I shrugged; feigning being resigned to some awful fate. “Not much I can do about it now. You see, I’m already on the payroll. And I’ve heard mutterings about a softball league being formed pretty soon, and I really want first dibs on shortstop.”
Carter laughed. “Shortstop, huh? There are four people who work for this company. That would be the saddest softball league in existence.”
“I can always dream.” I went over to my desk again and sat down. “And yes, shortstop. I played a little bit of softball in high school.”
“Seriously? Were you any good?”
“Oh, no. I was terrible. But the rest of the team was pretty good, so it balanced me out,” I said.
I settled into work, occasionally lifting my eyes up to glance across the office at him. I could just see into his office when he was in there, and when he wasn’t, he was either in the spending time in the kitchen or tooling around the closet that had quickly become an equipment holding place. It was just the two of us there, and I wondered if I was crazy or if he could feel the same sexual tension between the two of us that I felt. It felt like the temperature in the small space had increased since I walked in the door, and I felt an almost magnetic pull toward Carter.
A little while later, he glanced at his phone, then stood up.
“I have to go help the guys out for the day,” he said. “Are you going to be alright?”
I looked around. “I think I can handle everything. I’ve got the job pretty much down now. You did want to hire somebody to handle the office so the rest of you could focus on the logging work, right?”
“Yeah,” he said with a smile.
“Then let me handle the office.” I put my hands up to indicate the space. “This is officially my domain.”
“Then I apologize for being in your way,” he said, smiling.
I took another sip of my coffee and licked a wayward drop of it from my lip. “I don’t mind.”
Carter’s eyes lingered on my lip where my tongue had just slid, then lifted up to mine.
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
My heart was pounding in my chest when he left. I couldn’t believe I’d said that. We’d been flirting since I started working with him, and it seemed to be cranking up a little bit more each day. But he still hadn’t come right out and said anything about being attracted to me or wanting anything more. It left me in an odd place.
Maybe there would have been a time in my life when I would have been able to build up the courage to let him know what I was feeling and ask him out myself. Or at least make the opening move by suggesting we get coffee together some morning.
Now that wasn’t really an option. Working with him meant he was the new boss I was trying to impress. It wasn’t so much that I was trying to impress him that kept me from saying anything to him. More that coming on to my boss was never going to be a good look.
So, I flirted shamelessly. I enjoyed every second we were alone together. And I waited. There was a little voice in the back of my mind that said I might be wasting my time and waiting around for something that was never going to happen. It was entirely possible Carter was just a naturally flirty person. He could just enjoy the banter and have fun being playful with me.
Either way, I didn’t really have any other option. I would happily flirt back, and I just had to hope my crush wasn’t going to go completely unrequited.
There was a lot more to do with that day than there had been on my first several days at work, and the morning went by quickly. Before I realized how much time had passed, the door to the office opened and the guys came in.
I looked up at them and smiled. “Hey. How’s the day going so far?”
“Pretty great,” Deacon said. “Getting a lot done.”
“But we’re starving,” Everett said. “Definitely time to break for lunch.”
“Really?” I looked over at my phone to check the time and saw it was well past when we usually stopped for a break. “Oh, wow. I didn’t even notice. Well, enjoy your lunch. I’ll hold down the fort.”
“Why don’t you come with us?” Carter asked.
“Come with you?”
He gave me a quizzical look. “Yeah. To lunch. We’re all going. Come with us.”
I reached into the drawer of my desk and pulled out the insulated bag I packed that morning.
“I brought my own,” I said.
He chuckled. “That’s okay. Bring it home for a snack later. Just come with us.”
“Okay,” I said, and he grinned.