Page 30 of The Interns

They held each other’s gaze for a moment, and this time she didn’t allow herself to break right away, and neither did he. She never understood why people made such a big deal over blue eyes. They never did much for her. Reed had the bluest eyes, though, like the color of the ocean on a clear day when the sun shimmered against the ripples. This wasn’t the way you looked at a co-worker. This was different. She gave him a faint smile as she adjusted the purse strap over her shoulder.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said, still maintaining their gaze.

“See you tomorrow,” he returned, his voice so soft and warm.

She lingered for just a moment longer before giving him a small wave and finally turning to leave.

11

Reed

“…and one of the elevators in my building was broken, so we hit every single floor on the way down. It was torture,” Lauren said from the seat at Maya’s vacant desk.

Reed smiled and nodded, trying to signal that he was following along even though she’d lost him somewhere around the expired Greek yogurt portion of her worst-morning-ever story.

“And to make it worse, I’m stuck next to my neighbor, who I really can’t stand, because we got into it over her dog barking incessantly every night when she goes out.”

Reed’s gaze shifted to the window in his office and caught something flying by. A bird, most likely, but it was too late to say. Now that he thought about it, he wasn’t sure if he’d ever seen a bird fly by their office before. Then he started wondering just how high birds could fly. He hoped it would fly by again so that he could see what kind it was, which was funny since he knew next to nothing about birds and probably wouldn’t be able to tell anyway. Maya would probably know, though, because she knew everything about everything. She’d probably be a killer person to have on a trivia team, actually. One of the local bars had to have a trivia night, maybe they could go one night after work. Speaking of bars, he wondered where she was, how happy hour went, how hungover she’d be this morning—

“Hey.”

And there she was, standing in the entrance to their office.

“Hey!” It probably came out a little strong, but he was really happy to see her. For so many reasons.

“Ooh, you are late, late, late!” Lauren chirped as she stood from Maya’s chair.

She was late. Forty-three minutes late to be exact, and she did not look like she was in the mood to talk about it.

“She was picking up files from the opposing counsel,” he said quickly.

Lauren made a disapproving sound and moved to exit the office, stopping to glance back at him on her way out. “Thai today?” she asked.

“You know what? We can’t,” he said, shaking his head. “We’ve got a thing.”

“You two are so boring.” Lauren sighed. “I thought having two summer associates would be more fun, but it’s even less fun than one. Back to work for me, I guess. See y’all later.”

“Later,” Reed called after her before looking up to find Maya standing in front of her desk staring at him with one hand on her hip.

“We have a thing? I don’t have anything in my planner.”

“Uh, no.”

Maya shook her head at him. “How many times are you gonna put her off?”

“I’m gonna go,” he defended before realizing he should qualify that in the interest of honesty. “One day.”

He watched as she put her coffee and a white paper bag down on the desk, then rid herself of her jacket and purse. She looked put-together, as always, in a little black dress. Not at all like you’d expect someone who had hit up three bars on a Monday night.

“You’re looking well this morning.”

“I’m trying,” she confessed.

When she finally met his eyes, he could only then make out the faintest bags under them, but the perfect and always-in-control Maya Hendricks was human after all, and it was a beautiful sight to behold.

“It’s here if you need it.” He tapped his hand against the desk drawer where he kept a bottle of Tylenol.

“Thanks, but unless you have a pillow and a sleep mask in there, I’m good. I’m exhausted.” She yawned as she collapsed into her chair. “Adam kept wanting to stay out just a little bit longer,” she explained as she imitated him pleading with her.

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