I shot Paul a look across the table. “Who said I was thinking of… anyone?” I grabbed my iced tea glass and downed the rest of the liquid, then set the glass down with a clack.
“You just drew a bunch of hearts on our sales projections and then systematically drew a line through each one. Either you’ve really internalized losing the Lope the other day—”
I snorted.
“—or you’re sad that Mal isn’t texting you. Which is why I’m saying, one afternoon to process a whirlwind week is not saying he never wants to see you again. He’s not breaking up with you.”
“But he doesn’t have to break up with me, does he? Because he’s not with me.”
Paul sighed. “If you saw the way he looked at you, you wouldn’t be freaking out over nothing.”
“That’s the trouble with this sudden-onset romance shit!” I said furiously. “How do I know it’s nothing? I haven’t had a single relationship to compare this to, and I’ve known Mal for six fucking days.”
“Yes, which is why you need to let things settle. For both of you—”
“I didn’t set out looking for this, you know! I was perfectly okay with my life in New York, and then my feelings fucking accosted me in the front hallway last Sunday, while the cows just watched.” I pointed toward the offending area. “Next thing you know, chain reaction volcanic eruptions started going off, all boom boom boom, and now there are these islands where there used to be wide-open ocean, and all the people on the island are demanding voting rights and staging a fucking coup and taking over my life and it’s scary as fuck.” I threw myself into the chair, and it scraped against the wide pine floor.
“Shit, what is in this tea?” Paul demanded, picking up my glass and sniffing it.
I ran both hands over my face. The sugar and caffeine were sending my anxiety into overdrive. “You know what? I’m gonna take a walk. Too much sitting,” I announced, jumping back to my feet. “Gimme an hour or so—”
“You’re not going anywhere,” Paul informed me, rising from his seat to block my exit. “They need space.”
I folded my arms mulishly. “What makes you think I was going next door?”
I was totally going next door. I was going to find Malachi Forrester and throw him up against the first available barn wall, and fuck him witless… a strategy that had a one hundred percent success rate for getting him to answer my texts.
“Because I know you,” Paul said. “For all that you’re acting like a lunatic right now.”
I wasn’t sure when Paul had morphed from my inhaler-sucking junior colleague into my wise and patient BFF. I thought under other circumstances—non-cock-blocking circumstances—I’d kinda like it. Though obviously I’d never tell him that.
Paul’s lips twitched like maybe he knew what I was thinking anyway. “Speaking of which, have I mentioned how much I like Lunatic Brooks?”
“Yeah? Great. Thank you. Your girlfriend likes it when I overthink. You like it when I’m insane. Mal likes when…” I broke off with a swallow. “I don’t know how people tolerate me when I’m actually feeling normal.”
“We do, we just like you best when you’re human,” Paul said. He grabbed me by the shoulders and pushed me into my chair. “Magic, perfect Brooks is cute and all, but he’s harder to be friends with, you know? Intimidating.”
I frowned. “For the eight billionth time, I have never been perfect or—”
“Oh, dude, I know.” Paul snorted, pushing his glasses up his nose. “Believe me, I know. And I also know that when you’re hell-bent on being the guy everyone counts on, you start to feel like you need to ride to the rescue and solve every problem. But you can’t, Brooks. Not this time. If Mal needs space because Mal needs to process what’s happening in Mal’s own life, you literally cannot fix it.”
“But what if—”
“But what if we get back to work, Big Daddy Brooks.” Paul smacked my arm. “Come on now.”
I knew Paul was right. I just had to hope Mal would tell me what was wrong so I could fix it later.
“Call me that again and I’ll remind you who’s the boss of this relationship, My Little Paul,” I grumbled.
“Clutching my pearls here.”
“I’ll kiss you,” I threatened. “In front of Ava. With tongue.”
Paul smiled. “You’ve met Ava, right? She’d probably love it. Then she’d kill you slowly and make sure they never found your body.” He ran a hand over his thinning hair, and his eyes went dreamy behind his glasses. “I can’t wait to introduce her to my mother.”
I could only imagine. The question of what would happen when an unstoppable force met an immovable object would be answered once and for all.
Paul shook his head and hit a key to wake up his laptop. “But that’s for later. Right now, we’re finishing up this campaign, and then we’re gonna talk about how I can convince Pamela to let me work remote from Tennessee after we nail the Partridge Pit contract.” He grinned excitedly. “Ava’s gonna cry when she hears.”