Page 18 of Not As Advertised

I could understand her embarrassment. But she was acting like she might get fired over this. I didn’t want her to worry.

“Okay, sir. Thank you.” She let her hands fall into her lap as she nodded.

“How about you call me Aiden, hmm? Since I have your drool on my shoulder, it only makes sense to dispense with the formalities, don’t you think?” I couldn’t keep the teasing tone out of my voice. The more I thought about how horrified her reaction had been, the funnier it became.

“Oh nooo.” She groaned, looking for signs of said drool. “Fine, I’ll call you Aiden if you agree to call me Abbie, deal?”

She held out her hand like we were making a formal agreement. I took her hand, squeezing it gently before releasing it again. All my good intentions would crumble if I touched her for any length of time.

“Deal.” I smiled.

We made our way to the airport exit about an hour behind schedule, due to the plane change delay.

Pleased to see our driver from the car service waiting for us near the exit, I gave our altered driving directions to a café near our hotel.

Abigail—Abbie—had gone quiet after the embarrassment over her nap on the plane, despite my reassurances. I felt hergaze on my face, knowing that I had changed the plans without consulting her. The plan had been to go to the hotel first to prep for tomorrow’s meetings. Once there, I’d planned to duck out for an hour or so to meet my sister.

With our later arrival time, I needed to head straight to the café. Being away from my mom and sisters for the past month and a half had felt much longer. Claire had a busy week with some convention she was attending before digging back into her thesis research for the rest of the summer. I refused to miss my chance for a visit to make sure she was fine in my absence.

“Abbie, I’m sorry for the change of plans. I’m supposed to meet my sister before the dinner hour.”

She looked surprised. “Your sister?”

It was out of character for me to bring up anything personal since our first day working together. I’d gone overboard to keep the boundary between us wholly professional. I never discussed my family at work, though I had caught her glancing at the family photo on my desk a time or two.

“I had hoped to drop you off first. But now we’re running late. Would you mind if we did the reverse instead? Our driver can drop me at the café and then take you to the hotel?”

A light came back into her eyes for the first time after her embarrassment over falling asleep on my shoulder. All of a sudden, she looked like she’d just been told an inside joke that I didn’t understand.

“Ohhh. It’s no problem. There’s no point in me going back to the hotel. I’m sure I have work I can do. You won’t even notice I’m there.” The gleam in her eyes revealed she was enjoying this, the order of things having changed to put her in control of our plans.

So charmed by the mischievous look on her face, like a kid about to get a sneak peek at her Christmas presents, I didn’t have the heart to tell her no.

There was zero chance I’d be able to concentrate on my sister with Abbie there. Let alone ignore her completely.

God, it wasn’t even the end of day one of this trip, and I was already breaking my own rules about keeping this trip all business. I could do this. I made it through the first month without incident. It was just five days, after all.

The car pulled up to the “adorable French café” Claire had raved about in her message to me.

Scrutinizing the exterior, its crosshatch gold design and a small pink café cart, I could see why Claire had picked it. It was just the sort of place we’d only been able to dream about growing up. Claire loved her sweets, whether it was a free lollipop from the doctor after a shot as a child or now, as an adult, a twelve-dollar slice of expertly made French cake.

“Oh my gosh!” Abbie’s excited squeak came from the seat opposite me.

Turning my head, I saw she was looking at the little restaurant like a kid who’d been taken to Disneyland as a surprise. Her adorable expression outshone the appearance of the café in my mind.

“Have you been here before?” I asked. Her apparent enthusiasm had me wishing I could take credit for the restaurant choice. It made me uneasy to instinctively want to be the one who was responsible for her smiles.

“No, but I know they have locations in cities around the world. My mother never brought me to LA when I was younger, so I’ve never had the chance. She worked so much after my dad died, and then after she married my stepfather, she had other priorities. This kind of stuff wouldn’t be on her radar.”

It was a direct hit to my gut to hear her mention the loss of her father in such a casual way. My father had left right after Isabel was born, leaving me no memory of a man who’d only been in my life for two years.

I wondered if she had any bond with her stepfather, like the one I’d had with Patrick. It didn’t sound like it.

I couldn’t ask, despite just how much I wanted to know. We were treading on dangerous territory already, with my bringing her along to this little family reunion.

Her attention returned to the front of the café, where the front window displayed the small sets of white tables and chairs inside, not noticing that I had exited the car and moved around to her side.

Opening her door, I held out my hand to help her out of the car. We’d only had a few occasions where we needed to be out of the office together in the past couple of weeks. Each time I offered her my hand, she was surprised by the gesture.

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