An American Cinderella

“He likes me now that I brought him food.” Henry shrugged like it was nothing. “That and I promised to treat you like a princess. And that he could kill me if I didn’t.”

I giggled. “I’m glad that you two have come to an understanding.”

“Yeah. That I’m a dead man if I make you sad,” he agreed. He smiled at me, his blue eyes bright. “Which isn’t going to happen.”

I smiled. “Except you have to leave now. Which will make me sad.”

“Then I am utterly screwed because my brother really will murder me if I don’t come back,” he said with a laugh. “I have to go.”

“I know.” I kissed him, softer and sweeter this time. “Thank you for lunch.”

“Always,” he replied. He snuck one last kiss before ducking away and escaping out of my office.

I stared after him, his kiss still sweet on my lips. I felt warm and loved. I glanced over at the brown bag, knowing that my coworkers were going to be thrilled. I was going to be the hero of the office and he was giving me all the credit.

He really was the best part of my day.

Chapter 12

I worked until I couldn't keep my eyes open. There was just too much for me to do and not nearly enough time to do two jobs. I managed to grab five hours of sleep at home before returning to the office the next day. I was coming up short with my research and behind on my scanning all at the same time. It was like doing two full time jobs at the same time and my brain hurt with the effort it took.

I worked the entire day, juggling research and my real job. Luckily, Henry kept texting me and making me smile as I worked. Yet again, he had found a way to bring sunshine into my day.

I ate leftovers from the day before for lunch. Henry had brought enough food to feed the office twice over. I just munched on amazing macaroni and cheese instead of worrying about finding an actual lunch. It was obviously made from scratch and probably going to clog my arteries, but it was free and tasted good.

Five o'clock came and went. I watched from my window as the worker bees filed out of the various buildings around mine and disappeared into buses or walked to the train station. I was staying late. Again. I'd already informed security that I'd be working.

I sighed and turned away from the window.

I had managed to almost get ahead on the scanning. Since I'd basically worked through lunch, I was ahead of schedule. I wondered if I should go out and grab something for dinner, or maybe have it delivered. There was enough macaroni and cheese that I could eat that all night, but I wasn't sure how good that would be for my heart.

I looked around at the boxes. I still had so much work to do here, not to mention the research for Anastasia. It looked like a sleepless night of working for me. If I stayed here, then I wouldn't have commute time. It seemed like a good idea to stay the night.

I set my shoulders and settled down to work my butt off. The work came easily tonight and I found myself cruising through it.

“Knock, knock.”

I looked up from my computer, still in a daze of concentration, to see Henry standing in my door.

“Henry?” I was sure he had to be a mirage. I stood up, needing to touch him and make sure he was real. “I didn’t know you were coming.”

If I had, I would have worn something prettier. I would have fixed my makeup and run a brush through my hair. I would have worn sexy underwear.

“I managed to convince my brother to give me the night off,” he replied. He held up a picnic basket that looked heavy. A blanket rested beneath it. “Would you like some dinner?”

I kissed him. “You are truly my knight in shining armor.”

He grinned. “I figured you were just eating leftover macaroni because you seem to forget to eat unless I’m here to check in on you.”

I chuckled. “This is true.” I smiled at him. “You may have just found the way to my heart.”

“Through your stomach?”

I could smell the scent of food coming from the basket and my stomach rumbled. “Yup.”

Henry chuckled. “Where should we eat?” he asked, looking around at all the boxes.

“Um, give me one second.” I quickly stacked up my scanned boxes and lined them up on one end of the room. Henry helped me stack the unscanned boxes of documents near the table, leaving us with a nice size spot on the floor.