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"Uh.... the morning starts at five a.m."
"Nevermind."
He gave her a teasing smile and grabbed for the handle of the fridge, brushing her wrist as he closed the door. He probably didn't notice that he brushed against her skin, but she could feel his touch linger red-hot even though it was there and gone.
"What about the desserts for the arena?"
He said it quickly and Maggie wondered if perhaps he had noticed her after all. It was better to just press on though and not make a big deal about it. After all, his contract with her signature was still sitting up on her desk. There was time for him to take it back and she really didn't want that.
So she walked down the line of freezers until she got to one with a big piece of paper taped to it with the Otters logo.
"I think these might be yours."
Charlie's eyes lit up and he got a huge grin on his face as he watched and waited for her to open the door. She didn't want to disappoint him. Inside were rows and rows of chocolate cupcakes that they had made that afternoon.
"I have to be honest with you," she said. "We used a new technique to fill these quickly since we had to make so many for the arena. Would you like to try one?"
He gave her a teasing but sarcastic look that seemed to say "Well, of course," so she was more than happy to oblige.
"Let me get you one," she said as she reached into the fridge.
"Don't trust me with baked goods, do you?"
She gingerly pulled one out of a tray and stepped back only to find Charlie in her personal space. He seemed to be looking at the trays and trays of cupcakes and not realizing where he was, but she knew exactly where she was. It was right in front of the open door for the refrigerator and yet she felt a surge of heat go through her body.
Then he turned, his eyes falling on her. They got wide as he realized just how close he was standing, but he didn't seem to want to move away immediately. Maggie watched him take a deep breath, close his eyes, and finally put a step between them before opening them again.
There was a tight smile on his face when he opened his eyes again and he seemed to have composed himself.
"For you," she said quietly as she handed over cupcake. "Let me take you upstairs and you can eat it in my office."
He took the little cake from her hand without a word and followed her as she closed the fridge door and started walking. Charlie took a few more steps so he could be next to her and she noticed how carefully he was holding the cupcake she had given him as if it was a delicate gift.
"Afraid you're going to accidentally crush that one?" she said teasingly.
"Don't joke like that. You'll jinx me."
Her laugh echoed through the empty bakery space and made a warm sound in the space that soothed whatever tension was building between them. It was better to break that and not let it develop than to get her hopes up. Besides, he was the one who smashed her cake.
Why did she feel that didn't really matter anymore?
"Watch the stairs. They're a little old," Maggie instructed as Charlie fell in line behind her.
At the top of the stairs was a door to the offices that looked down on the machines below and she led him to the one that was just for her. It was sparse except for some random pieces of paper with recipes she was working on or notes about some grocery deals.
She had a chair across from the desk and she watched as Charlie casually slid his coat off and draped it over the back of the chair. Somehow the man even made taking his coat off look sexy.
She turned back to her desk, trying not to stare and instead switching her attention to the three-ring binder on her desk with the same Otters logo on it as the fridge downstairs on the floor. It had all of her notes for the arena project in it as well as the signed contract for the new job. Maggie saw a small smile on Charlie's face when he noticed it and put the cupcake down next to it on her desk.
"Is that for me?"
"Only part of it."
She walked over and flipped the cover open, grabbing the contract from a side pocket to give to him. But when she turned around, she hadn't realized she had stepped so close to him. He was still a respectful distance away but it wasn't totally respectful and she could feel a shiver up her spine.
"You know, you didn't have to come down here to get this," she said, holding the contract against her chest.
"Get what?"
