He didn’t move from where he was standing next to her desk. She stared down at her folded arms hoping he’d take the hint.
He didn’t.
“Shouldn’t you be heading down to the party?”
When he didn’t immediately respond, she looked up and shifted uncomfortably under his weighty stare. Holy crap, this guy was intense. He went around ignoring people and acting like he was better than them, but now she knew that was preferable to being on his radar. Being regarded by him was exactly how she imagined it felt to be a lab rat being studied under a microscope.
She was certain he didn’t miss a thing, from her tear-stained face to the packed box sitting next to her.
“Were you fired?” His tone didn’t exactly scream ‘sympathetic’—in fact, he didn’t even sound surprised.
For the first time since she kissed Ben, something other than self-pity and mortification rose up in her and her lips fell into a scowl. “I wasn’t fired. Why would you think I was?”
He raised one brow and nodded toward the box at her feet. “It looks like you’re leaving us.”
She pressed her lips together in a thin line. His calm tone was absurdly irritating in the face of her own turmoil. His placidness was like throwing oil on a flame. “Why would you assume I was fired?”
His gaze was level and his eyes too intently fixed on hers. “Because it seemed like you were happy here.”
That simple statement had her choking on a sob. She had been happy there—but only because she’d gotten to see Ben every day. Their friendship had made it less of a tedious job and more of a daily adventure, with the underlying theme of ‘maybe today would be the day he kissed her.’
Seemingly unaware that his mere presence was irritating, he rested his hip against her desk, patiently watching her. “So you quit then.”
She widened her eyes and gave him a look that clearly said, ‘duh.’
She waited for the next question—why? But it never came. Maybe he could sense that if she tried to answer that, she’d lose her tenuous grip on sanity. Or, at the very least, she’d start crying again and something told her neither of them wanted to see that.
So instead of asking the obvious question, he straightened and folded his arms across his chest. “I’m sorry to see you go.”
There was so little emotion behind his words, it was impossible to tell if he really meant it. For all she knew, he was being sarcastic.
She decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. “Thanks.”
Silence.
Please go away, please go away, please go away.
He did not go away.
“Will you be all right? I mean…” She heard him shifting beside her and glanced up out of curiosity. Was that…discomfort? For the first time ever, Derek Hawk looked fazed. Not uncomfortable, per se, just not one hundred percent comfortable. She narrowed her eyes as she peered up at him.
Oh hell. He pitied her. That was the emotion she saw there, it must be. She resisted the urge to moan out loud again. That might make him do something they’d both find unbearable—like pat her on the back or something.
This day was bad enough, universe. She really didn’t need pity on top of it all.
Escape. She needed to get out of there. Standing up abruptly, she leaned down to pick up her boxes. She’d only grabbed one and before she could stop him, Derek bent down to grab the other.
She led the way toward the elevator bank with him at her side. “You don’t have to go down with me,” she said. Talk about impolite. But this was awkward enough, she didn’t want to bring the unpleasantness down to the lobby with her. And what if he decided he should wait with her until Tabby arrived? No, best to end this now.
“I don’t mind,” he said as he followed her onto the elevator.
She tucked her box under one arm before hitting the button for the first floor. They rode down in silence. Long, unendurable silence.
She hated awkward silences more than anything in the world. So, despite her emotional pain, she found herself trying to make small talk. “You’re working late,” she noted.
“Late call with a client.” He was staring at the numbers over the doors.
“Oh right. You mentioned that,” she said.
Silence again. Awk-ward.
He cleared his throat and she glanced over to see that, while he was still staring at the numbers as they ticked off the descending floors, his face looked slightly pained. “Can I buy you dinner?”
The air in the elevator was pushed out by the insane level of awkwardness. She almost passed out from the toxic levels of discomfort. This could not be happening. There was pity and then there was pity.
She was about to tell him that but then she realized that she was about to be broke. Oh God, she was so screwed. Through the panic that threatened to choke her, she managed to say, “I don’t need food, I need a new job.”
He cleared his throat again. Was that a nervous tic? She glanced over out of the corner of her eye. Did Derek even get nervous? She’d always kind of assumed there was a robot heart underneath that thick skin of his.
Throat clearing aside, she still suspected he might be an android.
“I have a job, if you’re interested.”
That declaration had her gaping up at him as the elevator doors slid open.
“You do?”
He nodded for her to go ahead of him into the lobby. She walked toward some chairs that were set up in the waiting area and put her box down. Derek set the other box beside it and looked down at her. “You may not be interested.”
“I’m interested,” she said quickly.
He shrugged and looked toward the door, like he was anxious to be off. And he probably was. She was keeping him from the holiday party and who knew what else. The man was a mystery. Maybe he had a date waiting for him at the restaurant too. Just like Ben…
She was not going there. Not now.
Forcing her attention back to the matter at hand, she turned her face up to Derek.
“I need a dog walker.” He said it quickly, like he was embarrassed to admit it. She blinked at him in surprise. To be honest, she hadn’t imagined him as someone who had a dog. It just seemed so…human. Normal, even. Something an average Joe would have, not Derek Hawk.
