I sounded like a robot, but it was the only way to get out of there without throwing myself at him for the entire office to witness.

  I just hoped Cameron never decided to make an ASMR video of his own, because it’d get millions of hits in no time and he’d discover the truth: that I was a dirty little liar.

  Eight

  The Overtime

  January 8th – 9th

  The next morning on my way to work, I stopped by the coffee shop to grab lattes for Lilah and me. I froze for a second when I walked in the door, because Cameron was standing by the counter talking to his brother, Nick. I never usually saw him here.

  Nick and I had become friendly over the last week or two. Every second day I came for coffees, and he seemed to favour the early shift, so I ran into him quite a bit. We exchanged some pleasantries, a bit of banter, he made my coffee, and I was on my way. I did wonder how the brothers came to be so opposite though. Cameron was a very serious person with a very serious job, while Nick seemed like more of a free spirit. Cameron was older, of course, but only by two or three years.

  “Come on, Cam. Do it for me,” I heard Nick plead as I approached.

  “Why can’t you have the party at your place?” Cameron argued.

  “Because a boat party is so much better than a house party. Please, I’m not above begging,” Nick went on, putting his hands together like he was praying to God.

  “Hello,” I said, hesitantly joining them.

  “Maisie! Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes,” Nick exclaimed. “The usual, is it?”

  “Yes, please.” I returned his smile and chanced a quick glance at Cameron. I couldn’t stop thinking about his voice from yesterday, whispering seductively. Davy Jones had officially been pushed off the ASMR top spot.

  “Good morning,” Cameron greeted. His eyes travelled over me while Nick went about making my order.

  “Morning,” I replied.

  “Oh, Maisie, maybe you can help me convince my stick-in-the-mud brother to let me use his boat for my birthday party next week.”

  I glanced at Cameron, eyebrows shooting up. “You own a boat?”

  He shot Nick a censorious look. “Yes, a small one.”

  “Don’t be so modest,” Nick chided. “It’s his pride and joy. He takes care of that thing better than any of the girlfriends he’s had. In fact, you could say it is his girlfriend these days. It’s been a while, hasn’t it, Cam?” Nick chuckled, clearly trying to get a rise out of his brother.

  Cameron’s jaw tightened, a telltale sign that he was annoyed. “In that case, you’ll understand why I don’t want you and your friends partying in my girlfriend.”

  Nick tutted and made a comical face. “Don’t be disgusting.”

  Cameron exhaled heavily, looking worn down. “If I let you do this, you can invite no more than six people.”

  “Yes!” Nick said, delighted. “Okay, no more than six. Understood.” His attention came to me. “Maisie, would you like to come to my birthday party?”

  “Me?” I asked, surprised. “Um, sure.”

  Cameron glared at him. “Why are you inviting Maisie? You barely know her.”

  “For your information, Maisie and I are becoming pretty good pals. We talk several times a week.”

  Cameron looked at me now, eyes narrowed in suspicion.

  “We talk when I come in for my morning coffee,” I was quick to explain.

  “Why, brother,” Nick crooned, placing my order down on the counter, “I almost thought you looked jealous there for a second.”

  Cameron made a gruff sound in the back of his throat, picked up the coffee he’d been drinking and left without another word.

  Nick was shaking his head and chuckling to himself while he rang up my order. “One thing you need to learn about my brother, he doesn’t know what’s good for him.”

  “Is that so,” I said, watching Cameron’s retreating form.

  “Don’t forget, you’re coming to my party,” Nick called after me as I left.

  “I wouldn’t miss it.”

  ***

  At the office, I didn’t see Lilah at her desk, so I headed for the break room. I was just about to go inside when I heard hushed voices. I paused and listened. It sounded like Jenny and Rory.

  “Just tell him how you feel. You can’t go on keeping this to yourself,” Rory whispered.

  “But what if he rejects me?” Jenny whispered back.

  “If he does, then he’s an idiot. Cameron Grant would be lucky to date you, Jenny. Believe me.”

