Bond Girl by Erin Duffy Page B

you need to get back to your desk, it’s okay. I can make multiple trips.”
    â€œNah, I’ll wait with you. It’s dead up there today. I’ve been ordering Christmas presents online for the last three hours. It’s good to get off the floor for a while.”
    He gestured toward my cashmere turtleneck. “Black today? Better.” He nodded approvingly.
    Better? Had he been making mental notes on my clothing and my appearance this entire time? “Thanks,” I said brightly. “Khakis today? Way to think outside the box.”
    â€œWell, unless you’d prefer plaid, I don’t really have a lot of options. Is that what you girls do? Spend the day sizing up the guys on the floor?”
    I laughed. “You wish! I assure you we don’t, although there are only, what, forty of us on the entire floor? I don’t really know any of the other women on the floor, so I have no idea what they do. But I doubt it.”
    â€œYou should,” he replied succinctly. “We do.”
    We were now fourth in line so, provided no one in front of us was also ordering for an entire desk, we would be helped shortly. Just when things had gotten very interesting.
    â€œYou do what?” My voice cracked.
    â€œRate the girls. One to five.”
    â€œAre you serious? Cromwell isn’t a bar. Where do you guys get off?”
    He smiled mischievously.
    â€œYou’re telling me the guys I’m buying coffee for right now rate my looks?”
    â€œYeah, every day. You score better when your hair is down than you do when it’s in a ponytail. Just FYI.”
    â€œWe work in an office, not on a catwalk.” Right?
    â€œOh, calm down, you’re always in the top three. It’s a compliment. I wouldn’t have mentioned it otherwise.”
    â€œSo I should be flattered?”
    â€œYes, I just paid you a very high compliment. It’s a tough group.”
    â€œYou are all pigs, you know that?”
    â€œI plead the Fifth.”
    We reached the register, and I placed our order. Will and I packed up the coffees as they were placed on the counter and walked back to Cromwell in awkward silence. Once we reached the lobby elevators, Will baited me, obviously enjoying my discomfort.
    â€œDo you want to know where you rank today? I’ll tell you if you want. It’s totally against the rules, but I will.”
    â€œNo. I don’t want to know, because I don’t care.”
    â€œYes, you do.”
    â€œNo, I don’t.”
    â€œYes, you do. It’s killing you, I can tell.” We were staring straight ahead, watching the floor numbers light up one by one. I didn’t reply.
    When we got back to the desk, the guys attacked us as usual, reading the side of the cups to find their orders. Despite the chaos I heard a familiar voice shout, “Girlie! You better not have forgotten my cookie, baby!”
    I looked down the row and saw Reese standing up with his headset on, clapping his hands together and then holding them out like he was about to catch a football. I pulled out the waxed paper bag holding the two-pound cookie and threw it at him like a Frisbee. “Thanks, Girlie!” he said, as he took a huge bite. When all the drinks were claimed, I realized I’d forgotten to order one for myself. I hate my life.
    Will threw the empty bags in the trash can behind me and noticed that I was coffeeless.
    â€œWhy didn’t you get one? It’s freezing in here!”
    I pulled my Burberry scarf out of my purse and wrapped it around my neck. “I forgot. I was too worried about getting everyone else’s orders right.”
    â€œWow, you’re a mess.”
    Will removed the lid from his drink and poured half of it into an empty coffee mug sitting on Drew’s desk.
    â€œHere,” he said as he handed me the steaming drink. “Bet my mocha with whip isn’t sounding so prissy to you now, is it?”
    I took a sip of the