Page 31 of Room One Hundred and Twenty Nine

“Well, with these antique glass ones, I’m looking for a cat. A black cat. I mostly run into white cats, but I already have one of those.”

Nicholas looks through the animals and I can’t help but grin at this little tidbit I learned about him. It’s cute and makes my heart flutter.

“How many animals figurines do you have?” I ask, joining him in the hunt.

Nicholas blows out a long breath. “God, I don’t know at this point. I’ve been collecting them since I was a kid. Definitely over one hundred. I don’t actively look for them. Most of them I get if I’m in a store that has them. Though these antique animals are different since I can’t find them in a toy store and have to look for them

I look through the glass figurines and in the back I see a black cat in a lying down pose.

“Hey, I found one!”

Nicholas, who was now on the far side of the rack, walks back to me as I pull it from the rear of the rack.

“Hell, yeah,” I say excitedly. I hand it to him and the look on his face takes my breath away.

Pure, innocent happiness.

“Thank you,” Nicholas leans down to kiss me on the cheek. When he pulls back his face is one of surprise, like he wasn’t planning on doing that. Then he looks behind me and his shoulders tense. I turn and see Parker and Elijah behind us.

Parker smirks, and I can see a small smile pulling at Elijah’s lips as he shakes his head. I look back at Nicholas and some sort of telepathic communication must have happened because he relaxes, and his smile comes back.

As we head to the counter, Parker jogs up to Nicholas to see what he got, and I hang back with Elijah.

I look up at him and he seems more relaxed than when he’s at the office. And more casual than the club. He’s dressed in blue jeans, an army green T-shirt and boots, with a pair of sunglasses hanging out of the pocket of his jacket. His dark eyes look down at me and he leans in to whisper, “Nicholas is the most transparent out of our group. Can’t hide a thing to save his life.”

I chuckle nervously and he must sense it because he puts a reassuring hand on the small of my back and leads me out of the store. His hand is warm, and I melt into him.

Well, he’s not mad. That I know for sure. I don’t know what he knows and what he thinks of it. I guess he meant Nicholas can’t hide his feelings for me from his friends, but what will he think when he finds out we got each other off? What will Parker think?

The lack of communication is making me nervous. My instinct is to drop everything. Maybe quit my job and get as far away from my bosses as possible. But my heart is telling me not to stop. To see what happens. That this may be something magical.

I guess only time will tell if I’m making the right decision. But I need to make a decision.

Chapter 12

Parker

There’s something magical seeinghow easily Haruko fits into our lives. I hang back with Elijah as Nick and Haruko examine the glass cat he just bought.

Haruko is holding onto Nick’s bicep as he shows her the small figurine and it feels as though this is just a regular Sunday outing with the family. And not an out of nowhere hangout with your employee.

I look at Elijah, who’s also watching them. Their smiling faces and laughter light up the street we’re walking on.

“This feels too easy,” I say to Elijah.

Elijah grunts in agreement.

“Does she know you know her father?” I ask him.

Because not only do we have to contend with a massive HR violation getting involved with our assistant but Elijah’s best friend is her father.

“She doesn’t. She barely knows me. I don’t talk to her, remember?”

“True,” I say when an idea pops into my head.

“Perhaps we should change that,” I say, and call out to Nick and Haruko.

They turn around and approach us as we stop in front of an ice cream shop.

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