Page 81 of Friend Me

24

Monday wasabout what you’d expect: a 7.5 on the debacle scale.

Cooper walked in minutes after I did—late for him—and set a cup of coffee on my desk. I could tell from the delicious aroma that it was a caramel macchiato, missing the shot of pumpkin spice syrup I always added in the fall, but I couldn’t expect him to remember that.

He rubbed the back of his neck under the collar of his raincoat. “Marlee, I—I don’t even know what to say. I was upset and drunk and—what I did was inexcusable. I’m sorry. Can you forgive me?”

I blinked at him and lifted the cup to my nose. Heaven. “It was just a kiss. No big deal.”

“But you—you didn’t care?”

“No.” I grinned, thankful that I didn’t. A month ago, I’d have been crushed that it wasn’t true love’s kiss for him. But when I’d finally gotten what I’d been waiting three years for, I hadn’t wanted it.

Irony is the worst.

“Do you want to talk to HR?” he asked. “I’ll give them a statement.”

I tried hard to keep from rolling my eyes, but I probably failed in the end. He’d have been justified in reporting me to HR, based solely on the eye-fucking I’d done during the first three years of my employment at Synergy.

“No need. But if you want to bring me more coffee, I’m down with that. Or flowers. Flowers are nice.”

The corners of his mouth inched up like it’d been so long that he’d forgotten how. “Thanks, Marlee. For understanding. For being a good friend.”

I returned a wry smile. “Anytime, Cooper.”

As he walked away, I called, “Pink peonies. They’re my favorite.”

Not looking back, he gave a thumbs-up.

That was Cooper. Except for that ill-timed, drunken kiss on Saturday night, he was an upstanding guy. He’d had his heart broken, and he was worried about hurtingme.The next time I saw Jamila, I’d give her a piece of my mind.

Jackson, his face pale, dragged in about ten. He mumbled something that included “Tequila” and “thirty” and “sucks” and closed his office door. Gently.

So far, I’d emerged unscathed from my Saturday night of debauchery. But then things got real.

As in, real bad.

Ben came upstairs after his midmorning beverage run with a stormcloud face. And no coffee for me. “Marlee, can we talk in the conference room?”

I stood, the coffee Cooper had brought me earlier curdling in my stomach. He wasn’t going to quit, was he? Because I couldn’t handle that. With Dad’s problems, I didn’t have the energy—emotional or physical—for finding a replacement and all the extra work an assistantless Cooper would require. Plus, Ben was not only helpful and efficient, but after only a week, he was becoming a friend. I mentally shook my fist at Karma. Sabotaging Cooper’s assistant search had finally come back to bite me.

I trudged into the conference room behind him and shut the door. He stood, his back to the window, and bit the inside of his lip for a second before he spoke.

“The other admins are saying you left Jackson’s party with Cooper.”

Cold prickles washed over my face. “What?”

“That you two are together.” He crossed his arms. “I know we don’t know each other all that well, and normally I wouldn’t poke my nose into your business, but this is a bad idea, Marlee.”

How had he heard the gossip before I had? He’d been at Synergy a week. I’d been there three freaking years. Those meddling admins should have come to me first. I stared at him in silent shock.

Uncrossing his arms, he reached for my hand and rubbed my fingers. His words had drained the warmth out of them. “Cooper’s…complicated. You’re a beautiful girl, and you’ll make some deserving guy very lucky. Don’t waste it on Cooper Fallon.”

If only he’d been around three years ago to tell me that. Not that I’d have listened. Thinking of all the time I’d spent wishing and planning made my body heavy, like I was trying to walk on Jupiter.

He watched me, sympathy in his light-brown eyes.

At last, I found words. “No, it’s not true. I-I took him to the kitchen to get him some water, but, um, someone else was there. So we went to the laundry room for a couple of minutes. To talk.” My cheeks burned. “He kissed me, but it was just friendly, I swear. And then I called a car for him and sent him home. Alone. We both had too much to drink”—damned evil punch—“but that’s it.”

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