my feet would move. I hurried in the direction of my office, not giving them a second glance.
“We’ll finish our discussion later, Maya,” Easton said.
I glanced back, and he was watching me, a huge grin on his face, making my stomach flip with both delight and fear.
“All right.”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” George said. “Didn’t mean to interrupt your conversation.”
Their voices faded as I kept walking, and instead of going to my office, I headed to the restroom. I sat in one of the stalls with my head in my hands until I felt my heart rate slowing down. This was so bad. So very, very bad.
He knew. He knew everything. That I was falling for him. That I wanted to know if a relationship was possible. And he thought it was funny. He was delighting in my shame. What had Charlotte told him? I was going to kill her. She was supposed to be on my side. Or at least on the side of staying out of it.
The morning crept by like thick molasses dripping out of an old jar, and I tried to think of a way to handle his accusation without looking like a love-sick fool. I would just stick to the story I gave him yesterday. I wanted to know what the policy was since I was a human resources coordinator. That was perfectly plausible. I just had to make my delivery believable.
Oh, goodness. Did that mean I had to lie?
I did need to know the policy whether I had feelings for Easton or not. Yes, that was absolutely true. But I’d asked because I wanted to know if a relationship with Easton was possible. Ugh. It was times like these that commitment to honesty and integrity came at a high price. I made it a practice not to lie to anyone because I knew how much God hated deception.
But I thought about it longer and realized I didn’t have to admit anything to Easton. After all, I didn’t owe him an explanation. I wouldn’t lie, but I wouldn’t tell him what was in my heart at the time. It was none of his business.
Just as I was feeling better about the situation, my phone dinged, indicating I had a text. Bruce glanced up for a second and smiled, but he turned back to his computer screen and didn’t comment. I pulled my phone out of my purse and saw the text was from Easton. A jolt of adrenaline surged through me, and I quickly clicked on it.
Dinner tonight?
I released a breath, relieved that I hadn’t scared him off and he still wanted to see me, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t freaking out. Was it wise to go out to dinner with him again when I was clearly starting to have feelings for him? But if I stopped getting together with him all of a sudden, that would look weird, especially considering what he’d said this morning. I put my phone back in my purse and decided to give it time before I answered.
Deanna walked in and handed me something to sign. “Hey, what’s up? You guys have been quiet all morning.”
Bruce smiled. “Just getting work done.”
I signed the form and gave it back. “We’ve been busy.”
She nodded. “Guess so.” She brightened as if a thought had just occurred to her. “Hey, whatever happened with Easton yesterday? Why did he call you into his office?”
I probably had a dear-in-the-headlights expression on my face because she laughed. “Was it that bad?”
“Oh… No, it wasn’t bad. It was just…” I trailed off, not sure how to answer. I should have thought this through earlier when I had time to consider what my response would be, but I’d had other things on my mind. Bruce glanced up, and I could feel their eyes on me, waiting for a reply. I swallowed. “It was nothing important.”
“Then spill the beans, silly,” Deanna said, the corners of her lips turning up in a half-smile. “I want all the details. I need my Easton fix.”
If she knew I’d been having dinner with Easton, she’d kill me for not telling her, but I couldn’t take the chance that she might tell someone else. I trusted her for the most part, but I didn’t know her well enough to risk something like that being repeated. “It’s confidential. Sorry, I can’t talk about it.”
“Okay…” Deanna gave Bruce a knowing look, and she smothered a smile before turning back to me. “Confidential. I see.”
Bruce chuckled, but he didn’t