“You saw me eat chicken at your parents’ house.”
“Well, sure, but I also watched you drink black coffee, which I know you hate. I hardly think getting verbal confirmation of your eating habits is unwarranted.”
“I don’t need any pizza. I can eat when I get home.”
“Which would be, what? Frozen dinner? Scrambled eggs? Please. It’s Friday night. Come on, humor me. I can’t indulge in a meat lover’s combo alone.”
“You’re eating pizza? Here? With me?”
“Why not?” she said with a shrug.
At least this pizza would totally be guilt-free. Calories didn’t count when you were just feeding your lonely boss.
Once again, the thought of Gray being lonely caused a funny fluttering in her stomach, which she chalked up to hunger pangs. Thirty minutes later she was down in the lobby, tipping the pizza boy and eagerly inhaling the scent of Romio’s house special.
Trying not to drool, she stopped by the office kitchen to grab some paper plates and napkins. As an afterthought, she also grabbed a fork and knife because Gray seemed the fastidious type.
Sophie paused and remembered her gym bag.
Oh, why the hell not? She grabbed a corkscrew that some of the sales guys kept around for spontaneous in-office happy hours. Pizza went better with wine, as did awkwardly intimate dinners with one’s stilted boss. Armed with a bottle of red and a box of greasy heaven, Sophie walked back into Gray’s office without knocking.
His eyes flicked to the pizza box. Then to the wine. He raised an eyebrow.
“Don’t go all prudish on me,” she said as she set the box on the corner of his desk. “It’s a Friday night, and I fully intend to enjoy this bottle of wine even if it’s not on my couch like I’d planned.”
“Nobody asked you to stay, and I certainly didn’t ask you to bring your booze.”
She must have become immune to him, because she didn’t even get riled at his lack of gratitude.
“Oh, so you don’t want me to share?” she asked innocently as she wrestled with the ancient corkscrew.
His answer was to stand and pull the bottle and opener out of her hands. His big hands proceeded to open it like a pro before pouring liberally into two plastic cups. Her lady parts purred. Now this was a Gray she could start to like.
Sophie handed him a plate with two pieces of pizza before selecting a slice for herself. Just one, she thought as she mentally counted the calories. Her metabolism was pretty good, and supposedly the hellish yoga helped to keep her backside from wobbling. But even the best of genes would struggle to overcome these puddles of grease.
“So what are you working on?” she asked once they’d settled into chairs.
“You’re going to make me converse, aren’t you?” he said.
“Absolutely. It’ll help build your character. Oh, and here, I brought you a fork. I figured a tidy man like yourself wouldn’t approve of eating with his hands.”
His eyes flicked to hers, and she thought she read something like dismay. The stony gray depths were somehow warmer than usual, and they seemed to ask, So this is what you think of me?
She looked away, unsettled.
He picked up the pizza purposefully with both hands. “I’m trying to make sense of Martin’s shorthand,” he said, gesturing at the multiple piles. “There are about eight hundred different-colored file folders, pen ink, and highlighters. But I don’t seem to be any closer in deciphering the method behind the color coding.”
“I think maybe he just thought black ink and standard manila folders were boring,” she said around a huge glob of cheese.
He picked up his cup of wine and stared at her over the rim. “Boring? You’re telling me I’ve wasted hours trying to figure out what blue highlighter was supposed to signify and he just was trying to add some color to his life?”
Sophie shrugged. “Yeah, his secretary left a couple of notebooks behind with commentary on Martin’s quirks. I just found them this afternoon.”
That was a lie she didn’t feel particularly guilty about. The notebooks had been there all along, but the thought of helping Gray before now just hadn’t appealed.
Not when he looked like he wanted to call an exterminator every time he looked at her.
“What else did these notebooks have to say? Anything else that can save me time? Despite what you probably think, spending Friday night in the office isn’t exactly my idea of the good life.”
“Oh? Did you have big plans?”
Sophie instantly regretted her question. She’d forgotten that he and Brynn were originally planning to see a play tonight. Probably something scholarly. She hadn’t meant to rub the breakup in his face.
“Did you speak with your sister?” he asked after a pregnant pause.
Sophie nodded as she picked at a piece of pepperoni. “I didn’t really get the details, just that, you know…you guys decided it wasn’t working out.”