Page 10 of A Hard Sell

Thomas did the same. “The coffee here is really good.”

“Isn’t it?” Luka agreed, relieved for the easy topic change. “Not to brag, but that was my doing. It was undrinkable sludge when I started. Ilona put me in charge of improving the situation when she’d had enough of my complaining. So I did my research, taste-tested every coffee place in town… I mean, there were interviews and spreadsheets involved.” He chuckled. “And, well, this is what I went with.”

Thomas’ eyebrows were raised, but his lips were almost-smiling again. “Excellent choice.”

“Thanks.” Luka grinned at him, then the thing that had been niggling at his brain since before the meeting came out of his mouth. “Look, I don’t want you to think I’m hiding anything. Morgan and I were seeing each other, but it wasextremelycasual. Embarrassingly so, in fact. It was a while ago, and, trust me, I learned my lesson. I would never date anyone I work with again.”

Thomas took another sip of his coffee, holding Luka’s gaze over the brim. “I assure you, I have no idea what you’re talking about. And if I did, I wouldn’t hold it against you.”

Luka rolled his eyes. “If you knew Morgan, you would.”

This time Thomas’ eyes crinkled as he nodded toward the sketchbook. “Can I hear your ideas?”

Chapter Four

5K

Luka and Thomas redesigned the commercial storyboards over the next couple days, but Luka still found the Big Bad Wolf hard to read. He was polite but stoic, and he ignored or sidestepped most of the questions designed to get to know him better.

“So, where did you grow up?” Luka posed as they were waiting for the elevator.

“Here and there. Blue Lake for a while.” Thomas watched the numbers above the door.

“Oh, nice. Never been there, myself. I hear it’s beautiful.”

“Mmm,” was all he replied.

* * * *

The next day as they were eating lunch, Luka asked, “Watching anything good lately? I need something new to binge after myBreaking Badrewatch.”

“I don’t really keep up on the latest shows.” Thomas shoveled in another forkful of salad and flipped to the next page of the report he was reading.

Luka got a chance to see a glimmer of the man behind the Wolf when their staff meeting drew to a close on Thursday.

“Don’t forget, the ‘5K for Hope’ is this Sunday,” Finn announced from the head of the table. “If you have any donations that weren’t online, you can bring the cash and pledge forms with you. The run itself starts at nine, so please try to be there by eight-thirty. I’ll have your shirts for you tomorrow. And”—he turned to Luka—“I need to congratulate Moreno who, once again, has raised the most money in the office.”

“Oh.” Luka hunched his shoulders as the room applauded. “It’s nothing.”

“It’s not nothing,” Finn insisted. “That money will make a difference to people with cancer. You did a great job.”

Later as they were eating lunch in the staffroom with Finn and Rory, Thomas showed some interest in something that wasn’t the Sartini campaign. “How much money did you raise?” he asked Luka.

“Um, just over five thousand,” Luka murmured.

Thomas’ eyebrows shot up. “That’s incredible.”

“It’s not anything I did. My sister’s asshole ex actually chooses tonotbe an asshole on occasion. He makes a big donation every year.”

“Yeah, but it’s not just him!” Finn piped up. “Luka works hard collecting from a lot of people.”

Luka shrugged. “I just send lots of emails and harass everyone on my socials. It’s a good cause.”

Thomas nodded. “Well, I’d love to join you. Is it too late to sign up?”

“Not at all!” Finn answered. “I’ll send you the link. We should have an extra shirt…” He raised an eyebrow at Thomas’ frame. “A double-XL, hopefully.”

“Great. I’ll be there.”

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