Page 133 of Theirs to Take

“If you go outside and make a left, there’s a great little coffee shop about two blocks down. Their coffee is so much better than the stuff they have in the building,” Carrie said. “And, to answer your question, Eli is single. Should I ask why you want to know?”

“I think you can guess,” Mina breathed. She walked out of the building, nodding to the security guard on her way out. She spotted the coffee shop right away and practically ran down the two blocks to it.

“You like him,” Carrie said. She wasn’t asking, more telling Mina that she had figured out her deepest, darkest secret.

“Yeah,” Mina admitted. “Hold on a minute,” she ordered, “I found the coffee shop and I need to order my afternoon pick-me-up.”

Carrie groaned into the phone, “Oh how I wish I could have more than one wee cup of coffee a day.”

Mina giggled, “You know, when you whine, you sound even more Scottish than usual.” She placed her coffee order, knowing that her friend was listening the whole time by the little moans coming from the other side of the phone.

“So, back to your brother-in-law,” Mina said, paying the cashier and stepping to the side to wait for her order. “You’re sure that he’s single and doesn’t have some woman hidden away somewhere?” she asked.

“I mean, I can ask Evan when he gets home, but I’m ninety-nine percent sure,” she insisted. “Why do you question if he’s single or not?”

“Because he didn’t ask me out at your wedding,” Mina admitted. “He didn’t even ask me for my number, and I was sure that we had hit it off, you know?”

“Yeah, you two seemed pretty cozy at my wedding, but I thought it was because we threw you both together. I had no idea that you liked him,” Carrie said.

“And I thought that he liked me too, but I guess I was wrong. Oh well, I’m going to have to do something about these damn feelings so that I can get on with my work,” Mina said.

“Or you can ask him out,” Carrie countered.

“He’s my boss,” Mina squeaked. The guy behind the counter called her name and she snatched up her coffee, nodding her head at him. She was going to make it back to the office in time if she hurried.

“Well, I hate to remind you of this fact, but my husband is my boss,” Carrie said.

“Yeah, I remember, but not all of us get your fairytale ending, Carrie,” Mina reminded. “But I appreciate the intel on your new brother-in-law. Talk later,” Mina said. Her friend protested loudly over the phone until she ended the call and shoved her phone back into her purse. She’d pay for that later, but right now, she was going to have to hurry if she planned on making it back to her desk by the end of her break. Eli seemed cool about her taking breaks, but she didn’t want to push her luck. Then, she planned on spending the rest of the night trying to figure out reasons why wanting her new boss was a horrible idea. She’d put him out of her head and move on in no time, Mina was just sure of it.

Eli

He had gotten his office set up, for the most part, and had a ton of meetings during his first week at McTavish. He was ready for the weekend but wasn’t sure if he wanted to stay home or bite the bullet and go out. Honestly, he was fine with sitting at home and catching up on binge-watching some shows.

“I’m heading out unless you need anything else from me,” Mina said.

“Um, no,” he said, “have a good weekend, Mina.”

“You too. Do you have any plans?” she asked. There was no way that he was about to admit that he was going to be a total loser and lay on his couch watching television all weekend long.

“Oh, yeah,” he lied, “I have a date tonight, and well, I haven’t made any other plans yet. I guess I’m waiting to see how tonight goes first. How about you? Any plans?” he asked. He didn’t want to hear that she had a hot date or something like that because that would only make his pathetic nonexistent plans even more pitiful. What he really wanted was to ask Mina out on a date—a real date. He’d wanted to do that since his brother’s wedding, but he was also a chicken and now that she worked for him,he didn’t want to chance of making their working relationship awkward if she ended up turning him down.

“I have a date tonight too,” she said. “It’s actually a guy I met while getting coffee on break the other day. Well, I hope your date goes well. I’ll see you on Monday.” He watched as she hurried out of his office and for just a second, Eli thought that Mina was lying to him—but why would she do that? He decided to do a little bit of research and his brother was just the person to give him answers.

Eli walked down to the elevator and rode it up to the top floor where his brother’s office was. Since he was also a partner, he got to be on the top floor with the McTavish brothers. He found Evan sitting behind his desk and he softly knocked on his brother’s door.

“Hey, Eli, what can I do for you?” Evan asked. “How’s your first week been going?”

“Good,” Eli said. He meant it too. Working for McTavish was a dream come true. He had never been with a better company.

“I’m sorry that I didn’t get down to visit you much this week. Work’s been crazy and I’ve been running home to check to make sure that Carrie is following the doctor’s rules and staying off her feet.”

“I understand,” Eli said, “I hope she’s doing well.”

“Oh, she’s a pistol. She’s refusing to sit still and I’m worried that I’m going to have to take some time off to sit on her if she doesn’t start behaving,” Evan said. Eli chuckled and Evan shook his head. “It’s not funny. If this was happening to you, I’d feel bad for you, brother.”

“Well, I’d have to find a woman and somehow, knock her up, to have this happen to me, and I don’t see that happening any time soon. You know, you love the fact that Carrie gives you a little bit of trouble. She’s just your type.” His brother alwaysliked his women hot and naughty. Carrie seemed to really fit the bill.

“Well, I could do with a little bit less trouble, if I’m being honest,” Evan said. “So, what can I do for you?”

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