“A dog walker,” she echoed.
He gave a little shrug and looked away again. “I know, it’s not a full-time thing, but I thought you might need some money while you’re looking. If you’re not interested—”
“I’m interested,” she said quickly. And she was. God help her but she would take any job he’d offer, even if it was something as flimsy as dog walking. For the first time since the kiss-she-would-not-think-about she felt a genuine smile on her lips. “I love dogs.”
He stared down at her, his gaze so intense she wondered briefly if she had snot coming out of her nose. But then he said, “Great. Give me your number and I’ll text you the details.”
After they’d exchanged information and made arrangements for her to meet him at his apartment the following day, he left for the party and she stared out the window watching him walk away.
What the hell had just happened?
Chapter Five
“You did what?”
Derek refused to repeat himself to his best friend. Especially not now when he was facing a situation. And that situation was currently peeing on a wee wee pad in his crate.
“Let me get this straight,” Kyle’s voice said over speakerphone. “You offered this girl a job.”
“Yes.”
“As your dog walker,” Kyle said slowly.
Derek pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. “Yes.”
The long silence that followed spoke volumes. Yet Kyle still felt the need to spell out the obvious. “You hired a dog walker even though you don’t own a dog.”
“Could we get back to the purpose of this call, please?” Derek asked.
Kyle’s sputtering laughter echoed through his apartment and Derek shar
ed a surprisingly sympathetic look with the little mutt who was still sitting in his cage.
“Not helping,” Derek said.
“Sorry, sorry. It’s just so—”
“Ludicrous,” Derek supplied. “Yes, I know.”
“It’s just so not like you,” Kyle continued.
Derek bit back another sigh. That was a massive understatement. What he’d done was so out of character he hardly recognized himself.
“No offense, man, but you’re not normally so—”
“Impulsive,” Derek finished. “No, I’m not.”
“I was going to say romantic,” Kyle said, laughter clear in his tone.
Derek muttered a string of curses under his breath. His friend was right—he wasn’t romantic. Or impulsive, or irrational, or flustered, or any of the other terms that could have been used to describe his behavior around Elise the day before. Up until Elise burst into his office, he would have described himself as reserved, at best. He’d heard worse—stiff, cold, unfeeling, calculated. All true, to some extent, particularly around strangers and acquaintances.
He tended to date women of a similar ilk. Not cold, exactly, but reserved—quiet. Serious.
No one in their right mind would describe Elise as reserved or serious. He didn’t know her well, but from what he could see, the girl was outgoing and quick to laugh. Well, when she wasn’t crying at her desk. Even that was a clear indicator that she wore her heart on her sleeve. She was the type of woman he ran away from but for some inexplicable reason, he was drawn to her. Had been since the day they’d met.
It had been a simple crush. He’d been happy to watch her from afar—a ray of sunshine in his otherwise predictable, if somewhat gray, existence. And then she’d told him she was leaving the company and he’d lost his mind, apparently.
The evidence of his insanity stared back at him as Kyle rambled on about how out of character this was, as if Derek wasn’t keenly aware of the absurd situation he’d gotten himself into.
“Couldn’t you have just asked the girl out, like a normal person?” Kyle asked.
Derek glared at the phone as if Kyle could see him. “I tried that.”
“And?”
He shifted from foot to foot remembering his lame attempt at asking her out. “I asked her if I could buy her dinner. She said she didn’t need food, she needed a job.”
“Uh huh.” Kyle cleared his throat though Derek could still hear the laugh he tried to hide. “And are you certain she knew you were asking her out?”
Derek frowned at the puppy who wagged his tail in response. “That is… unclear.” He’d been trying to figure out whether she knew he was asking her out and was trying to brush him off politely or if she’d misinterpreted the question. Which was not totally out of the question given his stilted delivery.
“You know you’re not always easy to read,” Kyle said. “I mean, I’ve known you for years and I’m not always sure what’s going on in that head of yours, so maybe—”
“Kyle,” he interrupted. “Are you going to help me or not?”
“Sorry, D. Okay, so you’ve got yourself a new pet. What exactly is the problem?”
The problem was that he’d never had a pet before. He didn’t do dogs. “He’s just sitting there.”
“Where?”
“In the crate. He’s just…looking at me.”
Kyle sounded like he was struggling not to laugh but Derek ignored it. His old college roommate may be annoying at times but he was also his best friend and the only person he could think to call in a situation like this one. Not that this was a typical situation…
“Did you offer him food?” Kyle asked.
Derek remained silent. Shit. He should have thought of that.
“You did buy him food, didn’t you?” Kyle’s voice rose in horror.
“Of course I did,” Derek said. He may not have much experience with four-legged creatures but he wasn’t an idiot.
He made Kyle stay on the phone as he poured some dog food into a bowl and shook it in front of the crate. Like magic, the puppy bounded out of the crate and started scarfing down food like he hadn’t eaten in weeks.
And maybe he hadn’t. The shelter had said they’d just rescued him from the streets a couple days ago.
“Now what?” he asked Kyle as the dog finished up the last of the food.
