Page 56 of Betting on You

“Bailey Glasses Mitchell, are you telling me,” I asked, smirking and using my index finger to poke the tip of her nose, “that you don’t even know the meaning of the word ‘charming’?”

She said around a breathy laugh, “I just know that you are not it.”

We were both grinning, and for some reason, I felt an invisible string pulling me closer to her as she smiled up at me.

“For someone who I recall having unflinchingly rigid rules about line cutting,” I said, not moving as the crinkle of her nose did something to my stomach, “your reaction was surprisingly lax.”

“Yeah, um,” she said, her voice suddenly a breath away from a whisper, “I think the airport situation had more to do with the cutterthan the cutting.”

“Did it, now?” I said, fighting the urge to lean closer. But, fuck. Iwantedto lean closer.

Only… this was Bailey.

We were at work.

There was definitely an undercurrent of electricity in the very small space that existed between the two of us—shit, shit, shit—which is what made me take a step back and say, “Time for me to go kick some whippersnapper ass.”

“Yes,” she said, blinking fast and clearing her throat as she turned back to the computer. “Go kill some whippersnapper ass.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREEBailey

Kill whippersnapper ass???

Dear God, I was a bumbling idiot.

I went to the back room to get another ream of printer paper while Charlie headed toward World of Water, and every cell in my body was misfiring as I tried remaining calm. My cheeks were hot and my stomach was wild with butterflies as I crouched to reach the bottom shelf.

Charlie had been flirting with me.

Charlie Sampson had been flirting with me, and I’d been flirting back.

Holy shit.

I hadlikedflirting with Charlie.

Holy shit, holyshit!

What did it mean?

The tiny exchange kept replaying in my head as I loaded theprinter. The smirk, the gravelly sound of his voice when he’d saidDid it, now?, the way I’d been leaning closer to him as he touched my nose.

What in the actual fuck??

I wanted to text Nekesa, but she was suddenly the last person whose opinion I wanted about workplace flirtations. I was in a lather as I threw myself into busywork, wondering what Charlie wanted and what I wanted and what about Zack and what about Becca and dear God it was Charlie! I took a deep breath, happy to be distracted as Nekesa and Theo returned. But a second later Charlie reappeared, looking absolutely casual and normal as he popped a pink TUM into his mouth and said, “Problem solved.”

I cracked open the stapler and started filling it, forcing my eyes to stay on that task. “What’d you do?”

He came around the desk and said, “Kicked a little tail.”

I snorted and focused on the staples. “Meaning you said ‘Stop it’?”

He clicked into reservations on his computer, not even looking in my direction. “Meaning I pretended to talk to the kid while the rich lady watched me from the other side of the pool. I didn’t actually say a word.”

“Wow—such a powerful man,” I said, closing the stapler.

“Right?” he replied.

I did glance up then, and Charlie was looking at me. I couldn’t read his expression, but I somehow felt marginally better when he teased in the usual Charlie way, “You owe me for taking care of it, Glasses.”

---