why I had no issues when I found out he’d be taking Allison’s place working side-by-side with me. I’m not sure what I would’ve done if that hadn’t been the case, but thankfully, I didn’t have to worry about it. Now, I just needed to realize this was my new normal. He was my new normal.
“Earth to Monroe. Come in, Monroe. Repeat, come in, Monroe. Please return to Boston, where your esteemed colleague is waiting on you.” Oliver’s pretend-robot voice sliced through my wandering thoughts and reeled me back to reality.
Shaking my head, an embarrassed smile crept across my face as I focused in on Oliver, who was waving his arms around in the air like he was trying to flag down someone on the other side of the street instead of the other side of the booth. “Sorry,” I apologized lamely. “I was just making a mental note to not attempt any more working lunches with you.”
“A note or a chapter?” he taunted with a mischievous smirk. “You were lost in thought for a good twenty minutes. I already chose the house and called the realtor with our offer.”
Trying not to laugh, I rolled my eyes. “I checked out for maybe twenty seconds. So hush your mouth, Saxon.”
“I think you’re the first female who’s ever called me by my last name, unless it had Mister or Doctor in front of it.” His smirk grew into a mega-watt smile, showing his perfectly-straight, pearly whites. “I think I like it.”
“Oh yeah?” I mused as I lifted my iced tea to my mouth for a sip, mainly to hide the face-splitting grin threatening to take over my mug. “What do the girls usually call you?”
He pushed his glasses up on the bridge of his nose and licked his lips nervously. “I’m just Oliver to everyone except for my family, who call me Ollie when they want to annoy me. But I guess that’s what families are for, right?”
Jealousy licked cold under my skin at his words, as I secretly wished I’d grown up with a normal family who called me cute nicknames like Ollie. I was pretty sure “Disappointment,” “Home Wrecker,” and “Jealous Slut” weren’t quite the same thing. My mom always did have a way with words.
Pushing aside the hurtful memories, I forced myself to match his smile and picked up the pen from the table. “Right,” I lied before abruptly changing the subject. “Now, about this list . . .”
We then spent the next hour and a half comparing and contrasting the properties until we both agreed on which one would be perfect for the new MH home.
But in the back of my mind, I wondered what kind of nickname Oliver might come up with for me, if he had to choose one.
“The thing about
chaos, is that while
it disturbs us,
it too, forces
our hearts to roar
in a way we
secretly find
magnificent.”
–Christopher Poindexter
Oliver
I DIDN’T WANT the day to end. I know that sounds stupid, but it’s the truth. My first day of ‘work’ with Monroe had gone five thousand times better than I’d expected, even despite the few times I’d gotten tongue-tied while talking to her or found myself eye-guzzling every inch of her flawless face and shapely body. Thankfully, she never caught me in perverted-creeper-mode—or at least, not that I was aware of—and by the time she dropped me off late in the afternoon, my confidence in not only myself, but also the rapport that had developed between us, had grown immensely. If I could only get past the way my heart soared in my chest every time she flashed me one of her million-dollar smiles, or the way my cock twitched with lust-driven hope each time we accidentally touched, then I’d have nothing to worry about for the next six months. If only . . .
“Same time tomorrow?” she asked as her car rolled to a stop in front of my apartment building. “We’ve got the appointment with the realtor at 9:30 to make the offer, and then after that, I thought I’d take you over to the Department of Children and Families so I can introduce you to everyone
“Earth to Monroe. Come in, Monroe. Repeat, come in, Monroe. Please return to Boston, where your esteemed colleague is waiting on you.” Oliver’s pretend-robot voice sliced through my wandering thoughts and reeled me back to reality.
Shaking my head, an embarrassed smile crept across my face as I focused in on Oliver, who was waving his arms around in the air like he was trying to flag down someone on the other side of the street instead of the other side of the booth. “Sorry,” I apologized lamely. “I was just making a mental note to not attempt any more working lunches with you.”
“A note or a chapter?” he taunted with a mischievous smirk. “You were lost in thought for a good twenty minutes. I already chose the house and called the realtor with our offer.”
Trying not to laugh, I rolled my eyes. “I checked out for maybe twenty seconds. So hush your mouth, Saxon.”
“I think you’re the first female who’s ever called me by my last name, unless it had Mister or Doctor in front of it.” His smirk grew into a mega-watt smile, showing his perfectly-straight, pearly whites. “I think I like it.”
“Oh yeah?” I mused as I lifted my iced tea to my mouth for a sip, mainly to hide the face-splitting grin threatening to take over my mug. “What do the girls usually call you?”
He pushed his glasses up on the bridge of his nose and licked his lips nervously. “I’m just Oliver to everyone except for my family, who call me Ollie when they want to annoy me. But I guess that’s what families are for, right?”
Jealousy licked cold under my skin at his words, as I secretly wished I’d grown up with a normal family who called me cute nicknames like Ollie. I was pretty sure “Disappointment,” “Home Wrecker,” and “Jealous Slut” weren’t quite the same thing. My mom always did have a way with words.
Pushing aside the hurtful memories, I forced myself to match his smile and picked up the pen from the table. “Right,” I lied before abruptly changing the subject. “Now, about this list . . .”
We then spent the next hour and a half comparing and contrasting the properties until we both agreed on which one would be perfect for the new MH home.
But in the back of my mind, I wondered what kind of nickname Oliver might come up with for me, if he had to choose one.
“The thing about
chaos, is that while
it disturbs us,
it too, forces
our hearts to roar
in a way we
secretly find
magnificent.”
–Christopher Poindexter
Oliver
I DIDN’T WANT the day to end. I know that sounds stupid, but it’s the truth. My first day of ‘work’ with Monroe had gone five thousand times better than I’d expected, even despite the few times I’d gotten tongue-tied while talking to her or found myself eye-guzzling every inch of her flawless face and shapely body. Thankfully, she never caught me in perverted-creeper-mode—or at least, not that I was aware of—and by the time she dropped me off late in the afternoon, my confidence in not only myself, but also the rapport that had developed between us, had grown immensely. If I could only get past the way my heart soared in my chest every time she flashed me one of her million-dollar smiles, or the way my cock twitched with lust-driven hope each time we accidentally touched, then I’d have nothing to worry about for the next six months. If only . . .
“Same time tomorrow?” she asked as her car rolled to a stop in front of my apartment building. “We’ve got the appointment with the realtor at 9:30 to make the offer, and then after that, I thought I’d take you over to the Department of Children and Families so I can introduce you to everyone
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