“Nothing as intense as that. Just like, for example . . .” He looked around the office, as though he were searching for inspiration. As if he hadn’t spent half his night dreaming up how delicious this would be. “Lauren could work the Snow Globe for an hour. Just to see what it’s like. I bet it would give her some really good ideas.”
She tapped her finger on her chin, considering. “We’d have to think of what you could do that’s part of her job description.”
He hadn’t exactly thought that far, but he wasn’t opposed to it. It would probably mean doing a bunch of filing. Reading numbers off an old-fashioned ticker tape ledger. He had no idea.
“Sure,” he said. “Happy to.”
“And I’ll need to call Daniel, let him know about this new twist,” Dolores continued. “He should have an opportunity to learn the ropes of different roles here. That would be good for him, actually.”
Fuck, he really hadn’t thought that far. Working with Lauren in the Snow Globe would be sweet torture—she might be irritating, but he knew he’d irritate her far more, and it would cause a minor malfunction in her programming to be thrown into a new situation like that.
Working with Daniel would just be torture.
“I’ll make all the arrangements,” Dolores said. She beamed up at him. “Thanks, Asa. Already you’re coming up with some great suggestions. It makes me excited to see what you think up for your presentation.”
He turned on his heel and almost ran smack into Lauren, who was lurking in the hallway.
“Listening at the door?” he said. “You know, eavesdroppers never hear anything good about themselves.”
“What are you up to?” she asked.
“Just talking to my boss,” he said. “Busy day ahead?”
Her eyes narrowed. From a distance, they looked almost black, but up close he could see that they were brown with flecks of gold around the irises. He didn’t even realize he was making intense eye contact until her eyes widened again, then dropped to a spot over his shoulder.
“Every day is busy,” she said.
“Really? Every day? There’s never a lull on a Thursday afternoon? You never have time to deep-dive on an Atlantic article or do some online shopping at your desk?”
He’d been idly throwing that out there, but from the flush that crept over her cheeks, he could see he’d landed a hit. Her skin was so fair, her face so expressive, that he felt like he could read every emotion that crossed over it. He had a feeling she’d hate knowing that.
“What are cat pants, anyway?” he asked. “I’ve seen sweaters for dogs, but this is taking it to a whole new level.”
She tugged his arm, pulling him away from Dolores’ office. He guessed they were in a bad location to discuss all the ways they fucked off at work. Personally, he had no issue with her taking some time for herself during the day while she managed her workload. Everyone needed that, and god knows if he had a job where he was sitting at a computer all day he’d use at least some of his time looking up funny memes or reading interpretations of song lyrics. But somehow he knew that Lauren held herself to a stricter standard, and even if she carved out those times, she’d feel guilty and secretive about it.
“Instead of a houndstooth pattern,” she said now, “they were tiny cats. They were cute, and they were on sale yesterday, so I wanted to remind myself to buy them. There. Are you happy?”
“Oh,” Asa said. Those did sound cute. “Did you buy them?”
“No.”
Why was he not surprised. “What do the numbers on your list mean? They’re out of order.”
The level of priority, he’d figured. He’d really spent way too much time thinking about Lauren Fox’s to-do list. He also couldn’t seem to shake the tingling feeling in his right forearm, from where she’d briefly touched him. He rubbed the pad of his left thumb against the spot, then turned the gesture into more of a massage, as though his muscle ached. The way her gaze dropped to track the movement, he didn’t want her reading more into it than that.
“What were you talking to Dolores about?” she asked finally.
Ah, so it was going to be like that. He could play that game, but he liked seeing her sweat, so he just shrugged. “Let’s just say I hope you brought something warmer than your usual cardigan to wear.”
He could practically feel her vibrating with frustration as he walked away.
Chapter
Five