  Oh my God. My stomach sank. Jenny wanted to ask Cameron out on a date? I remembered how smitten she’d been when he apologised for being mean to her. And technically, his apology was my doing. Good deeds really didn’t go unpunished.

  They were still whispering to each other when I walked inside. “Oh, hey, have any of you seen Lilah?”

  “She’s gone out to meet with a client,” Rory answered, his tone unfriendly.

  “Oh, well, do either one of you want this, then? I don’t want it to go to waste,” I said, holding out the latte.

  “Sure, I’ll take it,” Jenny said eagerly. I handed it to her, and she took a dainty sip, eyeing me a moment. “Hey, Maisie, could I get your opinion on something?”

  Rory wore a galled expression. “Don’t ask her. What would she know about dating?”

  “Don’t be mean,” Jenny chided, then flashed me a smile. “Maisie’s cool.”

  It seemed she still sort of liked me after I’d comforted her by the photocopier that one time. I looked between the two of them, Rory’s frost and Jenny’s warmth.

  She patted the seat next to her. “Come sit for a minute. I could use some advice.”

  “Oh?” I said, pretending I had no idea what she was about to ask. Was this what hell felt like? There was no way I could sit here and encourage her to pursue Cameron. That would be so many levels of wrong.

  She clasped her hands together, flushing slightly. “Well, I have this crush on someone in the office, and I was wondering if you think I should ask them out, or is it too risky to date a colleague?”

  I smoothed my hands down the lap of my skirt, trying to decide how best to answer. “I guess it depends. There are all these rules we need to follow when it comes to workplace relationships now. First, you’d have to let Georgia know—”

  “Ugh, talk about taking the romance out of it,” Rory cut me off with a roll of his eyes.

  I endeavoured to ignore his childish attitude and focused again on Jenny. “Do you think your feelings are reciprocated?”

  “Oh yes, definitely,” she nodded. Say what? “We have this whole love/hate thing going on. You know how the boys at school would be mean to girls they liked? That’s exactly how he is with me.”

  “Sometimes those boys were mean because they were just mean though,” I said, perhaps a little too hastily.

  Rory narrowed his gaze.

  I swallowed and continued, “It’s one of those things grown-ups tell little girls to make them feel better about being bullied.”

  Rory shook his head, arms folded. “You see? I told you she didn’t know what she was talking about. That’s the shittiest advice I’ve ever heard, Maisie.”

  “You asked for my opinion. Now you have it.” I stood and walked to the door, legs a little shaky. I did not want Jenny to ask Cameron on a date. Not that I thought he’d say yes or anything…

  Oh God, what if he said yes?

  No, he wouldn’t.

  And if he did, well then screw him.

  I was passing by Georgia’s office when she called me in. “Maisie, just to let you know. I’ve made a decision on your replacement. You’ll be pleased to hear I decided to go with Damien Holt. I just called him with the good news, and he’ll be starting on Monday. Would you call the other three candidates and let them know the position has been filled?”

  “Sure, I’ll do that right away,” I answered, pleased that she’d favoured my choice, but not so excited to call up the unlucky candidates.

  I guess it was a privilege of being the boss. You got to delegate the more unpleasant tasks to your underlings. Perhaps I could treat myself to a bubble bath tonight to console myself after being the bearer of bad news.

  Then I remembered I couldn’t even do that because everyone was required to work late. We were transferring all the old paper files to soft copy before they were put into storage. It was a time-consuming and monotonous task, but at least we’d get to order in takeout.

  Georgia had recently become obsessed with the show Our Planet and decided to make the office as paper and plastic-free as possible. Anything we did use would be one hundred percent recyclable/compostable from now on. Personally, I thought it was a great idea.

  I tried to focus on work, but I had a pain in my stomach all day over the whole Jenny thing. Luckily, I didn’t bump into her at lunch. I headed to the conference room at 5 p.m., laptop under my arm. Most people were there already. I noted with dismay that Jenny had snagged a seat right next to Cameron. He was busy typing away, most likely oblivious to her romantic interest. Still, there was a very small, very paranoid part of me that wondered…

  Nope, I wasn’t going there.

