I munch on mine while I think. This breakfast ritual is hell on my waistline, but today I feel like celebrating. My diet can start tomorrow. Or maybe next week. I shrug. “No idea.”
“After you die, a leech stops sucking your blood,” Carl finishes with his best vampire impersonation.
I shake my head and groan. “Your jokes are awful.”
“Hah!” He points a finger at me. “Aren’t they, though? It’s what I love about them. So what’s got you in such a great mood this morning? Did you pull Declan into the broom closet for a quickie?”
A bit of donut gets stuck halfway down. I glare at him as my throat convulses and I try to keep from spraying half chewed food all over his workstation. “What?” I gasp.
“You. Declan. Boy parts. Girl parts. Did your parents really never have this talk?”
“Carl!”
He shrugs. “So, how is this going to work after your parents get hitched?”
There goes my good mood. “What do you mean?”
“It’s fine. Your secret is safe with Uncle Carl. I don’t blame you for not listening to me the other day. Sometimes logic can’t trump chemistry, and I could tell from the moment I showed you into his office your first day that there was something between the two of you.”
“It’s not like that. We’re not—” I wave my hands dismissively.
“If you aren’t then maybe you should. Get it out of your systems.”
I snort. “Not likely.” If only it were that easy. I’m not sure I’ll ever get him out of my system at this rate.
“Ah, so that’s the problem.” He grins and picks a chocolate glazed out of the donut box. “What’s really keeping you two apart? Aside from angst. Ah to be young and in lust again.”
“Do you like those donuts? Because they could stop, you know,” I grumble.
“No, I mean really. I know the whole family situation is awkward, but it’s not like you two are related, and yes, you are working together right now, but that’s temporary.” Taking a bite, he chews slowly while watching me quietly freak out.
“I...” I stop and actually think about it.
He’s right on both counts. Our parents would probably be shocked, and so long as I’m working for Garrett and Declan, we would have to keep it quiet, but neither of those things are insurmountable. My situation with Michael was a much bigger problem than either of those, and that’s over now.
So what’s really stopping us?
I don’t trust him.
With the way we met, and everything he’s said to me the whole way through our stupid, twisted non-relationship, I just don’t trust him.
“Weren’t you the one who told me he was broken?” I remind Carl.
He smiles gently at me, putting the jokester on hold. “Broken things can be repaired, kiddo. Would I worry about you if you got involved with him? Sure, but I’ve known him a long time. He’s been different since you showed up. You’ve thrown him off his game, and he’s scrambling to pretend everything is normal.”
As if on cue, the elevator dings behind me and spits out Declan. Carl and I both jump, quickly switching topics, but not before Carl reaches over and squeezes my hand.
“Morning.” Declan grins, completely unaware that we were just psychoanalyzing him. He grabs a Boston creme on his way past.
There’s a bandage across his knuckles, which seems pretty strange since it wasn’t there when I left the office last night. “What happened to your hand?”
He looks down like he’s forgotten it’s there. “Oh, nothing. Just slammed it into something that was denser than I thought.” His mouth stretches into his trademark cocky grin.
“Denser than you thought?” That sounds fishier than a chum bucket during Shark Week.
“Yeah. Listen, I need to talk to you about Sunday. See me in my office when you’re done here?”
A slippery switch of topic, but I let it go. “Sure. I’ll be there in a minute.”
I watch him walk back to his office, and I should probably be thinking about work, or what sort of stupid fight he got into, but all I can see is how good he looks in a suit. Not to mention how good he looked out of it. Maybe there are a couple of other injuries that need tending to.
Carl coughs politely. Sarcastically, but politely. “You’re right. I’m totally off base and there’s obviously nothing going on between the two of you except brotherly and sisterly affection.”
“Shut up, you.”
“Just think about it, okay? The way you two look at each other when you forget to be annoyed? That doesn’t show up every day. It might be worth taking a chance.”