Page 24 of Never With You
“Saturday night. So I had yesterday to unpack and do laundry.”
“I love when that happens.”
“I know. I was?—”
“Nate is great! Nate is great! He brings us donuts late!”
We all turn; some might even cheer when they see Nate holding a box of donuts in the doorway. His smile is triumphant and, dare I say, adorable. Something stirs inside at the sight of him in his light-blue button-up. One sexy dream, and suddenly, I’m fluttering like a teenager who sees Timothée Chalamet.
This is not good.
I steel my heart, trying to remind myself all the reasons Nate bothers me. But obviously, things would be easier if he were ugly or a horrible kisser in my dreams—both of which aren’t true.
“Nate is great! Nate is great!” he begins chanting again as he walks into the room. Opening the box of donuts, he presents them to each person so they can pick one, all the while continuing to chant, “Nate is great!”
Rodney, Shelly, Lyle, and some of the others join with him, even going so far as pumping their fist in the air to the tune of the mantra.
He rounds the table, holding the box out in front of me.
My pointed glare swings to him. “Tell me you didn’t get enough attention as a child without telling me.”
“Tell me you’re in a bad mood without telling me.” He doesn’t wait for me to choose a donut. Instead, he chooses one for me, leaning in close to speak over the chants. My heart rate spikes against my will, and let’s not even analyze how good he smells. “I got a chocolate donut specifically for you. I know how intense your cravings are this time of the month.”
This time of the month.
His jokes about my cravings are getting old. But I let them go because they help remind me that Nate is irritatingandbecause he guessed right. I am craving chocolate and will gladly devour this double-chocolate cake donut.
“Nate, we’re so happy to have you back!” Lyle dabs his mouth with a napkin, wiping away the traces of glaze. “Things just aren’t the same around here when you’re gone.”
“Yeah, we can get more work done,” I say under my breath for no one but me. The snide remark does little to alleviate my annoyance. I’ll never understand why Nate is always the celebrated hero when he hardly does any work. His donuts aren’tthatgood.
“What about Carly?” Across from me, Nate swivels side to side in his chair. No laptop. No notebook. Not even a pen. “We’re glad she’s back too.”
My eyes narrow into slits as I stare at his vexing grin.
“Yes, of course.” Lyle gestures to me like the afterthought I am. “We’re happy she’s back as well. I heard positive things about both of your events. Is there anything either of you learned from your trip that might help us moving forward?”
“Carly and I had some issues with the swag getting stuck in customs.”
“No, no, no.Natehad issues with customs. It had nothing to do with me.”
“Right. I forgot that Carly couldn’t be bothered to help with the situation.” My lips purse in response to his jab. “But no worries. I got the pallets out of customs in the nick of time. I stayed up all night, breaking down the shipments and getting all the items in the swag bags before the guests arrived.”
“If you hadn’t missed your connecting flight, you would’ve been in New Zealand a day earlier and known about the customs holdup sooner.” My smile is anything but nice.
“If only my trip checklist had saidDon’t miss your flight. Then I would’ve known how imperative it was to make my connecting flight.”
Lyle stops our bickering by keeping things moving. “I’m glad everything worked out in the end, but that’s a good reminder of why we try to get to an event earlier than the client.” He turns to me. “Anything you want to report from Cabo?”
“Typical guests-behaving-badly stuff. One guy was so drunk that he stumbled into a decorative vase in the lobby and broke it. The hotel took care of it with the Atomic Blast people. Also, guests trying to sneak extra people into their rooms for a free trip.”
“Is it really such a big deal if someone brings an extra person with them to share the room?” Nate asks. “The room is already paid for.”
“It’s a big deal to the hotel,” I say.
Nate laughs. “Carly isKarenfrom a different department.”
A few others chuckle at his joke.