  I grabbed a stack of files and sat down next to Lilah. My eyes kept wandering to Cameron. Jenny said something to him, and he responded. I wished I could lip read. After about an hour, I got up to stretch my legs and use the bathroom. On my way back, I paid a quick visit to the water cooler. After filling my reusable bottle, I took a long gulp.

  When I turned around, Cameron was standing right behind me.

  “You have quite the silent ninja step on you,” I commented and moved out of the way.

  Cameron appeared to be frowning as he filled a cup with water. Eyes not meeting mine, he asked, “So what exactly do you and my brother talk about several times a week?”

  He was still stuck on that? I tucked some hair behind my ear. “The weather, which kind of coffee roast I prefer, how we both enjoy the off-season when there aren’t so many tourists in town.”

  “That’s all?” Cameron asked, finally looking at me.

  “Yes, that’s all.” I paused, gauging him a moment. “I’m not interested in your brother.”

  “You two smile at each other an awful lot.”

  “I’m well aware you think I smile too much.”

  He glanced to the side, probably to make sure we were still alone. “I told you what I really think about your smile.”

  Yes, you did, I thought fondly, then remembered my newfound information about Jenny. I had to warn Cameron. At least then he could prepare for what was to come.

  “I actually wanted to talk to you about something,” I ventured. “Jenny…”

  “What about Jenny?”

  I looked around, grabbed his arm, and pulled him to the far end of the corridor. Curiosity marked his features, and when we stopped, I realised we stood a little too close.

  “Maisie,” he breathed, his tone changed.

  “Jenny’s going to ask you out,” I blurted.

  Like I’d just thrown a bucket of ice-cold water over his head, he gaped at me. “She is?”

  “I heard her talking about it in the break room today.”

  Cameron let out a heavy breath, looking perturbed.

  “What will you say to her?” I asked.

  He raked a hand through his hair. “I don’t know.”

  “Oh,” I said, and a swift, familiar pain hit me. It was the same pain that had taken up residence in my stomach all day. Suddenly, I felt empty and too full all at the same time.

  Cameron moved closer, his voice gentle as he held my gaze. “Maisie, there’s only one person at this office that I want to date.”

  As soon as he said it, my breath left me. It was a relief to hear him say it, to know I hadn’t dreamt up all that had happened between us. Then, a grin tugged at my mouth.

  “I knew you had a thing for Mrs. Evans the cleaning lady,” I teased in an effort to cover up my embarrassment about feeling insecure.

  Cameron’s lips twitched in amusement. “Sadly she’s already taken.”

  “Maybe you could lure her away from her husband.”

  “Tried that. She turned me down.”

  “Well, that’s what you get for punching above your weight.”

  He chuckled, low and deep, looking away down the corridor a moment before bringing his soulful hazel eyes back to me. “So, are you going to come to Nick’s birthday party?” he asked.

  His question gave me excited butterflies. “Do you want me to come?”

  “Nick’s friends can be a little much. At least if you come, there’ll be one person there I find tolerable.”

  I resisted the urge to grin. “Tolerable, you say?”

  Now his eyes practically scorched as he stroked a hand down my hair, his voice a husky whisper. “So very fucking tolerable.”

  My chest fluttered as I forced myself not to reach out and pull him into me, mould my lips to his right here in the corridor. “We’d, um, we’d better get back,” I said.

  He nodded, stepping away. I waited a few moments before following him back to the conference room. When I returned, Nadia was doing the rounds, taking everybody’s dinner order. We were having Thai food, so I opted for the satay chicken with noodles. Across the table, Jenny was talking to Cameron again and in spite of the reassurance he just gave me, my inner dialogue turned to panic.

  What if she’s asking him out right now?

  What if he fumbles his words and accidentally says yes?

  I told myself I needed to stop being crazy and calm down, focus on the work I had to complete. A little while later, the food arrived, and almost everyone ate in the conference room. Needing some air, I took my noodles out to the reception area and continued working as I ate.

