Page 13 of Unexpected You

I bet Eloise Roth had a caftan. She looked the type. I pictured her on the prow of a boat wearing a caftan over a bathing suit and staring off into the waves.

Shit. Naughty thoughts! I mentally slapped myself away from that kind of thought. You shouldn’t have thoughts like that about your boss.

“Cade?” Hunter said, and I realized she’d been talking to me and I hadn’t been listening. I’d been off in my little fantasy.

“Sorry, what?” I asked and Hunter’s eyes narrowed for a second.

“You okay?” she asked.

“Yeah, just drifted off for a second. You know me.” She did. Sometimes my brain didn’t want to focus on conversations and got distracted by something else.

“Okay,” she said, unphased before she repeated what she’d said. A story about someone in her yoga class.

I checked back in and tried not to have any more impure thoughts about my boss.

Chapter Five

Eloise

Cadence showed up the next morning with coffees for both of us, but also with two croissants that I hadn’t asked her to get.

“I couldn’t resist,” she said when she pulled them out and set them on two plates.

My class that morning had been brutal, and I kept wincing when I moved. Hopefully Cadence wouldn’t notice.

“I’m not much of a croissant person.” I’d had a custom blended smoothie from the Pilates studio after my workout and that was going to last me until lunch.

But now my new assistant had arrived with croissants. That I hadn’t asked for. A complication, a wrinkle. A minor one, but still.

Last night I’d been so rattled by the whole day. I knew that every single word I’d written was shit and would probably need to be deleted instead of salvaged. Having someone else in my office, in my space, had been jarring. Confusing. It wasn’t that she was loud or disruptive, but having anyone there with me was going to throw things off.

I could hear her breathing. I could hear her fingers tapping on the laptop keys. She also made little sounds as she worked and sometimes she hummed or even talked to herself under her breath. Not loudly, just…there. I was so aware of her there with me and it was going to take some getting used to. Hopefully today would be better. The arrival of the croissants wasn’t a good sign.

“If you don’t want them, I’ll take them,” she said when I took my coffee from her. I took a sip and was relieved that the order was right. I couldn’t handle my orders not being right. I knew I was overreacting, but something about it made me go from zero to homicidal in two seconds flat.

“No, thank you. It was a nice gesture,” I said.

She shrugged and didn’t seem all that perturbed. I took my coffee to the office and she followed.

“How was your Pilates class?” she asked, and I almost tripped on my desk in surprise. Were we doing small talk now?

“Fine,” I said, hoping that she would get the hint and drop it.

She nodded and pulled something out of her bag.

“So, uh, I got the impression yesterday that you enjoy quiet while you work. I’m, um, kind of the opposite? I like listening to music or old shows I’ve seen a million times or podcasts. Anyway, is it okay with you if I wear my headphones? I know I won’t be able to hear you, but you can always wave to get my attention.”

Was she serious?

“Wave to get your attention,” I repeated.

Cadence nodded. “Yeah, or like, snap your fingers or something.”

She was serious.

“I’m not going to do that,” I said.

“You could throw something at me,” she said, smiling, and my stomach lurched for a second. I guess the caffeine was hitting me hard today.