Page 41 of For Your Consideration

I blinked back the tears that suddenly sprang to my eyes.

This man.

“So where are we spending our day?” I asked, trying to tuck my emotions away. He gave Sophie one more kiss before standing up and moving behind the stroller.

“Ready?”

I gave him a skeptical look but when his lips twitched and he fought off a smile, I just shook my head, letting him get away with it for now.

Thank God the elevator was working today so I didn’t have to explain why we would have to carry Sophie and her stroller down four flights of stairs. It was hit or miss when it worked, so I kept an extra stroller base that I’d found at a secondhand store in Iris’s car so she wouldn’t be stuck if it was ever out of order.

We made our way outside and I felt so strange walking beside Asher as he pushed the stroller along. I didn’t have anything in my hands and since I’d had Sophie, that had never happened. He’d shifted me to the inside part of the sidewalk and kept me close as we walked. He asked me about girls’ night so I gave him a recap, omitting the part about the prenup, to catch him up.

“Are you going to tell me what the plan is today?” I asked as I looked up at him.

I wasn’t sure what to think of him using the word friend in texts. Should I be annoyed that he was pointing it out regularly or relieved he seemed to have agreed to the role so easily?

“Coffee,” he said as he lifted his chin up at the café we were stopping near. I smiled as he opened the door but when I stepped by him he gently grabbed my arm. “This is not the plan, we just need the fuel.”

He let me go and ushered me in, pushing Sophie in behind me. We stood close together in line as I looked down at Sophie who was blinking slowly. Movement always made her sleep, whether it was the car or her stroller. Her nap schedule might be off later but that was fine.

“Next,” the barista called as we stepped up.

“You go first,” I said to Asher. He gave me a look and then stared at the counter. I rolled my eyes at his insistence and stepped up to order. “Just a medium coffee with room, please.”

“Sutton,” Asher admonished from beside me.

“What?” I asked, looking over at him.

“That is not what you order.”

“I can order something different, Grizzly.”

I was hoping he wouldn’t notice but since he’d been getting coffee for me all week, I didn’t think it was likely. I’d tried to pay him back on Friday and he just glared at me for a moment before walking right out of the office without a word. I was thinking I would need to find a way to leave him some cash if he kept this up too long.

“Change the order. Large caramel macchiato and a medium black coffee, no room.”

The barista didn’t even look at me for confirmation; she just rang him up and then called the next person forward.

“Does anyone ever say no to you?” I asked as he moved us to a corner further away from the busy line.

“Not usually,” he said, standing in front of me and pulling the stroller close on our left.

“So this is a good start to friending. What—”

“Mr. Lawson!” A man interrupted us and stepped beside me. As Asher looked over at him, it was like a wall came down over his face. His relaxed jaw had tensed again, and the light in his eyes had dimmed as he blinked blankly. “Great to see you.”

“Dale.” Asher nodded, not bothering to offer his hand. He kept one on Sophie’s stroller and the other tucked in his pants pocket. I didn’t pay much attention to what Dale was saying, instead I watched Asher.

I think I was getting a glimpse into the man that he would be in the boardroom, or when he was out in public with people he wasn’t comfortable with. I could tell Dale was getting uncomfortable with the cold looks, how his only reply to a statement was a blink or a raised eyebrow. There was a thin layer of sweat on his forehead and he was shifting nervously.

I tuned back in to what Dale was saying, since Asher’s jaw had twitched. “So if I could just get a meeting—”

“No,” Asher cut him off.

“Mr. Lawson.” He cleared his throat. “If you could just give me a chance to show—”

“The answer last month was no and the answer is still no, Dale. Our coffee is ready.” Asher put his hand on my lower back and moved all three of us over to the counter. I hadn’t even heard them call our order.