Page 13 of Loving Leo

I grab a bag of Skittles from the checkout aisle and decide to leave him a note tonight as well as another bag of treats. He’s kind of like a cat. I have to earn that affection. And I always win people over.

It may take a while, but Heath will become my friend.

Maybe.

Hopefully.

FOUR

Heath

That little shit snuck candy into my basket and I paid for it without knowing. I was far too distracted with him looking kind of cute and happy. It almost hurt to look at him.

It made me feel things.

So I bought that terrible dyed candy, stared at it loathingly.

And then I ate it.

I’ll never tell anyone that my eyes rolled back in my head as I devoured those peanut butter M&Ms.

And now when I get into the office, I see he’s left me a package of Skittles and a package of popcorn with a snarky little note.

You should really eat this popcorn while you watch me get myself off. It’s impressive. The Skittles are a little thank you for not firing me.

Taste the rainbow, Heath-baby.

I glower at the note and fiddle with the colorful package in my hands. I will not be watching his video. Not with popcorn and most assuredly not with Skittles.

I sit down in my chair and swivel back and forth and then rip the corner off the candy. I pop one in my mouth and taste green apple explode across my tongue. When was the last time I indulged? Not since I was a kid.

I’ve always had a plan, a strict set of rules that I followed.

I did that with Lana. I had a five year plan with her, but look how that turned out. She went the wrong way and left me confused and questioning everything.

Fuck.

I put another candy in my mouth and bite down on it. Grape.

Delicious.

I lean back in my chair and stare at the ceiling. I’ll eat the damn candy, but I’mnotwatching the show he put on in my office last night. No fucking way.

Even as I think that, my hand moves to the phone laying face down on my desk and I pick it up, tempted to see what he did while he was here last night. The little asshole, taunting me.

I really should fire his ass.

You know what, I’m gonna do it.

I pick up the office phone and hit the number to HR, but as soon as Donna answers, I make an excuse.

“I called the wrong extension,” I murmur and Donna tuts at me, telling me I need to get more sleep.

That’s the truth. I haven’t been sleeping well.

The past few weeks, nothing’s gone to plan. All of my rules, all of my schedules have gone slightly off the rails.

Leo is one of them. Or maybe he’s the reason it’s all gone sideways.

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