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“Robert,” he says without explanation.
“What does Robert have to do with any of this?” I don’t try to hide my confusion.
“Robert told me to stay away from you.”
I’m shocked to learn this little bit of information.
“Why would he do that?”
“I guess he thought I was bad news.”
“Well, he wasn’t wrong there now, was he?” I laugh, even though I’m still trying to process what he’s just told me. “So you’ve been avoiding me for the last six months because a guy we work with told you to?”
“Pretty much. You know Robert. He’s super protective of you. I was new and wasn’t looking to ruffle any feathers.”
“Interesting. And here I thought I was the only woman in the office who wasn’t good enough to garner your attention.”
“Quite the opposite, actually. You were the only woman I wanted to give my attention to.” He reaches across the center console and takes my hand in his. My gut instinct is to pull away but for some reason I don’t.
“So if you stayed away from me because of Robert, why the sudden change of heart?” I’ve barely finished the question when the realization dawns. He sees me piece it together. “Because he’s leaving.”
“Ding. Ding.” He impersonates a bell.
“Hmmm.”
“Hmmm what?” His lips turn upward.
“Maybe you’re not as bad as I thought.”
“Does that mean you’re falling in love with me?” His face shifts into a full smile.
“Not even close,” I deadpan, knocking the wind out of his sails.
“Ouch. That’s harsh, Ms. Daniels.”
“Just being honest, Mr. Avery.”
“Well lucky for us both, I still have plenty of time.”
“Do you really believe you have a chance in hell of winning your bet? Mine, maybe. I think anyone can go four weeks. But yours? I don’t know, I think you might have bitten off more than you can chew.”
“Can’t you see, I’m already winning you over.”
“And how do you figure that?”
“Because you let me touch you and you didn’t even flinch.” He squeezes my hand. “A week ago you would have punched me before you’d let me hold your hand.”
“I might still punch you,” I warn playfully.
“You may not be willing to admit it yet, but you will. You just wait.”
“Oh, I’ll wait alright. I’ll wait until four weeks from now when you lose not one, but two bets. I wish I could tell you that I’ll be a good sport about it, but that’d be a lie. I’m going to gloat so hard you’ll have to change departments to escape all the gloating I’ll be doing. I might even have balloons that say LOSER delivered to your desk.”
“You have such little faith in me.”
“Or maybe I just have a lot of faith in myself.”
“Well, no matter the outcome one thing is for sure.”
