Chapter 4
“Nate Farnsworth is the absolute worst!” I dramatically fling open the breakroom door, marching toward Shelly and Taryn's table.
Taryn chokes on her Diet Coke, and Shelly sits taller, raising a finger to cut off my rant. But I’m already spewing my next thought like a bad case of food poisoning.
“I get that he’s ‘ Voyager Travel’s most eligible bachelor and the reason we come to work every day .’” Their words. Not mine. “But”—I point at Taryn, who’s chomping to get in on this conversation, but I’m not finished—“he’s still the worst human that ever existed. Maybe he’s not human. It wouldn’t surprise me if he were the devil himself. That’s how bad he is.” Shelly’s eyes widen in horror. “I know, I know. It’s blasphemy to suggest the ‘ office hunk’ is Satan’s spawn, but there’s no other conclusion. He went behind my back and got me kicked off New Zealand and then acts like Cabo is some amazing consolation prize. Cabo sucks! But Nate wouldn’t know that because he has never been to Cabo. No, he travels to Croatia, the Maldives, Norway, Paris, and Bali! MY BALI!” Taryn and Shelly fidget like my little speech makes them uncomfortable, but none of this passion should be new to them.
“Oh, and he says, ‘ someone with your personality ’ like I’m so unbearable because I enjoy making lists. Then, he apologizes, but it’s not a real apology. ‘ I’m sorry if YOU misconstrued my tone .’ He’s such a jerk. Everyone else might buy into his nice-guy persona, but he’s not fooling me.” I dramatically point to my chest. “ I’m the only person in this office who isn’t swayed by his ‘pillow-soft lips and angel eyes.’” I pull out the chair in front of me and plop down at the table. “It takes a lot more than a perfectly round derrière to impress me.”
My chest lifts and falls dramatically as I huff. I stare expectantly back at my friends, giving them the floor they desperately wanted moments ago, but they don’t speak.
No, the room goes awkwardly silent.
Their eyes dart from me, to something else, and then back to me.
Everything clicks. All the fidgeting. All the crazy eyes. All the efforts at interrupting me.
“He’s behind me, isn’t he?”
Taryn’s grimace and Shelly’s nod should have been enough confirmation, but like an idiot, I reach my arm back, fingers colliding with what’s most likely Nate's six-pack. Either that or he’s wearing a metal breastplate under his button-up.
My hand drops—as does my heart.
Why is this my life?
I stare at my friends, hoping one of them rescues me, but it’s Nate who moves first. He sits down, his body facing mine. I don’t look at him, but my peripheral fills in the gaps. Casually and ever so confidently, he leans his elbow onto the table, pitching his body into my personal space.
Cowering will only make things worse, so I slowly turn my head, meeting his glimmering brown eyes and pompous smirk.
“Hey, Carly.”
“Nate.” There’s a slight raise of my chin. “I didn’t know you were in here.”
“Yeah, your speech hinted as much.” His look is both smug and amused.
“That speech wasn’t meant for you to hear.”
“You know…” He leans forward a little more, giving me the perfect view of his long, dark lashes. If I didn’t hate him, I’d ask what serum he uses for that kind of growth. “I’m getting a lot of mixed signals from you.”
“I’m not sure how. I’ve been consistent from the beginning, always saying what I think about you.”
“That my lips are pillow-soft or that I’m the reason you come to work every day?”
“I was quoting others,” I defend through gritted teeth. “But I find it funny that out of everything I just said about your character, that’s what you came away with.”
“A perfectly round derrière is what I came away with, but I didn’t want to embarrass you. I take my role as office hunk very seriously.”
A giggle bursts out of Taryn, the traitor.
“Why are you in here?” I’m not usually this blatant about my dislike for Nate, but today, he poked the bear, and my tongue is sharp.
“Why are you so mad?” he snaps back.
“Uh…New Zealand, for starters, or pick any of the other things I just listed.”
“I think you’re being a baby about the New Zealand trip.”
“Well, no one cares what you think, so run along.” I flick my fingers, signaling for him to leave.
Nate shoots a charming smile across the table. “It looks like Taryn and Shelly want me here.”
I skid my eyes to them and their fawning gazes.
One look from him, and they’re hypnotized. It’s pathetic.
“You two fighting is my favorite thing.” Shelly leans in, more interested than ever. She might as well have a bucket of popcorn in her hands.
“This isn’t fighting,” Nate says with an obnoxious smirk. “Carly is secretly in love with me.”
“Oh my gosh!” I rear back. “ Nothing could be further from the truth.”
His playful gaze shifts in my direction. “I know you have a shrine of me somewhere in your house.”
“Your level of delusion is unmatched.” My eyes flare as I angle toward him, pairing intimidation with intimidation. The bounce of his Adam’s apple tells me my closeness made him at least swallow. It’s small, but I’ll take it.
Nate’s gaze darts across my face, inspecting me. Under his scrutiny, I’m self-conscious about everything. I should’ve washed my blonde hair instead of relying on day three of dry shampoo and a messy bun. The outfit that seemed perfect this morning now makes me feel like an Oompa-Loompa. The paint on my fingernails is chipped. My skin is dry and scaly. I have a pimple on my hairline that is too big to go unnoticed. And I’m one thousand percent sure I have chapped lips. This has to be the ugliest I’ve ever looked in my entire life. Not how you want to feel when the most put-together guy is giving you a once-over.
