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Next weekend seemed interminably far away What would we do on a second date? Where did we stand? All I kneas I already felt safe with hi I hadn’t felt that way in a long tiuy again

I recappedirrational excitement, but her reaction was subdued She announced she was co back fro for work, I told her I’d stop by a Duane Reade to pick up orange juice and coughelse like blankets or a humidifier, she could just text er to start the day Thepassed in a blur of investment research and excel sheets It was rare that coworkers didn’t stop by to chat but I supposed it was just one of those busy s I was about to head to lunch when Richard made an unexpected appearance at my cubicle

"Hard at work, I see" His voice didn’t contain its usual confidence bordering on sness

"Just finished the ROI projection charts for the Sorenson account and about to head to lunch Need sohed heavily and I leaned back inmyself for some bad news There was no way the firm had found out about my trip with Vincent already "I came to tell you that you’ve been proood news I had been proe of working under Richard in the first place Noas pro the Sorenson account did have its perks

I bea to buy that new convertible you’ve been talking about?"

"No" He sighed again, rubbing his te overtime "You have been promoted Not me I also found out Vincent specifically listed you as his point of contact Did you know about that?"

I gulped Richard was upset with me and I had to diffuse the situation Complete honesty wasn’t the answer "Hehe was io that far"

His eyes narrowed "What did you tell hined docuh the standard follow-up pitch and he stopped me before I could finish He said he liked ave thened"

He opened his ly deep in thought He gru under his breath and left before I could question the situation or offer words of consolement

I tried to put Richard’s frustration into perspective Despite hiht er ‘analyst’, I was now a ‘client acquisitionto Richard’s boss, Carl Stansworth, directly I figured Vincent’s request for me to be his point-of-contact was the reason Carl promoted me, but I wondered why Richard wasn’t promoted Richard certainly did his fair share of work, which h to proured it was the latter Whatever the reason, the situation made it look like I stole his client lead I was concerned about rubbing Richard the wrong way, but there wasn’t much I could do about the circumstances

I skipped to lunch and returned to ers a ind at the keyboard, I felt at peak productivity, churning page after page of reports and analyses

It was approaching the end of the workday when e I reached inside, flutters init was another flirty text fro about him so often since our date it was difficult to concentrate on anything else, and the frequent co I’d be able to resist him if we kept this up

I discovered the text was actually fro else fro for you

Not what I expected, but okay Using my thumbs, I typed a response back to her Did he have dark eyes, sexy blonde hair, and abs to die for?

A et his name

So it wasn’t Vincent He probably wouldn’t have dropped by anyway knowing I would be at work I also wasn’t expecting any packageswho could it have been? I was in thea response when I received another text Riley must have accidentally hit send early on the last one

But he had gorgeous blue eyes, brown hair, and ri choppily like a fil frahtness in my chest I tried to breathe but couldn’t The fa a panic attack I stared at the words, reading and rereading thelasses

There was noit He had shown up at my doorstep How did he find out where I lived? Why did he show up now? Should I call the police? Run? Stay at a hotel tonight? For how long? A flurry of questions and actions raced through ood

In the , I checked the new rounded ain?

I recalled how safe I felt around hiht now and only he could give it to ht, be with hiht Your place Can you pick me up after work?