Page 19 of With Love, from Cold World
Sure. By himself.
“Maybe,” he said.
“I actually have a projected budget,” Lauren said, “that I’d love to get his input on. And that would probably help as we think about ways to improve the business, too?”
Dolores beamed at Lauren like she’d just single-handedly solved world hunger. “Wonderful idea. Set that up for Monday.”
They were finally dismissed from Dolores’ office, and Lauren booked it out of there like she was afraid Dolores would decide there was some additional punishment if she stayed one second longer. Asa caught up to her in a few long strides, following her to her office.
“So now you have a budget meeting withDaniel?” he asked. “Don’t you think that’s something I should be invited to, if it’s going to be so helpful to us as we come up with our proposals?”
“I don’t see why,” she said, tapping on her keyboard to wake up her computer. “If you have any specific questions as you start working on your presentation, let me know.”
The implication was clear. She didn’t expect him to do any work on his own. He flashed back to the comment she’d made when he tried to convince her to work together, how she’d carried the weight of enough slackers in school.
There’d been enough truth in that to sting a little. Asa had never been the most diligent student—in high school, he’d been way more interested in navigating the social side of things. He’d had his first girlfriend at thirteen, his first boyfriend at fifteen, and then there’d been the whirlwind of keeping any relationship secret from his hyper-religious parents, because the only thing worse than premarital sex was premarital queer sex.
And then he’d been on his own two weeks before graduation. He’d technically still gotten the credits to get his diploma in the mail, but he hadn’t bothered to walk. There would’ve been nobody there to support him, anyway. It had never even occurred to him to go to college. With what money? And to do what?
Lauren had gone to college. He knew that because she had her diploma framed and leaning against a wall behind her desk. It was as if she meant to hang it but never got around to it, or maybe she was embarrassed to put it out front and center. The more he got to know Lauren, the more either explanation made a certain amount of sense.
“Youdidstart it, you know,” he said.
He expected a denial, or maybe defensiveness. What he didn’t expect was for her to put her head in her hands and let out a low, guttural growl. A sound that shot immediately to his dick.
Well,thatwas unexpected.
“Ugh,” she said, her fingers curling in her hair. “I do know. I am so sorry. I have no idea what came over me—”
“Hey,” he said. “It’s okay. I—”
I liked it.That was the sentence that was about to pop out of his mouth. But he couldn’t say that.
“I think that guy got my hackles up,” Lauren was saying.“Got me feeling all aggressive. The snow wasthere, and I was frustrated, and... I took it out on you. I’m sorry.”
“Yeah,” Asa said. He didn’t know why that explanation disappointed him a little bit, but it did. “That makes sense. I shouldn’t have put you in that position.”
She frowned. “I know to you I must seem really...” She blew her bangs out of her eyes, looking up like she was searching for the right word. “Timid. But I promise you, I can handle myself.”
Weird, buttimidwasn’t a word Asa would’ve used to describe Lauren.Careful, maybe, orreserved. She was deliberate, and thoughtful. He had no doubt she’d been thinking her way through the confrontation with that guy, considering what would allow her to stay professional and courteous but also get out of the situation. She struck him as someone very concerned with doing the right thing, but definitely not timid.
He didn’t know why he felt like he knew her well enough to say that, but he did.
He also didn’t know what made him say what he did next, except that the more he saw Lauren outside of the rigid role she’d always occupied in his mind, the more she intrigued him.
“Kiki and I are both off this Sunday,” he said. “We were all thinking of going up to New Smyrna Beach, if you wanted to come.”
She blinked at him, as though the words coming out of his mouth were in a foreign language, and she was waiting for her translation software to catch up.
“Assuming you’re free,” he said. “And feel like making the drive.”
This was such a mistake. She was looking at him now like he had two heads.
“The beach,” she said. “In December.”
He laughed, hoping it sounded more natural than it felt coming out of his chest. “I know it’s hard to remember in this place, but it’s seventy-five degrees outside. This is the best time of year to go. Not as crowded, you don’t feel like you’re melting...”
“I can’t,” she said. “I mean, I appreciate the invitation. I just have a lot to do before the holidays, and I should probably work on the proposal, and that’s a pretty long drive. It would take up my whole day.”
