Page 14 of Executive Benefits

“I’m just joking. I only put the beer on the business tab.” She laughed and walked up the stairs in front of me.

“Oh, boy. Just what we need, more trouble, only this time, it’ll be with a branch of the government.”

“And it’s not even a good branch,” she said, stepping back and letting me open the door since her hands were full.

“There’s a good branch of government you want coming after you?” I walked into the room after her, closing my door. Shestepped over to the dining area, which was really a small, two-person table that basically broke up the space between the living area and the kitchen. I was going to have to get a rectangular or a square one. The circular one took up way too much space.

“Yup. If I’m going to be investigated, I want the CIA or the FBI kind of excitement.”

I laughed and pulled out two plates, glasses, and grabbed some napkins. She was opening the box of pizza up and pulling a slice away with gooey cheese. “Well, this smells and looks delicious,” I said. “Hopefully, it’ll taste just as good as it smells.”

“The locals recommend this place up and down, so it should be good.”

I cracked open a beer and poured it into my glass. Mia laughed, shaking out her auburn hair. “What?” I tipped my head.

“Nothing. It’s good to see that even though our environment changed, your weird habits are still the same.”

I perked my brow and brought the glass up to take a sip. “Thanks.” I scrunched my nose at her. “I don’t like drinking from a bottle or a can. You’re right, that isn’t going to change just because our location does.” I reached out and squeezed her hand. “Thanks so much for coming with me.”

“Of course. I wouldn’t have it any other way.” She closed the pizza box and shifted it to the counter so we'd have enough room to eat. When I took a bite, I was pleasantly surprised at how good it tasted.

“We might not need to ever leave the town of Heart’s Creek for good food,” I said, looking out the gorgeous bay window thatdisplayed all of the town in front of us. The snow was falling, and I couldn’t think of a better place to be.

“Speaking of food, how did the meeting go with the new client?”

I paused as a long string of cheese pulled away from the pizza. “This is so good,” I said around the bread and sauce. With a swallow, I wiped the sauce off my chin. “It went really well. The contract isn’t signed yet because we have to go over the suggested changes now that I’ve seen the space.” My cheeks warmed, thinking about Nick and how hot he really was.

I shook out of that thought and ignored the suspicious look from Mia. “I’ll draw up a few plans, and I’ll be meeting with him in two days.” The thought of seeing him again sent a flicker of butterflies in my stomach. I looked down at my pizza. “I wonder if he would object to a pizza oven.”

My eyes swung up to meet Mia’s. “He let me try his sauce.” A smile grew wider on my face. “It was really good.” I took another bite of pizza and chased it with the beer. “Can you believe he said his ex-wife wouldn’t let him make red sauce because she didn’t want red stains on any of the white linen?”

“Seems like sound logic,” Mia replied, taking a drink of her beer right out of the bottle. I shivered at both what she said and the bottle drinking.

“No, because why would you want to stifle creativity? That’d be like me telling a client they can’t make sculptures out of clay.”

“How?” Mia rolled her eyes at me.

“How what?”

“How do you already have a thing for this guy, especially after what happened with Jared?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said and took another drink of my beer. I shifted in my seat. She wasn't wrong about it, but I didn't quite think she was right about it, either.

She popped the last bit of crust into her mouth and chewed. When she was done, she leaned on the table and looked at me. “Fine. Fine. Let’s just say you aren’t falling for the idea of some guy… Wait. Isn’t he a few years younger than your father?”

“Mia.” I placed my pizza down and put my fingers along my brow, rubbing at my temples. I looked up at her. “First, don’t be gross. Second, just because I stick up for a guy doesn’t mean I’m flinging myself at him.” I stood and got another slice of pizza.

I plopped back into the seat and thought before I said anything else. I was reacting, which meant she was hitting a nerve, but it wasn’t anything I hadn’t already thought of myself. Also, I didn’t know how to talk about it without her making me feel bad, and I didn’t want to be reminded of my mistake. “Third, even if he wasn’t hot, his sauce would still be amazing,” I said, proud of myself for not snapping.

Mia’s face wrinkled. “Hot? Seriously, I followed you here so we could start fresh. You’re damn good at what you do. We have the opportunity to do something amazing. You need to make sure that you put focus on that,” she said. I could tell she wanted to say more, but instead she blotted her lips, holding back her anger too. “I just don’t want to see you hurt again,” she said.

I released a long breath. “Thank you. I know you’re looking out for me. But trust me. I don’t have a thing for Nick.” I batted away the little voice in my head that laughed and told me I was lying to myself and Mia shouldn’t trust me on this topic.

I cleared my throat and looked outside at the snow. “I know my apartment’s on the second floor so we couldn't, or probably shouldn't, put lights on the outside here, but what would you think about us decorating the outside with Christmas lights and a few other outside goodies? It would be just enough flair for the season to let the other businesses know we’re around.”

“I think that’s a great idea. We should probably go shopping then!” She clapped her hands together, and I rolled my eyes.

“We can do that. What kind of decorations do you want to look for?”

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