Matt just wanted to know why his personal assistant, proper secretary by day, wild and sexy seductress by night, was ignoring him after that blazing kiss.
After a quick business trip to San Diego, he wasn’t sure what he’d come back to at the office. As it turned out, a whole lot of nothing. Callie ignored him like nothing happened. Maybe for her, it wasn’t that good. Maybe that kiss was just a stupid under the mistletoe kiss and that was that. For him though- he’d spent his entire weekend and the rest of the week thinking about it.
He’d never experienced a reaction like that before, physical or otherwise. He tried to summon back the feeling, the exact way his body reacted in the moment, but he couldn’t. Of course, he couldn’t. That feeling was reserved for kisses like that. Stolen. Illicit. Apparently, ones Callie would rather forget about and pretend didn’t happen.
He couldn’t pretend. And he sure as hell couldn’t forget.
Matt slipped into the office on Friday morning, half an hour before eight. He knew that Callie was always there at quarter to. He placed a cup of coffee on her desk like he had for the past three days. His brain was still buzzing with the information he’d overhead the day before. He hadn’t meant to follow Callie. He’d seen her walking to the kitchen and then she changed directions. He was going for a coffee refill and just happened to be on the other side of the hall when she started talking to Chantara.
The whole reason she was ignoring him was because she had no idea it was him at all.
He was stunned when he overheard the conversation. She had no idea it was him she kissed. She hadn’t given much away, but from what he could gather, she enjoyed it. She was worried about losing her job. He’d be worried too if he had no idea who had produced a reaction like that inside of him. It was like his entire insides imploded when he kissed her. He wasn’t a big believer in romance, especially after his experiences. He’d never liked the whole dramatized thing about first kisses and sparks and feeling drunk on it.
But that was him in a nutshell. Acting like a fifteen year old boy with his first crush, first kiss, first taste of a woman.
Matt slipped into his office. He set his bag down and waited. He’d been stealing glances at Callie all week, trying to figure out what was going on in her pretty little head. A few times, she caught him studying her.
She’s going to find out this morning.
He couldn’t let her go on not knowing who it was. That wasn’t fair. He’d own up to it and they would have a laugh about it and move on. Plain and simple. It was the only outcome, given that she was his damn admin assistant. He might want a repeat of that kiss. He might want a hell of a lot more, but it wasn’t happening anytime soon. As in, never. It wasn’t ever going to happen because there are lines and boundaries.
Callie walked in, right on time, at fifteen minutes to eight. She sat down at her desk and eyed the coffee, as she’d done for the past three mornings. She often waited until just after eight before she picked up the cup, went somewhere, and returned with it. She’d sit and drink it after that. It was a strange routine, but then again, nothing about Callie was normal. Correction. Nothing about that kiss was normal.
Matt waited. When Callie got up, taking the cup with her, he followed. She went into the break room, went straight to the sink, and dumped the coffee down the drain.
“So that’s where all my five-dollar coffees are going.”
She whirled when she heard his voice. Twin spots of red appeared on her cheekbones and she stared at him with guilt in her eyes. Those eyes. Those unbelievable eyes that I was too dense to notice before. He noticed them now. Big time.
“I…” she turned the cup around. IT WAS ME was written in the name spot in black letters. All the other mornings, he’d had the barista leave it blank. “You?” She frowned and something changed in her eyes. The irises darkened, changing from a light blue to something that was nearly purple. It could have just been the lighting, but Matt didn’t think so.
“Yeah. Me.” He stood back as the dregs of the coffee swirled down the drain.
“I- uh- I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to throw it away. I appreciate the gesture. It’s very nice of you to get me coffee. It’s just that- there might have been a bit too much cream and sugar. I kind of tend to take it nearly black. Just a little bit of cream for color.”