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She crosses her arms, looking annoyed and amused at the same time. “Why are you here so early, by the way?”

Taking a tiny step forward, I bring our faces even closer together. “For some reason, I was really excited to get to work today.”

Her tongue peeks out, wetting her bottom lip and I nearly groan with the unbearable desire to kiss her.

“You guys realize the walls are glass, right?” Layla’s voice rings through the office.

We look over and find the entire office staring at us, watching our interaction, and looking extremely amused. I clear my throat and Molly takes a step away from me, a deep blush coloring her cheeks.

“Sorry,” I whisper.

“Keeping things professional is going to be harder than I thought,” she admits with a sheepish smile.

“Yeah.” I chuckle. “Oh, hey. I have an idea I want to talk to you about when you have time.”

She narrows her eyes and sits back down in her office chair. “Is this a trick? Are you trying to lure me away and make out with me in a closet or something?”

“No. But I’m really mad I hadn’t thought of that.”

She snickers and opens her laptop. “I’m going to be tied down all morning with catch-up work. Can we talk about it at lunch?”

“Perfect, it’s a date.” I wink, drawing a smile from her. I’ll never tire of seeing her smile at me like this.

“So, what did you want to talk about?” Molly asks before taking a bite of her sandwich.

We’re having lunch at our favorite cafe, and it feels good to be here for the first time as a real couple. Last time we were here, Todd showed up with Trudy and I was pretending to be romantically involved with Molly. But now? I really am. I grin, unable to help myself, and Molly eyes me curiously from across the table.

I steeple my hands in front of me and look at her. “Well, I was thinking. You’re always the one who puts your own desires aside to make things easier for everyone else. But I don’t want you to do that with me. Not at work, and not in our relationship. I want you to tell me what you’re thinking, I want you to disagree with me when you want to, and I want you to be completely honest with me.”

She nods hesitantly, and I continue, “Your degree is the same as mine. And in college, you were amazing with design. I would never have completed our original implant design without you.”

“Okay,” she says, looking a little confused.

“If you miss the biomedical engineering side of things, you need to tell me. I never meant to take over the lab. It’s our company. We can always hire a business manager, if that’s what you want.”

Her eyes fill with unshed tears, I unclasp my hands and reach for hers. She sniffs. “Sorry, it’s just … I’m not used to anyone wanting my opinion or encouraging me to voice them. It means so much to me that you do that.”

I rub my thumbs along the back of her hands in a circular pattern, hoping to comfort her with my touch. She blinks back her tears and smiles. “I really do enjoy the business side of things. But I can’t lie: I miss being in the lab and working on a project.”

Blowing out a sigh of relief, I chuckle. “Okay, whew. Because this knee replacement design is killing me. And I don’t think I can do it without you.”

She laughs. “I’m pretty sure you could, but the idea of helping with it makes me excited.” Molly pauses, looking thoughtful. “This may sound demanding … but can I do both? Can we hire a part-time manager?”

I scoff. “Molly, you’re the least demanding person I know. And yes, I’m sure we can find a part-time manager. We’ll start looking, or we can even hire from within?”

She beams at me. “Okay. I’m excited!”

“Me too.” I wink. “Although, I’m not sure I’ll get any work done when you’re in the lab right next to me.”

She shakes her head disapprovingly, but I see the smile she’s trying to hide. “Hurry up and eat, Mr. Windell. We have work to do.”

I raise an eyebrow. “You’re a mean boss.”

The sound of a throat clearing draws us out of our happy little bubble and we look up. Hope and Layla are standing in front of our table. Hope looks between us, and she’s nervously playing with her fingers. Layla is looking down at the floor like it’s the most interesting thing in the world. They look … guilty.

“We thought you two would be here,” Hope says.

Layla takes a deep breath. “We kind of have something to get off our chests.”