Page 57 of Boss with Benefits

I made a rule of not wasting time on people who were too much work. And by God, this was gonna be a lot of work.

"Hey, Rach." Peyton was waving her phone in front of my face. "Did you hear me?"

I blinked at her. "What? No. Sorry."

"Do you want to schedule the behind-the-scenes content for next Tuesday or Thursday?"

I looked around the office as if the answer might be there. Finally, I said, "Whatever you want."

"Thursday, then." She tapped it into her laptop, and it popped up on my work calendar.

"You okay?" Peyton closed her computer and stretched her arms over her head. "Are you thinking about your dinner tomorrow?" I glanced up, surprised. "I overheard you on the phone talking to Eva earlier." She dropped her arms and leaned forward. "Seems like pretty heavy stuff."

I slumped back in my chair. "God, the thought of sitting across from that man and chitchatting like his family didn't abandon me makes me furious." I waved my hand in front of my face, clearing away the emotional mess. “It’s fine. I’ll figure it out."

Peyton looked dubious.

"Rachel?" Derrick's voice jolted me, and my knee slammed into the underside of the table.

"You okay?" he asked behind me.

I rubbed my knee vigorously. "Yeah," I squeaked out, sounding like a helium addict.

He slid into the chair next to me, looking crisp and handsome in a blue polo, the short sleeves straining against his well-formed biceps. I flicked my gaze away, but I flicked it right at Peyton, and she was looking at me like I was a crazy person.

I kinda was. After he had comforted the slobbering blob that was me in his office, something was different. For me, at least. He didn't seem the least bit affected, all businesslike.

"Rach?"

I jumped in my seat again.

"Yep," I chirped. Now I sounded like a bird that had a helium problem.

"There's a podcast recording right now that I'm sitting in on. I think you should come listen."

"Oh," I said, back to my normal voice. "Which one?"

"'Who Are You?'" He turned his head to me at the same time I looked up and my nose slammed into his chin.

"Ow!" I dropped my face into my hand. My nose was throbbing and felt five times its size.

"Are you okay?" I heard Peyton circling the table, and Derrick was already reaching for my face to inspect the damage. I put my left hand up to tell them both to stop.

"I'm fine." I released my nose and thanked God buckets of blood weren't pouring out. "Continue."

Derrick cocked his head, studying me like I was some strange science experiment. I stared at him and waited for him to go on.

"You sure you don't need ice for?—"

"I'm fine!" I snapped.

"Okaaaay." Derrick put his hands up.

"Tell me about the podcast," I said hastily, wanting to move on.

"It's like that TV showFinding Your Rootsthat dives into a celebrity’s ancestry, but this podcast does it with everyday people."

“Okay,” I said, still not sure where he was going with this.

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