It was the least he could do, after all.
SAYLOR WAS GRATEFUL when her alarm blared the next morning. She decided to wear her new dress and leggings to work, and she bustled in, eager for the monotony of handling other people’s problems instead of her own.
“You’re looking good this morning,” said Darcy when Saylor sank into her swivel chair in the cubicle they shared. She glanced down, realizing this might be the first time Darcy had ever seen her with makeup on. Darcy brushed aside the thick, black braids hanging over her shoulders and smiled. “Have a good Christmas?”
“Not bad,” Saylor said, not feeling like elaborating.
Darcy prattled on about her holiday with family, about the drama with her brother and his gaming obsession, about how their mother could barely pry him away from his computer long enough to open presents in the morning.
“He’s got some kind of group in that game, and they’re spread all over the U.S., but they’re all on the same team,” Darcy said. “We all just wanted to smack that game right out of his system. Never mind I only see him a few times a year and had to be back here to work the day after, and oh my goodness, is it just me, or did it get hotter in here?”
Saylor blinked for a minute, trying to keep up with her shift in topic. “What?”
Darcy wheeled her chair out to get a better look down the long hall toward the elevator. Saylor slid out too, peering over her and nearly falling out of her chair.
Cole Osteen stood in the jacket and jeans he’d worn Christmas Eve. One hand was tucked into his pocket, and he glanced across the list of nameplates on the wall near the door.
A magnet in Saylor’s chest drew her attention to him. She didn’t know she could still feel this way. Abruptly, she was sixteen again, her face heating the minute the new kid walked into class and of all the girls in the room, his eyes landed on her.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” she mumbled.
Scenarios tumbled in her brain, but on top of them all was the notion that he was here to see her. She’d told him where she worked. And that touch, the way he’d taken her hand in his. It was fresh on her mind like a crystal crisp snowflake, cold and stark and making her want to lure him near so she could get another dose.
His eyes roved across the cubicles. It was clear from the women who continued staring back, Saylor wasn’t the only one considering booking the nearest closet for the next hour just to be alone with him.
She was frozen. Should she wave him over? What if she was wrong again, and this was just coincidental, that he wasn’t here to see her at all?
Finally, his eyes strayed to the back where Darcy and Saylor’s cubicle stood, lit up with twinkling lights and ninety-nine cent poinsettias from a door-buster Black Friday sale at Home Depot. Saylor had dragged Parker out during the early hours to nab the steal-of-a-deal vacuum, the lights and poinsettia they had on sale, and then took the tired little trooper to breakfast at IHOP once they’d returned victorious.
Cole sauntered between the line of cubicles, hands tucked into the pockets of his ski jacket. She wished she were a ski jacket right about now.
“Hi, Saylor,” he said with a wink.
Oh goodness, he did come to see her. His hair was gelled just enough to hint it was curly when wet. Speaking of wet, he licked his lips, flashing a heartbreaker smile at her.
Saylor smiled too. What else was a girl who just had a six foot two package of gorgeous hand-delivered going to do? Maybe Christmas Eve wasn’t such a fluke after all.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, the delight evident in her voice.
“We’re working on a job a block from here, so I thought I’d stop in to see you.”
The new office buildings going in on Pole Line must’ve been his project. She couldn’t think of anything else being built nearby. Naturally, as the boss, he could leave anytime he wanted to visit a girl he just met. Cue swoon.
“No Santa duty today?”
He angled his head. “You know, that actually ends when Christmas is over.”
“Pity. I liked you in that beard.”
“You saw me in the beard for a matter of minutes.”
“Best three minutes of my life,” she said, lips twitching.
Cole shrugged. “Can’t argue with that.”
Saylor’s mouth dropped. Nothing like a little confidence early in the morning. The phone at her desk rang, jolting her. She held up a finger. “Give me one second.”
She dove for it. Employees were supposed to get it before the third ring, and she was closing in on five.
“Thank you for calling Drex Corp Customer Service Department, this is Saylor, how can I help you?”
She assisted the customer and hung up, only to have it ring again. Cole stared at her, bemused. He settled against the edge of their cubicle. After the fourth call, Cole raised his eyebrows.
“I see. A guy has to be on the phone to get your attention.”
Darcy snorted. “You’re not wrong,” she mumbled from her desk, her back still to him.
“I’m at work,” Saylor said, gesturing to them both.
“Is that your phone?” He stepped behind Darcy’s chair, giving Darcy a chin nod in greeting when she glanced at him. He reached for Saylor’s cell sitting beside her keyboard, brushing the air with his cologne and driving her dizzy. “How do you send texts on this thing?”
Saylor laughed, taking it from him. “You’re an android user, I take it."
“That I am.” He stared at her iPhone before giving up. “Here, use mine,” he said, taking it from his jacket. The large-screen phone barely fit in her hand. She had to hold it with two hands to type her phone number onto his messages screen.
They were doing this. They were
