Page 30 of Grumpy Boss's Secret

“What on earth?” I murmured.

I may have gotten it wrong. Perhaps this wasn't Ian's Instagram account, after all. No, it had to be. That photograph from our hotel in Athens was his. I clicked my phone screen to dark and lay down on the couch again, closing my eyes. I had brown hair and green eyes.

“What is happening?” I whispered, an involuntary grin stealing over my face.

My phone vibrated. I lifted it up. An email from Kirk. Eagerly, I opened it. My bloodstream seemed to hum with excitement that I didn't quite understand yet.

Dear Zee, Yes! A new book is underway. That is part of why I've been so preoccupied. The next one will be about a girl with brown hair and green eyes. Kirk

I stared at my phone. My blood seemed to get cold, hot, and cold again.

"What the hell is happening?" I whispered, staring at the email. Had I read it wrong? No, I hadn't. I checked Ian's post again and then Kirk's email. The wording was precisely the same.

"It's probably just a quote," I said, my heart hammering. It's a quote. It's got to be. It's some obscure quote from some man-book I've never read, like James Bond. They both know it, and I don't, and the internet is too dumb to show me.

I set my phone down on my stomach and stared at the ceiling. I felt like my whole bloodstream was glowing like neon lights. The itching curiosity that I had been ignoring this entire time was impossible to ignore now. "It can't be," I whispered. "They can't be the same person. It's not possible. It's not possible."

But why not? Ian had been reading a lot all his life. He owned Huntington Skies but was rumored to have other lucrative business ventures. Was it a series of romance books published under the name Kirk Green? Then…If that were true, the hookup Kirk had been describing didn't sound like Ian and I had. It was the one that Ian and I had.

“Slow down, Jozi,” I told myself, covering my face with my hands.

I thought about what Kirk had written. About the hookup. About feeling guilty, like he’d used the girl. Very attractive. I smiled. It felt like something I was pretending.

I got up the next morning, ate breakfast, dressed, and went to work. I didn't think about my new theory. I couldn't. It felt ridiculous. It made me feel silly, like I was some starry-eyed teenager pretending a boy had feelings for me when there was no evidence that he did.

But I had evidence, didn't I? My skin seemed to hum with an energy, an excitement that I couldn't talk myself out of. My mind may not have been actively thinking about the possibility that Kirk and Ian were the same people. Still, my body couldn't stop being aware of it.

I focused on my work with laser-like precision and got everything I needed by noon that day. Wow. Great. Now I would just sit here and spin in a circle, wondering about Ian until I wore a hole through the carpet.

Unless…I stopped spinning. An idea was tapping at the door of my mind.

“Oh, I shouldn’t,” I murmured.

But I could. Not legally. Probably. But I could. I leaned forward, gripping the arms of my chair as I let the idea form entirely in my mind. It might not work. But it was worth a shot.

I stood up, looking at the clock as I did so five minutes past noon. Larry had invited me to lunch with "him and the boys" earlier in the break room that day, and I'd declined. I'd felt too flustered and preoccupied to pay attention to the ping-ping matches of the conversation that always occurred when Larry was in a room.

Was Ian one of “the boys”? Possibly.

I picked up my empty mug of coffee casually, so I would look like I was leaving my office with a purpose. You know, something other than my actual purpose. I strode into the hallway and made my way towards the break room. My route down the hallway went past the foyer. As I passed it, I saw Janet talking to someone standing before her desk.

Ian. Hello, gorgeous. Also, blast. If he was here, that meant he wasn't out to lunch. Ian turned in my direction. He'd been smiling at Janet sweetly, but when he saw me, his expression changed. His smile dimmed, but his eyes grew brighter.

"On my way to get some coffee," I said, lifting my coffee mug like a dork.

“You want to get lunch with us?” Ian asked. “Some of us are going to Sciortino’s.”

“Larry already invited me,” I said. “Are you going, Janet?”

“I’m not,” Janet said. “I’ve got lunch plans with my niece.”

I turned back to Ian. His expression was eager, expectant. He wanted me to say yes.

That was cute.

“I can’t,” I said, lying through my teeth. “I’ve got too much work to do. Besides, I already packed myself a really impressive tuna sandwich.”

“Suit yourself,” Ian said, smirking. “Tell me how the sandwich turns out.”

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