But his eyes don’t show disgust or even dislike. It’s some other kind of emotion that makes my heart slam into my ribs with every millisecond of this stare-down. Things feel more intense than they should, so I look away.
“Well, if you’re not going to leave, then I will.” I move to stand, but Nate’s hand is on my shoulder, pushing me down as he rises. His touch heats the entire left side of my body and doesn’t let up even when he removes it.
“I know when I’m not wanted.” He scoots his chair in before announcing, “I’ll catch you ladies tomorrow. I’m leaving for the day. I’m in a pickleball tournament. It’s championship bracket play.”
“You’re aware that actual adults don’t have recess, right? We work the whole day until our shift ends at five.”
“It’s Friday.” He shrugs as if that’s all the reason he needs to leave early. “You know about Fridays, right? People usually have fun plans.”
Yeah, I know. I’m meeting my friends for dinner tonight, but I’m not offering up that information to Nate.
He gives a half-wave, half-salute. “Work smarter, not harder.”
“You’re such a child,” I mutter.
All eyes follow him until he exits.
I whip my head around to my friends. “Why didn’t you guys stop me from airing my Nate grievances to his face?”
“We tried,” Shelly says. “You couldn’t be stopped.”
“That wasn’t trying.” I scratch the spot where, moments ago, Nate seared my skin with his touch. “That was a polite, non-interrupting effort.”
Taryn stands, putting her lunch into the microwave. “What did you want us to do? Wave our hands back and forth and yell, ‘He’s behind you!’”
“Yes! Especially when I was just repeating everything you two said about him.”
Shelly shrugs. “Nate signaled for us to be quiet and let you talk.”
“And you just listen to everything Nate says?”
“No, but he seemed amused, and so was I. Like I said, you two fighting is my favorite thing.”
“It’s totally my Roman Empire.” Taryn leans against the counter, waiting for her food to heat. “It’s all sparks and chemistry and sexual attraction coming to a head. One of these days, the tension will explode, and the two of you will end up in the supply closet, gettin’ it on.”
Been there, done that with Isaac, and while it was fun, the fun didn’t last.
“That will not happen and is not what’s happening here. Are you two blind?”
“Blind? No.” Shelly smiles. “We see it all.”
“Then how do you not see that Nate and I can’t stand each other? We can barely be in the same room together.”
“It’s a tale as old as time. Enemies who are secretly lovers.” Taryn wags her brows.
“Yes!” Shelly gasps. “You’re Nate’s crush he chases around the playground, and you pretend to hate it. It’s like first grade all over again.”
“No, it’s not.” I avoid their probing stares and head to the refrigerator to grab my lunch. “I legitimately can’t stand him, and I’m positive he feels the same way about me.”
“But why?” Taryn takes her food out of the microwave and stirs it. “Nate is such a great guy. He’s friendly and outgoing, and so are you. Plus, you’re both single and gorgeous. I honestly don’t understand why you two pretend to hate each other.”
Is Nate single? I hadn’t given it much thought before, but I guess with his travel schedule, it would be hard to have a serious relationship.
“You know why I can’t stand him.” I toss my sandwich onto the table before taking a seat. “Bali and now New Zealand. Not to mention all the ways he makes my job harder.”
“Yeah, I get that.” Taryn’s brows cinch as she sits down with her food. “But it just doesn’t seem like enough to outweigh all the good things about him.”
There’s more to the story.
A lot more.
But I’m not telling Shelly and Taryn how I fell for a guy just like Nate at my last job and how that guy did me dirty, and I had to change careers. I also can’t tell them that I have a weakness for charming guys like Nate and that I’m scared that if I focus on his good traits, I’ll end up in another Isaac situation. Nope, all that information goes to the grave with me.
“I don’t know.” I lift my shoulders, showing indifference. “People dislike their coworkers all the time for lots of reasons. We just rub each other the wrong way. I don’t like how lazy and unmotivated he is, and he doesn’t like how organized and focused I am. Haven’t you ever disliked someone because they’re your opposite and annoy you?”
Shelly shakes her head while stabbing at her salad. “I’ve never disliked anyone as good-looking as Nate. I’ll tell you that much.”
“Me neither,” Taryn agrees. “I love when he presents something in a meeting so I can stare at his face for a long, uninterrupted period of time.”
“If you guys are going to spend our entire lunch break talking about Nate, then I’m eating at my desk.” I give them both a warning look.
“No, stay,” Shelly says. “We can talk about my gynecologist appointment yesterday.”
“Much better.” I laugh. “How did it go?”
“The doctor wants me to track my menstrual cycle with one of those apps. But my phone is out of storage, and it just seems like a lot of work to clear enough space to make room for a new app. I’m not deleting Candy Crush Saga.”
“Not with a high score like yours,” Taryn says.
“I track my cycle, but not with an app. I just do it in Google Calendar. It’s easy because I already use that every day for everything else.”
“That’s a good idea. I could try that. Or, like, my Notes app would work.”
“See?” I smile over a mouthful of food. “Menstruation cycles are a way better topic than Nate Farnsworth.”
Taryn lifts her brows. “You're the one who keeps bringing him up.”
It’s because he’s always on my freaking mind.