Catastrophe Queen

Working with him was hard, despite how easy it was. He was right. If we hadn’t been working together, we’d probably already be dating. I always knew not to mix work and pleasure, which was stupid considering I was the one who had.

I’d told him about my attraction to him and that had set this chain of events in motion. It was really all my fault, but it was going to happen sooner or later. And, if we were going to crash and burn because he realized I was way harder than he thought—and a potential walking fire hazard thanks to a flat iron—then I wanted it to happen sooner.

Because that would be what would inevitably happen. I’d seen the world he’d grown up in, and while I’d been far from broke growing up, it was a different thing. I bet he didn’t eat breakfast around the table with his family in his pajamas, and I bet his aunt had never thrown a book at his grandfather because he’d called her a hussy.

Which might have happened last night.

Ahem.

I know. I thought they were only staying a few days, too. It’d been two weeks.

Whatever.

Now, it was Friday. Despite my reservations about dating my boss, he and I and the world knew I’d go on a date with him. I was too curious not to, and beside the attraction, I was starting to like him.

Really like him.

He was funny. He made me laugh. He might have been in charge of the whole shebang here, but he never took himself too seriously. He didn’t mind that I occasionally forgot to put his messages on his computer and sometimes left them in my desk, and he often watched with glee as I answered the phone to some of his…pickier…clients, and handled them like a pro.

I mean, come on. Great Aunt Grace was far worse than any of the people I’d spoken to on the phone since I’d started. Except perhaps his mom…

“I told you that you were going to bang him.” Jade cradled her take-out cup of coffee as I set the machine to make mine. She didn’t have any clients until ten, so she’d decided to stop by and get as much gossip out of me as possible.

More fool her. There wasn’t any.

“I’m not going to bang him,” I replied, watching the coffee splatter in my cup. “It’s one date, Jade, and it’s only because I’m dying of curiosity.”

“Of how good he is with his penis?”

Yes. “No.”

“You’re such a liar. It’s written all over you. Your born again virgin-vagina is so ready for it.”

“I didn’t realize you had a direct line of communication with it,” I drawled. “Look, it’s one date. That’s it. For all we know, we might not even be compatible. We may not get along as well as we thought.”

“You’ve been talking about him all week. You get along fine.”

All right, so that was a weak argument. “Flirting is one thing. It’s another to date someone.”

“Wait, you flirted and didn’t scare him off? Wow. He must like you.”

I turned and shot her a look. “Thanks for your support, douchebag.”

“Oh, come on. You know it’s going to go well. You’re just worried because you’ve wandered in here, gotten the job, and now you’ve bagged the boss.”

“I haven’t bagged the boss.”

“You’re right. You’d need to get pregnant, and then you’d bag him for life.”

“Jade.”

“I know, I know. Shut up, Jade, blah blah blah.” She rolled her eyes. “You’re only feeling like this because dating your boss is so far outside your comfort zone.”

“Well, yeah!” I paused. “Wait, what do you mean my comfort zone?”

She sipped her coffee and raised an eyebrow. “Mallory, you have this little comfortable bubble you live your life in. You visit the same coffee shop every day. You always order the same bagel. You never go anywhere new, and you stick to everything you know.”

“That’s not weird. That’s totally normal for most people,” I argued. “Besides, any time I do something outside of my comfort zone, something goes wrong.”

“It’s all in your mindset, you know. If you assume that this date with Cameron is going to go badly, it probably will. You’ll be subconsciously sabotaging it.”

“And that’s enough internet for you,” I said, picking up my mug. “Now you’re psychoanalyzing me? You’re a hair stylist, not a doctor.”

“You need one.” She snorted. “Seriously. Don’t go into it thinking that it’s all going to mess up. It’s going to be fine.”

“I totally agree,” said a decidedly male voice who wasn’t part of this conversation.

Cameron stood in the doorway, a smile twisting his lips.

My cheeks flushed at the knowledge he knew I’d been talking about him.

“Oh, hey. What’s up?” Jade said, unbothered by it.

“Morning,” he replied, walking over to where I was at the coffee machine. “Are you distracting my employee?” He pulled a mug down, and I went to take it from him, but he shook his head. “Perfectly capable of making a coffee, Mallory.”