Page 8 of Honey, Honey
It was a sweet picture. One that I was glad to recognize as familiar, one that I was a part of if only occasionally. And it was with a smile that I set off to enjoy the day’s sunshine.
Chapter Three
LAW
“Why are you brooding?” Adelaide asked.
“I’m not brooding,” I replied, not looking away from the spreadsheet on my computer I was reviewing. I heard Adelaide scoff, blowing out a sigh before she tsk’d at me. I kept my eyes on the figures in front of me, even if I had been reviewing the same line for the fifth time. None of the shit I was supposed to be doing was coming easy or making sense to me that morning and I hated every last second of it.
Nothing was making sense since that morning.
Since the barista.
No, not the barista.Honey. Since fucking Honey.
“You are too brooding,” Adelaide said. She marched up to my desk, her high heels clicking on the marble of the floor and stopped in front of me.
“Addie…” I growled, hand going tight on the pen in my hand.
She sucked on her teeth and laughed. “Oh, it’s Addie now? Trying to distract me, I see.”
I looked at her and frowned. She was smug, arms crossed with her planner tucked close and she tipped her head to the side, brown eyes considering me. I had picked the woman to be my assistant for a reason. She was damn good at her job and part of that job was reading me. Normally, her uncanny ability to see past whatever walls I had up was a blessing, but right now…
“Who is she?” She asked.
Right now I fucking hated it.
“Addie,” I gritted out. “I have to finish this,” I gestured down at the spreadsheet and then flicked a finger at her planner, “if we are going to make all the appointments you have in there.”
“There’s plenty of time for me to dissect exactly why you have your panties in a twist.”
“I don’t wear panties,” I replied.
She rolled her eyes, tossed her planner onto my desk and took a seat in one of the leather backed chairs in front of my desk. “Whatever, boss. You know what I mean. Someone---no, not someone, somewoman,has you twisted up in knots and I want to know who she is and where you met her.”
I opened my mouth to tell her she was wrong, but Addie shook her head. “No lying boss, secrets don’t make friends.”
I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose. How the hell had this happened? I’d left the coffee shop and returned to my office, a cup in my hand and my mind squarely on the woman that had made the coffee. That had been hours ago, the coffee long gone cold, sitting untouched on the corner of my desk. If I drank it...well, I didn’t fucking know what it would mean, but I was reluctant. If I did then I would have to throw away the cup—all reminders of that morning would be done and gone.
Honey would be gone.
A sharp pain shot through my chest. I held in a growl.What the fuck. My eyes landed on the damn cup and my lips pressed into a thin line.What the actual fuck was I doing?Feeling?Not drinking coffee? Holding onto paper cups as a goddamned memento from some chance meeting with a woman I didn’t fucking know?
“Eyes off the cup and on me, boss man,” Addie ordered.
My eyes snapped up to meet hers and I sighed heavily. “I’m not looking at a cup. I’m looking at the spreadsheet.”
Addie hummed. “So it happened while getting coffee. Interesting.”
Shit.
“Nothing happened,” I snapped, and when she crossed her arms with a smirk, I cleared my throat before I went on in a calmer voice, “Nothing happened, Addie. Drop it.”
“Drop it?” She inclined her head and held up a finger. “That means something definitely happened. Who is she?”
I sighed and leaned back in my chair. “Is the conference still happening at the end of the week?” The best way to change the topic was to throw work at Addie. She loved it, thrived in bringing order to the chaos of the constantly changing day-to-day of Law Acquisitions. I’d built the company from the ground up and kept it moving forward through a grueling work schedule and sheer determination. We were growing by the day, a feat for the largest acquisitions company in the city, and Addie at my side was one of the major reasons we were continuing to grow at our current pace. Driving her attention back to work was the key to getting her away from her line of questioning.
“I know what you’re doing.” She said with a scowl.
