Page 53 of Friend Me

Flinging my hair over my shoulder, I all but skipped to Cooper’s door. Phase two of Operation Prince Charming was on.

Two hours later, we sat in the leather club chairs in his office with a spread of Thai takeout on the coffee table in front of us.

I set down my chopsticks and empty plate—with Cooper, one couldn’t eat directly out of the takeout containers; he kept china plates in his credenza—and curled my legs under me in the chair. My heels had come off an hour ago.

He broke the silence that had stretched between us while we’d been eating. “How’s Will?”

That was Cooper. So considerate, always conscious that his employees had families and lives outside Synergy. “He’s okay. The colder weather always makes his leg sore.”

“That’s too bad. Does he need anything? A referral to a specialist? An advocate?”

“No, we’re good, thanks.”

“He’s lucky to have you around to take care of him.”

I lifted my mug from the table and cradled it in my hands. “I think I’m the lucky one to have him.”

“You did win the Dad Lottery.”

“Oh, is that a thing?” I smiled. “I guess I did.”

Cooper cleared his throat and tilted his chin down to give me a mock-serious look. “And what does Will think of young Tyler?”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “They haven’t met. Why would they?”

“With his visits up here and your sleepover last week, I figured things were getting serious.”

He’d noticed Tyler’s visits? Who did that, other than someone who was jealous? But after over a week in close proximity to Cooper, I was able to play it cool. “What are you, my sorority sister?”

“I’m just interested.”

My heart beat faster. Interested? In me? It was time for honesty. To tell him how I felt. “We’re friends. That’s all.”

“You went to Jackson’s wedding together.”

“Youwent with Jamila.”

He raised his mug to his lips but didn’t drink. “She’s always my plus-one when I need one. We’ve been friends since college.”

Friends with benefits? Or friends becoming more? She’d spent more time at Synergy over the past two weeks than she had the three previous years combined. I wish I knew how he felt about her. And how he felt about me.

Maybe he was waiting for me to make the first move because he hadn’t wanted to insert himself between Tyler and me. And it was up to me to show him how I felt. Exactly what Amy Adams told Patrick Dempsey inEnchanted.

“So? You and Tyler?”

I looked him directly in the eye. Operation Prince Charming—and the associated fun and games—was over. Now we were in the endgame. “We didn’t have dates to the wedding, so we went together. Friends do that.”

“He kissed you. In public.”

And in private. I dropped my gaze. Raising my mug of tea to my lips, I hoped the steam would hide my blush. “We got carried away.”

“Last week’s sleepover?”

“He had an allergic reaction. I stayed over to make sure he was okay.”

“You’re a good friend. And a good daughter. A stellar assistant. You excel at everything, Marlee.”

At that, I looked at him.Reallylooked. We were so alike. Both of us strove for perfection, or at least to put up a perfect façade. We both hid things under that front—I hid my struggles with Dad, and he never talked about his past before Stanford. We were both driven to achieve our goals. He’d gotten what he wanted: a multibillion-dollar company. Was I on the cusp of what I wanted, my own happily ever after?

---