“Of course,” he said with his brows still furrowed. “I always have time for you.”
That stupid lurch in my chest resumed.
Swiftly, Aaron unfolded his body from the chair and walked around the desk and then around me while I kept my gaze where he had been a few seconds ago. Standing there like a total dummy, I heard him shut the door, the noise echoing in the silent room.
“Sorry,” I mumbled as he reappeared in front of me. “I could have done that myself. I just didn’t—” I sighed. “I didn’t think. Thanks.”
This time, he didn’t return to his chair. Instead, he leaned his body on the edge of the wooden surface of his desk. “It’s okay. We can talk now.”
Those blue eyes of his pinned me down, waiting.
“We can talk now, yes,” I repeated, squaring back my shoulders. “I think we should do that.” I watched his head nod, feeling my skin clammy with trepidation. “It would be good to clear the air after … all that’s happened.”
“Yes, you are right,” he admitted. Bracing his arms on the desk, his hands grabbed on to the edge. “I came into work today with the intention to get you after the meeting. Suggest that we could have lunch together and talk.”
Lunch together.
“But we never do that.”
Aaron sighed very softly. “I know,” he said almost bitterly. “But I wanted to take you anyway.”
I stared at him, finding it hard to ignore the effect his words had on me.
“I don’t think I’ll be able to now. My whole day has been sidetracked by the news.”
That … that was just as shocking as him admitting to wanting to have lunch with me.
“You didn’t know Jeff would announce your promotion?”
“Not really. I didn’t think that was going to happen anytime soon. Especially not today,” he confessed, sending about a million questions rushing through my mind. “But that’s not important now. You want to talk about us, I assume. So, let’s do that.”
“But it is,” I countered, feeling outraged on his behalf and ignoring the way that us had made me feel. “I think Jeff ambushing you like that is important. I can’t imagine why he would do something like this. It’s just”—I lowered my voice, realizing it had somewhat risen—“unprofessional.”
The blue in Aaron’s eyes simmered, now looking surprised himself. “It is; you are right. And I’ll talk to him about how much, trust me.”
“Good. You should.”
Something softened in his face, and I averted my eyes, letting them rest somewhere above his shoulder. Not wanting him to know I cared as much as I did. Simply because I shouldn’t. We were still the same Lina and Aaron we had always been—certainly not friends—and about to be divided by a whole step in the hierarchy of the company.
Releasing one of my hands from the death grip I had on my planner, I scratched the side of my neck. My gaze still refused to shift to the left, where it’d probably connect with his. So, instead, it moved down, following the seam of the blue button-down that covered his wide shoulders while a thick silence wrapped around us.
“Listen, about our deal—” I started.
“On Saturday, I—” Aaron said at the same time.
Finally returning my eyes to his face, I found him gesturing for me to go ahead. I accepted the chance with a nod.
“I will say this, and I’ll be out of your hair, I promise.” I exhaled through my nose, not paying attention to Aaron’s frown. “Now that you will become head of our division—which, again, it’s really great, so congratulations.” I let a polite smile tug at the corners of my lips. “Things for … us will change.” I shifted on my feet, not happy with how that sounded. There was no us. Not after Saturday and not after this. “What I’m trying to say is something that you have probably figured out yourself, but I just want to clear the air between us.”
Aaron’s jaw clamped.
“Our deal is off. It was stupid, and now, it makes even less sense than it did. So, it’s not a big deal. I helped you out on Saturday, but you don’t owe me anything. Consider it payback for giving me a hand with the organization of Open Day, okay? We are even.”
I had expected to feel a big weight lift off my shoulders, but that was not what happened. Instead, it was as if my words had sunk me further down into the ground.
“We are even?” Aaron asked, his hands lifting from the oak surface and then falling right back again. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means that you don’t owe me,” I said with a shrug. Fully aware of the fact that I was repeating myself. “You can forget about all this nonsense.”