Page 15 of Mark my Words

“Actually. Would you mind, Kristine?” Isobel asked, and I turned to give her a death glare. “You can take my corporate card, and I’ll call in an order too. Would you like anything?”

Yeah. I want my boss not to treat me like a delivery driver for someone when he should have his intern do his errands. “Fine. But you’re paying for mine too.” I knew if I argued, she’d only get pissy.

“That’s fine. Take an Uber, and I’ll reimburse you.”

Fuck. This was annoying.

“Sure thing, boss.“ I smiled tightly, taking a few steps to snatch the card from her hand before dodging Adrian in the doorway.

As I walked down the hallway, Carson looked up from his desk, and I gave him a death glare as he started to push himself out of his chair. “Not today, Car-satan. Sit back down.”

“Rawr,” he teased as I walked past him, my eyes widening as I looked toward the reception desk where Sam was leaning against the counter—smiling and laughing with Andrea, the receptionist. Was he fucking kidding with this?

“I thought you were supposed to be working a half day?” I asked as he looked over his shoulder toward me. “Thanks for leaving me to be Dickhead’s errand girl.”

“Hey, Kristine, it’s nice to see you too this morning. Can I help you with something?”

My jaw clenched as I tried not to flare my nostrils. Maybe Sam wasn’t so broken—that teasing glint was held in check, but it was back.

“Frick off, Spam,” I growled as I turned and stalked off toward the elevators.

Heavy footsteps followed me down the hallway, and I quickly jabbed the button and hopped into the first open elevator.

“Hey,” Sam called out as his hand shot into the open door, quickly followed by his body before it slipped closed. “What’s going on? You’re unusually surly this morning.”

“Thanks.” I let out a sarcastic laugh. “Surly, that’s just what every woman wants to be called.”

“Seriously, are you okay?”

Rolling my eyes, I sighed and leaned into the back corner of the elevator, pulling up my email on my phone.

“You’re ignoring me now?” That obnoxious smile was back, and I regretted feeling bad for thinking that I had broken him with my little treadmill prank.

“No.”

“It kinda seems like you’re mad at me.”

Sighing as I rolled my eyes, I leaned into the corner of the elevator and pinned him down with a stern glare. “Not everything is about you, Sam.”

“But I think this is.” He took three steps forward, right outside of the bubble of invading my personal space.

“Or maybe it’s not.” My eyes dropped to my phone’s lock screen, and I pretended to be reading something as he took another step forward. I didn’t particularly appreciate how my breathing picked up as he approached, but I couldn’t help it. The bastard smelled good, and I liked how he was invading my personal space, but from enough of a distance that I didn’t feel caged in by him. If I asked him to back up, I knew he would, which said a lot about his character.

“Do you need me to accompany you on whatever errand Adrian has sent you?”

“I thought you had things going on. Since I’m the one being forced to give up my morning to go pick up food for your narcissistic boss, you know. Must be nice to ditch work whenever you want to.”

He pursed his lips as he looked down at me, seemingly fighting with himself about how to respond.

“You can punch me if I’m out of line with this because I know that I probably am, but I’m going to ask it anyway,” he said in a deep voice, leaning in toward me, his breath warm against the side of my neck. “Is reading about all that sexual tension driving you a little crazy too?”

What? I was not expecting that to be his question.

“Are you seriously asking me this?” I bit my lip as I tried to hold in the laugh that wanted to escape. It seemed poor Sam was having trouble with a little bit of spice. “That isn’t exactly a professional thing to ask me, Sam.”

“I know, but I can’t help myself. After we read that section together…” He paused before he continued. “It’s kind of messing with my head. I keep picturing us as…”

Heat flashed through me at his quiet admission, but I chose to ignore that he’d said it was making him think about us. There was no us.

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