Catastrophe Queen

He waved one large hand and sat in the chair on the opposite side of the desk. “Nothing I can’t do later or at home. Besides, I have a viewing this afternoon, so I won’t be here later.”

“Oh. Are you—”

“Mallory. I’m sure.” His lips quirked to the side. “Honestly.”

“Okay.” I blushed and set the mug down.

Except I didn’t.

I missed the edge of the coaster.

Cameron jumped back before I even knew what happened.

The mug tipped right as I let go of the handle, and scalding hot coffee burst all over his desk. It coated sheets of paper and a red, cardboard folder and everything inside it. Dark spots splattered over the edge of the desk to the floor, and a leather-bound diary was swimming in what was once my coffee.

I clapped my hands to my mouth and froze. My eyes darted back and forth over the mess I’d accidentally created.

This was it.

This was the moment he realized he’d hired a total klutz.

“Oh my God,” I whispered, slowly dragging my hands away from my face. “I’m so sorry.” I couldn’t even look at him. “I’ll get a towel—or three. Maybe a wet cloth. And a trash bag. I—”

“Mallory.” Cameron caught my wrist before I could rush out of the office.

A tingle ran up my arm from where he was touching me, and I swallowed hard before I met his eyes.

A hint of amusement gazed back at me. “It’s fine. It was an accident. Stop panicking.”

“I know, but all your work, and—”

“There’s nothing there that can’t be printed out again. It just means you have extra work this afternoon.” He gave me a lopsided grin. “Honestly, it’s fine.”

Groaning, I dropped my head. “I’m such a klutz.”

“Yeah, but I knew that when I saw you on the side of the road on your ass.”

I groaned again. “I was hoping you didn’t recognize me.”

He laughed, letting go of my wrist. “Not a chance in that. Come on. We can get this cleaned up in no time if we work together.”

I followed him out of the office. “You don’t have to help me.”

“No, I do. There’s still a cup of coffee in that office. I don’t want you turning mine into a casualty too.”

Ugh. This was terrible. “I wouldn’t blame you if you fired me. I’m a bit of a liability.”

Cameron laughed and tossed me a towel from the bathroom. “Mallory, I’m not going to fire you for spilling coffee. It missed the computer, didn’t it? It didn’t go on me. Nobody got hurt, and nothing blew up. Don’t be so dramatic.”

“I can’t help it,” I muttered, following him back to the office. “It goes hand in hand with being a walking disaster. Eventually, you do something worth being dramatic about.”

“Have you done that?”

“Done what?”

“Done something worth being dramatic about.”

Yeah. I was inadvertently responsible for an apartment fire.

Instead of saying that out loud, I swept my arm out in front of me, indicating the coffee. “Is this not worth being dramatic about?”

“Not at all.” He picked the leather diary up. “I liked this, but I can buy a new one.” He put it in a trash bag I didn’t know he’d grabbed. “The paper? It can all be printed out again. You just need to write down what it is so you know what to print.”

“Right. Um.” I looked around and saw a notebook—under the coffee. “There’s a problem.”

“There’s a pad in the drawer. It’s college-ruled. Are you likely to make a disaster of staying between the lines?”

I jerked my head up, ready to be offended, but a smile was tugging at his lips and his eyes were bright with laughter.

He was teasing me.

“Ugh.” I opened the drawer and found the notebook he was referring to on the top. I pulled it out and paused because the movement had revealed another notebook beneath it.

It was bound with gold rings and covered in high heel shoes.

“Um,” I said, fighting laughter as I removed that one, too. “Is this yours?”

Cameron paused his cleaning and eyed it. “Uh, no. That’s my ex-girlfriend’s.”

“How much of an ex is she?”

“Enough of one that it shouldn’t be there. You can throw it in the trash.”

I looked at the drawer. “Did you also know there’s a half-empty packet of gum in there? Plus, a pink highlighter, a sock, and a razor.”

“What sock?”

“I don’t know. I’m not touching your sock.” I handed him the girly notebook, and he tossed it into the trash bag. “What do I need to print?”

Together, methodically, we worked to clean the desk. Well, mostly Cameron worked. I wrote down everything he told me I needed to print out again while he cleaned everything up and threw out the stuff I’d ruined.

I had a list as long as my arm to print back out, and I was pretty sure I’d need to go and get some more ink when I grabbed lunch with Jade, but after almost an hour of organizing and wiping everything down, we were done.