Don't Go Baking My Heart

Reba shone bright against the dim stage. She didn’t have the best singing voice, but no one gave a shit; her performance captivated. She was working that boa like it could actually reel in her unsuspecting victims. Shit, he needed another drink. Or not—he should keep his head as clear as possible tonight.

She continued crooning into the mic, and Devon’s flight instincts kicked into high gear when she started walking down the stage towards him, a mischievous glint in her eyes. She stopped in front of him, continuing to sing, which made the crowd go wild. This definitely wasn’t going to help his co-workers thinking they weren’t dating. What the hell was she doing?

Eventually, she moved on to serenade the others standing in front of him. Thank God. She had just been playing up the crowd, not actually singing to just him. He willed his heart rate to settle to its usual pace.

When she ended her song, there was a thunderous applause. Reba took a bow and strutted back over to him.

“You were amazing. Next round of drinks is on me,” Dax said, moving to take everyone’s orders.

Reba grinned up at Devon. “Well, I love your boss already.”

“How did you do that?”

“Be amazing?” She shimmied her shoulders. “It’s a gift.”

Definitely. Devon could command a room when he had to give a presentation, but this was another level. He didn’t know how to charm people like that, based on the force of his personality alone. He was aware of his limitations in that regard but hadn’t considered it a problem when he excelled at getting shit done. Could he actually be passed over for the partner position because he wasn’t a people person like Dax? Dax and Reba exuded different energies, but there was no denying they were both good at this.

Shit. He would need to think about this. Letting Reba convince him to show up for these after-work events was one thing but actually making a conscious effort to engage in real conversation with his co-workers? He couldn’t drag Reba around and just throw her at people to distract from the fact that he wasn’t saying much. That wouldn’t be feasible.

Reba fanned her face and announced she was heading to the bathroom. The urge to cling to her and ask her not to leave him alone with these people was strong, but obviously, he wouldn’t do anything so pathetic. He was a grown ass man. It couldn’t be that hard to talk to people he saw every day at the office without Reba as a buffer.

“So…” Evan came up to him. The way he didn’t even wait a few seconds before Reba left to approach Devon meant he had been waiting to get him alone. “You and Reba are just friends? How did you two even meet?”

Devon didn’t have patience for this. He was so close to growling that it was none of Evan’s fucking business, but that seemed like poor etiquette. They might not be confined to the rules of the office, but this was still his co-worker. He couldn’t cuss him out.

This entire farce was to help him move closer to his goal. No matter how annoying Evan was, he couldn’t lose sight of that.

“Mutual acquaintance of my brother.” Not exactly accurate, but Devon didn’t need to get into the intricacies of Reba being Keiran’s girlfriend’s assistant.

Evan was always hanging on someone’s desk gossiping about something. Devon refused to give the man more fodder, although he had done exactly that by coming here with Reba. He shouldn’t have allowed her to persuade him to do this. Sure, it would help his image a bit, but was it worth the additional fallout? He had basically opened the door to prying questions. This entire situation was annoying, mainly because he felt his thoughts ping-ponging around in his head. He wasn’t used to second-guessing himself like this.

“Hmm, you got surprises up your sleeves. Didn’t think you would even know someone like that.”

“Shows how much you know.” Fuck, that was not polite. He forced out a little chuckle, but Evan didn’t look convinced. He probably thought Devon was laughing at him rather than signalling he had been joking.

How the hell did people manoeuvre these types of situations? This was a far cry from the occasional business lunches and dinners he had to attend when they were wooing clients. Devon was never tasked with being the social butterfly who would butter up the client. He was the facts guy.

“Guess you’re not as by-the-book as you make it seem,” Evan went on. “A woman like that seems too…what’s the word I’m looking for?” Evan tapped his cheek, smiling. “Fun. Yeah, way too fun to be someone you’d be friends with. No offense, of course.”

No offense, his ass; Evan meant full fucking offense. Devon bit the inside of his cheek hard. It was either that or throttle Evan for continuing to speak. He wanted to slap that annoying ass smirk off his face. No matter how right he was—Reba wasn’t someone Devon would hang out with, given the choice—it didn’t matter. Devon wanted Evan to shut the fuck up.

“You know, tacking on ‘no offense’ to whatever you say doesn’t actually make it any less of a shit statement. No offense,” he added because fuck this guy, seriously.

“Oh my God, the bathroom is so cute.” Reba appeared at his side, and Devon never thought he would be this thrilled to see her. She looked between them before settling her gaze on Evan. “What song you doing?”

Evan’s slight frown morphed into a wide smile. “I’m thinking a classic. Journey, but only if you sing it with me.”

“Please, not another rendition of ‘Don’t Stop Believing,’” Devon grumbled before he could stop himself.

Evan’s frown returned, and he opened his mouth to reply, but Reba giggled, hand playfully swatting Evan’s arm, effectively distracting him.

“Let’s do something outside of the norm.” Reba rubbed her hands together. “How do you feel about Destiny’s Child? No one’s going to expect that.”

“Hmm, I suppose I could pull that off. You’ll be Beyoncé, of course?”

Reba grinned. “Deal. Just holla when you’re ready. Get Hannah in on this too.”

“Now that’s a plan.”