Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 100750 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 504(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100750 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 504(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
Grayson took this as a challenge and showered her with gifts such as flowers as well as random visits to the office (which he was eager to return to), candlelight dinners that he’d prepared, and picnics on the weekends. They’d gone to the beach for Labor Day with their friends and were dressing up for Pearce’s Halloween party in a few days as Ariel and Prince Eric, which was Reid’s idea because she already had red hair like Ariel. Not to mention, she considered Grayson her prince. He had wanted them to go as Forrest Gump and Jenny. Mostly because he liked exaggerating the name in his Forrest accent.
She picked up her phone. Her fingers hovered over the buttons, ready and willing to type a message to Grayson. She’d only responded to his text with an “okay” and a winky face, hoping he’d elaborate. He hadn’t, and that left her reeling with curiosity.
Reid had never thought of Grayson as the romantic type. The one time they’d hooked up before his transplant, they’d been at a party, and while they weren’t drunk, they were tipsy, and she’d flirted, and he’d reciprocated. Unfortunately for her, that one night hadn’t led to many more, like she had hoped, even after she’d told him she was madly in love with him.
He’d said he didn’t love her back.
She now knew why.
Hearing those words from him had hurt. She had tried to distance herself from him, chalk the night up to one giant mistake, but he’d refused to fade into the night. Grayson was there, acting like nothing had happened, like he hadn’t broken her heart into a million little pieces, each one more jagged than the next. It was like he’d taken those shards and continued to stab her, until she stopped feeling and just enjoyed being in his presence. The only saving grace was that he didn’t date. He wasn’t bringing other women around or telling her about someone he’d met at the bar. Grayson and Reid spent as much time together as a couple would, without the benefits of being a couple.
And now her life with Grayson was different. With his new lease on life, he embraced what she’d known all along: they were meant for each other. They could finish each other’s sentences and sensed when the other was ready to leave a friend’s house, and he never pressured her to take the next step in their relationship. Reid wanted to. She longed to be with him again.
The Human Resources office at the Wold Collective was set up similarly to the other offices, and it had an open concept with cubicles. The problem this layout created was that staff were unable to have private conversations with employees, and they always had to book a conference room. The setup also gave no one any privacy. So, if you were having a bad day or an emotional moment and needed some time for yourself, you didn’t have a place to take a break. That was a drawback for Reid. While she loved working for Wold, ever since Grayson had made it known they were a couple, she’d been bombarded with nosy Nellies prying into her personal life. Of course, dating a coworker probably wasn’t the smartest thing to do.
Reid heard her name and peeked around the end of her cubicle. Her office space was in the back, toward the wall, with one office in front of her and then the open desk area where applicants waited for their interviews. The receptionist, who’d started earlier in the week and whose name Reid couldn’t remember, stood at the counter with a massive bouquet of red roses.
“Reid?” she called out. “You have another delivery.”
Her coworkers stood up to watch the receptionist bring the bouquet toward her cubicle. She couldn’t tell if they were jealous or if, as she suspected, some of them had their own crushes on Grayson. The bouquet of roses was undoubtedly the largest she’d ever received, and over the past few months or so, Grayson had either brought flowers to her or had had them delivered. In fact, she still had a vase on her desk from last week’s delivery.
“You know, none of us need to ask about your relationship if he keeps this up,” Lily, one of her coworkers, said with a laugh. She wasn’t wrong. Grayson wasn’t being shy about his affection for her. Deep down, Reid appreciated every gesture, basked in them, really, and even marked them on her calendar.
She leaned forward and sniffed one of the fragrant blooms. “Heavenly.”
“Who’s the lucky guy?” the new receptionist asked.
“His name’s Grayson. You’ll meet him soon. He works here and has been out on leave.”
“Can’t wait,” she said cheerily as she gave a finger wave and left.
Reid grasped the weighty glass vase and positioned it on her desk. The arrangement took up most of her free working space, and she spent the next ten minutes cleaning off the top of her filing cabinet to make room for the roses.