“Now,” Kyle said slowly, “you pet him.”
Derek exhaled loudly. What the hell had he gotten himself into?
Elise had known Tabitha her whole life, but it wasn’t until that morning that she discovered that Tabitha’s home was the place to be when nursing a heartbreak.
“Holy shit, Tabby,” Jacob said when he came into the kitchen that morning and found the two girls at the table, surrounded by stacks of pancakes, a plate of Elise’s favorite muffins, a bowl of fresh fruit, coffee, orange juice, and some champagne just in case mimosas were needed. And all that was in addition to the plate filled with eggs, bacon, and a bagel with cream cheese.
“The girl is sad, not starving,” he said as he ruffled Elise’s hair and plopped into a chair beside her, helping himself to one of the muffins.
“Sometimes the two states are distinctly related,” Tabitha said with a haughty toss of her hair. “Haven’t you ever heard of comfort food?”
Elise stuffed a bite of bagel into her mouth with a sad sigh. The food was helping a bit, if she was honest. However, watching her best friend with her doting, love of her life boyfriend was brutal. Lord knew no one deserved a happily ever after more than Tabitha after her string of loser ex-boyfriends, but watching new-couple bliss after suffering a massive heartbreak added insult to injury.
As Jacob reached for Tabitha’s hand beneath the table, all Elise could think was, this could have been us. She and Ben could have been happy like this, bickering and teasing and sharing gooey smiles over a table full of carbohydrates.
But no. Ben was off enjoying cuddly morning bliss with Amy, whoever the hell that was. And Elise…well, she was off to go walk a dog.
What had her life come to?
“So, you’re a dog walker now,” Jacob said conversationally just before Tabitha kicked him under the table.
She shot Elise an apologetic look. “Sorry, I filled him in last night after you went to bed.”
Elise waved off the apology. “I think he has the right to hear the sad tale after listening to me bawl like a baby on your couch all night.”
Jacob leaned over and met her gaze. “That guy is an asshole.”
Elise gave him a half smile, the best she could manage. “Thanks, but he’s not really. That’s the problem.”
“I’m just saying,” Jacob said, his hands held up in defense. “If he can’t see how utterly amazing you are, the man is an idiot.”
Elise rolled her eyes but her half smile felt a little more genuine. A little flattery never hurt anyone. Especially not someone who’d just been rejected.
“It’s true,” Tabitha said. Ever the loyal friend, Tabitha scowled as she stabbed at her eggs. “The way he was flirting with you all this time…. Honest to God, I pity his girlfriend.”
Elise sipped her orange juice—sans champagne, though a little liquid courage was tempting seeing as she had to go to Derek’s house in less than an hour.
She tried not to think too hard about Tabitha’s statement. Her friend didn’t know Ben well, but she and Katerina had come to enough after-work events to get a good look at their flirty friendship.
Even after an entire night of tossing and turning and replaying their interactions, she still struggled with whether he had crossed the line or not. Had he been leading her on or was it all just innocent fun and she’d been the dope who’d read too much into it?
Maybe one day she’d know the answer, but for now… She glanced at the clock on her phone and groaned. “Dog duty awaits.”
“You could always pick up shifts at the club if you need cash,” Jacob offered. A computer programmer by day, Jacob also owned a musi
c venue downtown.
“Thanks, but I have zero experience waitressing,” she said. Arching an eyebrow, she added, “Do you really want me to learn at your expense?”
“I’m just saying, if dog walking doesn’t work out for you and you need to make cash while you’re looking for your next gig….”
Tears threatened to well up at the kind offer. “Thanks, Jacob, I’ll let you know if I need help.”
Tabitha rose from her seat, abandoning a plate filled with food. “Come on, El, I’ll give you a ride back into Manhattan so you’re not late for your first day with Mr. Sexy.”
Jacob’s brows shot up as Elise groaned. “Why did I ever tell you that?”
“Because you love me,” Tabitha shot back with a grin. “And you know I love juicy gossip about the quiet mystery man who saved you from a life on the streets.”
“Okay, now you’re exaggerating,” Elise said as she followed her friend out of the kitchen.
“Dude, the guy basically saved your life,” Tabitha continued, her voice filled with teasing laughter. “And he has a dog. You love dogs!”
Elise sighed. “I do love dogs, but that is not exactly a meaningful omen. Derek is not my type and I’m sure as hell not his.”
“How do you know?” Tabitha asked as they reached the front door.
Elise laughed. “Trust me, if you met this guy and saw the way he looked at me, you’d know.”
Tabitha opened her mouth to argue but Elise held up a hand. “I love you to pieces, Tab, but even if Derek wasn’t standoffish and weird, I’m still not ready.”
Tabitha sighed as she pushed open the door. “Fair enough. But don’t waste too much time over the asshat. Promise?”
Elise laughed. “Promise.”
Chapter Six
Derek’s apartment building on the Upper West Side was nice—not ostentatious and uppity, but the lobby was clean and well-kept, unlike her apartment building in Harlem which had a permanent smell of onions and garlic and an elevator that was always out of service.
Sweet Treats: A Love Bites Novella Page 3