  I ended up staying there for the next two hours, only returning when I needed to grab more files. When I reached the conference room, it appeared the task was completed because everybody was packing up to go home.

  “Oh my God, you missed the funniest thing,” said Lilah in a hushed tone. “Come on, I’ll tell you while we walk to our cars.”

  “What happened?” I asked with interest.

  “We were taking a break, and I heard Jenny ask Cameron if he wanted to go out for a drink after we finished. He told her he doesn’t drink on weeknights, and she got so flustered that she started asking everyone if they wanted to go for drinks. Like she’d meant it as a group invitation all along. You better keep an eye on that one. She’s definitely after your man.”

  “He’s not my man,” I said, embarrassed yet relieved that Cameron had given her the brush off.

  “Okay, if you say so.” Lilah grinned. “I saw him looking at you a couple of times tonight.”

  “Looking at me how?”

  “I don’t know. Just looking at you. The man’s face is too unreadable to ever pick out an emotion.”

  Well, she was wrong about that, but I didn’t correct her. It would only reveal how much time I’d spent studying and cataloguing Cameron’s minute facial expressions and their possible meanings.

  “See you in the morning,” Lilah said, waving goodbye when I reached my car.

  I sat in the driver’s seat, lost in thought for a minute when my phone vibrated with a text.

  Cameron: Your training starts tomorrow. I’ll pick you up at 9 am.

  It looked like I wouldn’t be coming to the office in the morning after all. A fizzle of anticipation took up residence in my chest. I knew I was supposed to take my training seriously, and I did plan to do that, but I was also looking forward to being alone with Cameron. I was looking forward to it way too much.

  ***

  “This is one of the most common cases we get,” Cameron said as we sat in his car, parked down the street from a client’s house.

  “What, honeytraps?” I asked just to annoy him.

  He sighed. “I already told you, we don’t do honeytraps. If a client’s significant other is cheating on them, we find out. It’s straightforward investigative work. There’s no trickery or honeytrapping involved.”

  “That’s too bad. I think I’d be good at it,” I bragged jokingly.

  Cameron didn’t look convinced. “You would be terrible.”

  I turned in my seat to face him. “Hey! That’s not fair.” A pause as I considered him. “Just out of curiosity, why do you think I’d be terrible?”

  His eyes narrowed slightly. “Well, for one, you’d need to dress differently. No self-respecting honeytrap wears a cardigan and whatever that other thing is. Also, you don’t have a poker face.”

  “You’re wrong. I can muster up a poker face if the need arises. And I’ll have you know that some men like cardigans, and this other thing I’m wearing is called a romper.”

  Cameron eyed it like he was trying to figure out a puzzle. “How do you even go to the bathroom? Is there a hidden zip at the crotch?”

  At this, I burst out laughing (and flushed slightly at his use of the word crotch). “No, there isn’t a hidden zip. Though that would actually be a good idea. You have to take the top half off to go to the bathroom.”

  Cameron stiffened, his voice pitched low. “You take your top off to use the bathroom? Even when you’re at work?”

  “If I’m wearing a romper, yes.”

  “That is…unhygienic.”

  “It’s more awkward and time-consuming than unhygienic,” I countered.

  Cameron’s hands appeared to clench the steering wheel. “In that case, you’d be better off wearing something else.”

  “Like what?”

  “I don’t know. Anything.”

  Feeling mischievous, I replied, “Say I was going to try being a honeytrap. What would you suggest I wear?”

  “This isn’t relevant for your training, Maisie.”

  “Humour me.”

  He sighed. “Okay, so you go simple. Little black dress, high heels, lots of skin.”

  I arched an eyebrow and tried to suppress my weird tingly reaction to his description. Also, his voice. Now that we’d had that whole ASMR conversation I couldn’t stop noticing how pleasant he was to listen to. His voice had the perfect amount of gravel and base. Just enough to make the tiny hairs on your skin stand on end.