7:03 a.m. B:
I have to now. Sir’s orders.
7:03 a.m. B:
Have a good day too. I’ll be thinking about you [smiling emoji]
I shoved my phone into my laptop bag, noticing there wasn’t much of the sandwich left. I finished it and looked up to see Matthew watching me in the rearview mirror. His eyes crinkled at the edges. I rolled mine in response and went back to looking out the window.
Tuesday. I was in trouble.
I’d told myself to stay off my phone. I’d told myself not to respond to him so quickly. Keep the distance. Keep my guard up. He didn’t fit. I couldn’t have him. I told myself all of it.
I was right, of course. Unfortunately, I was also nothing like Benny, and I had no respect for my own authority.
While I still refused to message him during work hours, that didn’t mean he stopped being on my mind. He was a distraction, and I couldn’t find it in me to be mad about it.
My father could. He could tell my mind was elsewhere, and he’d had much to say on the matter. I’d endured his tirades all afternoon. Yet rather than inspiring me to do better, they’d just made me think of Benny more. A mental escape.
Tanned skin. Firm muscles. Desperate moans. The clinking of chains. What color were his eyes?
“Send it to me to check over before you send it to the client,” my father instructed.
My thumb tapped against my knee. He didn’t trust me to do my job. All I did was work, and he still didn’t trust me to do it right.
Benny had trusted me with all of him, and he’d not even seen me.
“You aren’t listening.”
