Page 33 of The Interns

Syd nearly spit out her beer as she began to laugh. “My passion? Who even are you? You have been so chill the past few days.”

“Things turned around at work,” Maya explained. “I’m happy with the case.”

“It has nothing to do with your Saturday night visitor?”

Maya rolled her eyes. It was only a matter of time before Syd brought that up, and the fact that she had gone a couple of days without doing so showed considerable restraint on her part that she usually lacked when it came to such matters.

“It has everything to do with the work,” Maya stressed, thinking that was the final word on the topic.

“Because I could think of a few other reasons you might seem so…” She paused to inhale and released a blissful, breathy sigh. “Relaxed.”

“Just finish your drink,” Maya snapped, shaking her head at her friend.

Syd reveled in Maya’s stern response and took a sip of her beer as instructed. “So this Evan guy?” she asked, turning her thumb up then down.

Maya gave a thumbs up. “I have a feeling we’ll be planning a bachelor party sometime in the next year.”

“Damn,” Syd said breathlessly. “That moved fast.”

“Tell me about it.” If she hadn’t been there to witness it all, she would have a hard time believing it herself. Maya picked up her glass to take another sip of water. A sudden pressure on her shoulder startled her. Her muscles tensed under what she now realized was a hand.

“Guess it was meant to be,” an unexpected male voice whispered in her ear. Deep, unapologetically twangy, and creepy as hell. “I knew we’d run into each other,” he said.

She clenched her eyes shut and cursed under her breath before exhaling. No. Please not Freddy fucking Prescott. She cursed a few more times in her head before putting on her game face and turning to see…Reed Stanton standing behind her looking so amused.

“What the hell?” She threw her fist into his right bicep which only made him laugh harder. “That’s not funny.”

“At it again, huh?” he asked, nodding toward the bar she was sitting at.

“We were just having dinner,” she informed him, still smarting over his little joke. “Why are you following me everywhere?”

“I didn’t realize this was your private bar, Hendricks. We just came from the ball game.” He tilted his head to include his friend quietly standing beside him. “Stopped in for a quick bite before we head home.”

Syd cleared her throat, and Maya found her peering curiously over her shoulder at the two men she’d never met before.

“Sorry. This is Reed.” Maya gestured toward him. “We work together.”

The pointy toe of Sydney’s heels stabbed her calf. Maya paid her no mind because she knew exactly what she was thinking. Yes, this is that Reed, and yes, I know, I didn’t tell you he was so hot.

“Sydney,” she said, extending her hand around Maya to shake his like a normal human being. Thank God. “Nice to meet you.”

“Likewise,” Reed returned politely while shaking her hand. “And this is my friend, Dev.”

“Maya,” she said as she reached out to shake his hand.

“Nice to meet you, as well,” Dev said.

“You mind if we grab these seats?” Reed asked, pointing to the two empty seats to Maya’s left.

“Go for it.”

“How was the game?” Syd asked as she leaned over the bar to see them.

“Not so great,” Dev said. “We got crushed by the Tigers.”

“They’ve got to get their shit together.” Syd was a diehard Braves fan herself, so much so that she had a Chipper Jones poster hanging up next to a Justin Bieber poster in her bedroom growing up. “I know it’s only June, but come on, guys.”

Syd had a tendency to go on once she got started, so while she and Dev talked Braves over her head, Maya shifted her attention to Reed. He was still wearing his slacks and dress shirt, now with the top button undone and sleeves rolled up, and his Braves cap to top it off. She found it amusing that he had a clear disdain for suits and dress clothes, yet they seemed to love him so much the way they draped perfectly over his lean frame. And when he started deconstructing the button-up look like he had tonight, well, that was just hot. Effortlessly, recklessly hot. Was he even aware of what he was doing?

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