“I know,” Liv said, awe in her voice. “And just think—while you’re out doing what you do, I get to look at this all day.”
“Excuse me. Allie?”
I turned toward the doorway again, finding a slender man entering the office. Liv gave me a wide smile, but it wasn’t because he was holding a large bouquet of flowers. His shoes were nicer than mine. He dressed better than me. His eyebrows were plucked to perfection. Of course Liv would totally love him. Three of her best friends were gay men. Best shopping buddies, she once told me.
I smirked at Liv and then nodded at him. “Yes, I’m Allie.”
“Hi, I’m Neil, Mr. Holt’s assistant.” He placed the flowers on my desk and smiled at me brightly. “These are for you.”
“Wowzers,” Liv breathed from her place at her desk. “That man sure knows how to treat his employees.”
Neil barked an unamused laugh. “You must have made a great impression.”
I wasn’t sure why he would think that. I had been rude to Micah, but maybe rude was something he respected. “I wouldn’t go that far.” I grabbed the card out from the flowers and opened the envelope.
Allie—
Welcome to Holt.
—Micah
I stared at the card, thinking it odd he’d send me these flowers. “Does he always do this for new employees?”
“Oh, no.” Neil laughed, as if what I’d said was the most absurd thing ever, and stepped away from my desk. “This is a first, believe me. Like I said, you must have made an impression.”
I began to frown. An impression wasn’t what I wanted to make on Micah. He was my boss now—therefore, completely off-limits—and I wanted him and every other employee in this office to respect me. I’d worked too hard—putting my personal life on hold—to rise to the top at Richardson to allow that respect to fall apart now.
Even if deep down I didn’t hate that Micah sent me flowers, I picked them up and handed the bouquet back to Neil. “Please thank Micah for the gift, but take them back and tell him not to send anything like this again.”
Neil’s eyes went huge. “I can’t do that!”
“Yes, you can.” I gave him a light push, easing him out of my office. “Thanks for bringing them by, though. It’s great to meet you.”
He left my office muttering something I didn’t understand.
“Why in the hell did you do that?” Liv snapped the second Neil vanished from the office.
“I want to be known as the girl who refused flowers from Micah.” I turned to Liv. “I don’t want to be known as the girl who maybe got the job and the nice office because the boss likes her.”
Liv’s eyes widened. “He likes you?”
“Well, no”—but would that be so bad if he did ran across my subconscious—“but you know women—that is exactly how it will look.” I might be attracted to Micah, but my work mattered to me more than giving into sexual desires.
Liv pondered, and then gave a firm nod. “You’re right. Catty bitches will so think that.”
“Exactly.” I returned to my seat at my desk and powered up my computer. “Let’s see about figuring out this new system so we can make magic happen.”
Liv smiled. “That is what we do best.”
Micah
Who rejected one of the best offices on the sixtieth floor and gave away half of their salary to their assistant? I kept pondering Allie’s actions—she’d asked for those things specifically, but now she didn’t want them? I didn’t pretend to understand her. Yet I found myself wanting to get inside her head. She was a curious creature to me, seemingly doing the direct opposite of what I expected from her.
Behind my large glass desk, I leaned back in my leather chair, staring out at the city’s skyscrapers. When I designed Holt’s new office seven years ago, I had the exterior and interior walls of the office made from one-way glass, instead of classic plaster. Perhaps because I hid so much in my private life, it felt good to see the world around me, and to always view the city that I had conquered.
My chest grew tight, as the swell of lies in my life surrounded me. I shut my eyes, forcing my mind elsewhere, wondering if Allie, who sat in her office below me, was looking out at the same view. She fascinated me with her intense loyalty to Henry and how she defended him. I wanted to know why everything that I valued—material and monetary things—didn’t matter to her. I couldn’t help but wonder what her world would be like to live in—so untainted, so pure with loving relationships, so honest.
I never lived in that world.