Page 34 of Pulling Heartstrings

“What?” I whisper, and my body stills. Did he really say that?

“You heard me.” He puts me back on my feet. “Welcome to our office.”

Marcus pushes my glasses back up my nose for me, and I have to force myself to ignore what he wants me to call him. And what he makes me feel.

Glancing around the room, I raise my chin stubbornly. "Do you need help moving your belongings out of here?"

"Oh, teapot. You should know better than anyone that the devil is in the details. You said you wanted my office. Now it's yours.” He smirks. "And mine."

Marcus sets my bag down on the desk, and I’m so discombobulated that I didn’t realize he slipped it right off of me. Then my pink pen holder that has dancing hippos on it rolls out of the bag.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” I cross my arms over my chest in a challenge of my own.

I’m not above designing the entire office in pink and red, which incidentally are my two favorite colors, just to annoy him. Some people think the colors don’t go together, but they're dead wrong. I could toss a few pillows on the couch up against the far wall and maybe one of my knitted blankets. Once the windows are uncovered, I think some curtains would be lovely.

“There’s nothing else in this world I’d rather do.” He says it with an intensity that makes me press my lips together. I’d squeeze my thighs together too, but I don’t want him to see what he does to me.

“Maybe we should go over sexual harassment in the workplace. Did you miss that part of law school?”

It’s a stupid comment because I already know he attended an Ivy League school and subsequently clerked for a Supreme Court justice.

“I might need a refresher. Care to show me?”

He leans up against the desk and picks up my pen holder. He sets it upright on the desk before he takes out a gold pen from an inner pocket of his suit jacket and drops it inside. Something about the act is oddly sweet, and it pulls at my heartstrings.

“I think we should get to work,” I say and walk past him.

I’m trying to distract myself from thinking about sexual things with Marcus as I pull items out of my bag. I can’t show him crap when it comes to sexy stuff. I know he teases me, and I’m not blind to the little bit of flirting in there too, but if he knew I’d never even been kissed, he’d be laughing and running for the hills. Maybe I should tell him. The douse of cold reality might shut all of this down so we can work professionally.

“If you say so, teapot.” He doesn’t move as he watches me unpack.

“Are we sharing this desk?” I don’t look at him as I ask the question.

“Yes.”

“Fine.” I try my best to conceal my features and give him nothing.

I ran from Marcus because of the way my body responds to being so close to him. Now I’ll be closer to him than ever before. There’s no way this isn’t going to end badly.

Chapter Four

MARCUS

“Stop being so bossy,” Bronte huffs as I clear out the empty to-go containers and toss them in the trash.

“You know I’m your boss, right?” I raise an eyebrow at her and then I’m rewarded with a tiny growl of annoyance. “And how exactly is making sure you eat on a regular schedule being bossy?”

“It just is.”

She spent so long emptying her Mary Poppins bag of endless knickknacks that by the time she was finished, I could hear her stomach growling. I ordered from the sandwich place down the block and paid the busboy to bring it to us. I didn’t want to miss a moment of her decorating our shared space.

“So is this everything?” I wave my hand around the room and then nod to the framed picture of the goose that says All my hours are bill-able.

“Not by a long shot.” She takes a seat in what used to be my chair. “This was all I could manage to fit in my bag.”

“Well then, I guess I’ll come home with you after work today.”

“What for?” The way she bites her lip gives away my suspicions.

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