Elena had cornered her and tried to force her to talk about what had happened with Matt. She’d given her the barest details, but hadn’t wanted to talk about it. Elena had made a face at her, but let it go. For now. Hannah knew her best friend better than to expect that Elena wouldn’t force her to talk about every minute detail so she could analyze it, as well as every thought and feeling Hannah had about the experience both during and after.
Since Hannah didn’t know what to think or feel about it, it made it hard to know what to tell Elena. Now it was Monday again, time for her internship, where she may or may not end up face to face with Matt. She’d brought his sweatshirt with her with the intention of giving it back to him. Glancing around the parking lot, she hoped to magically know which vehicle was his. She knew he drove a green pickup, but there were three that she could see right now.
“It’s probably locked anyway,” she muttered to herself as she got out of the car and locked it. If she didn’t run into him this afternoon, she’d text him at the end of the day to let him know she had his sweatshirt.
The next few hours passed in a frenzy. The marketing team was preparing to roll out a new campaign, so they were frantically putting last minute changes and revisions in place after gathering the data from their test group. Hannah spent a lot of her time running things from one place to another, even getting snacks and coffee from the break room for the team.
On one trip to the break room, she’d grabbed snacks for half the team, juggling two coffee cups, an apple, a banana, and three candy bars on her way out when she almost collided with someone. She looked up just in time to try to pull up short, and firm hands grasping her biceps kept her from smashing into the chest in front of her. A little coffee sloshed over the lip of one of the mugs onto the floor. “Shit!” She tried to step back but the hands on her arms held her in place. Raising her head, her gaze collided with Matt’s stormy blue eyes.
“Hey.”
One corner of his mouth tugged up in response to her lame greeting. “Hey.” His brows came together. “What are you doing? You’re not supposed to be doing grunt work.”
She shook her head and tried again to step back. This time he let her, dropping his hands, but not before running them down her arms in a caress, much more intimate than a normal workplace exchange. “No, I’m not doing grunt work. Everyone’s just busy. We have a new campaign coming out this week, and I volunteered to get stuff for them.” The look on Matt’s face conveyed his doubt. “No, really. I’m learning a lot. I promise. They’re not taking advantage of me. I’ve been involved with the process as much as possible, given that they all know way more than me about everything. But I’ve gotten to look over the data from the test groups and see why they’re making the changes they’re making and even offer my opinion a few times.”
“Okay, good. You’re sure?”
Hannah nodded enthusiastically. “Yes. It’s great. I mean, we’ve talked about some of this stuff in classes, but it’s cool to see how it works in a real life situation, you know? And I love even more that we’re helping people, helping the environment, not just trying to make money.”
“Well, money is an important part of it.” The corners of Matt’s lips had tugged up again, the smile more sardonic this time than amused.
Hannah narrowed her eyes at him. “I know that, Matt. I’m not stupid. I get how business works. But I like being involved with a business that doesn’t rape the earth and destroy everything in the name of the bottom line. I like that we’re helping other businesses be more responsible with their resources, which benefits the businesses financially as well as benefitting conservation efforts. It’s a big part of why I wanted this internship.” She gestured with one of the coffee mugs, but stopped when she almost spilled coffee again.
Matt’s sardonic look morphed into one of respect, though he did grin at her near-spill. “Yeah. It is nice. I agree. I like that about this place too.”
“Well, good to see you. I gotta get going.”
With a hand on her arm, Matt stopped her before she could step around him. “Hey, I don’t know if you got my text this weekend—”
“Right. Yeah. Sorry about not responding. I had a busy weekend.” She didn’t know where he was going with that, but she didn’t want to have it out in the hallway outside the break room where anyone could overhear or interrupt. She vaguely remembered something from her orientation about a non-fraternization rule. But she’d been a little distracted by coming face-to-face with Matt again, and hadn’t been paying close attention. “Um, I have your sweatshirt in my car to give back to you. I’ll text you before I leave so we can figure out where to meet so I can get it to you.”
He dropped his hand, nodding once. “Right. Okay. I’ll talk to you later then.”
Flashing him a quick smile, she scurried back to the marketing department where people were waiting for their coffee and snacks. Staying busy made the time go faster, but she kept an eye on the clock, the tingling in her belly—and lower—growing as the minutes ticked by. With the way they’d left things Friday night, she doubted he was satisfied with her half-assed explanation that she’d been too busy to return his text. The Matt she’d known had been persistent, and from what she could tell, that hadn’t changed.
As she gathered her things at the end of the day, she slipped on her coat and pulled out her phone.
