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She earns every bit of it.

Which makes it incredibly inconvenient that I notice exactly where she is every time she walks into a room.

“The staring’s becoming a workplace concern.”

I keep reading the quarterly report in front of me. “Theo.”

“I’m serious. You haven’t blinked in three minutes. If I poke you, am I hitting flesh or museum-quality wax?”

“You could try paying attention.”

“I was,” he says. “Then our fearless leader decided the project update only needed one participant.”

Someone muffles a laugh behind a cough, and the rest of the room suddenly becomes fascinated by spreadsheets, meeting notes, and coffee cups that haven’t moved in five minutes.

Across the table, Emma brings up another chart, immediately drawing fresh questions from the developers, and my eyes find her before I think better of it.

Theo sees exactly where I’m looking. His smile turns positively smug. “Oh, this is fantastic.”

I close the report with more force than necessary. “Theo.”

“You don’t even realize you’re doing it.”

“I’ve got no clue what you’re talking about.”

He cocks a brow. “Mmhmm.”

“I don’t.”

“Sure.”

He studies me with exaggerated sympathy, then settles farther into his chair like he’s bought front row tickets to a show. “You mind if I ask a question?”

“I do.”

“Perfect.” He folds his hands together. “So… when did you catch it?”

“Catch what?”

“Whatever condition has you tracking Emma every thirty seconds.”

“I’m tracking the meeting.”

“The meeting.” He nods thoughtfully. “Interesting that the meeting keeps relocating to wherever Emma happens to be.”

“I supervise everyone in this room.”

Theo scoffs. “Funny. I haven’t caught you supervising Gary from Finance.”

“Gary isn’t presenting.”

Theo glances toward the finance manager. “Poor bloke. Bet he’s devastated.”

I look at him and wonder how many terrible decisions produced this friendship, because every memory that comes to mind does a spectacular job of proving my judgment isn’t flawless. “You’ve completely lost it.”

“I have,” he says with an easy shrug. “That’s tomorrow’s problem.”

“Drop it. Or you’ll be fired.”