Free Intoxicated by Alicia Renee Kline

especially
Eric, I would have felt slighted that he didn’t even offer to help
me do anything. Instead, he sat back and relaxed while I made
everyone dinner. Truth be told, I enjoyed his company. Ever since
he had informed me that he was also in management, I felt that we
were like kindred spirits. During our previous pre-dinner
conversations, he had tried to give me a feeling for what my new
position would be like. Even though he worked at a factory instead
of a bank, he told me that no matter what industry you were in, the
goals of your position were basically the same. And that sometimes
there wouldn’t be enough money in the world to compensate you for
the crap you put up with.
    “So what would your flower of choice be,
gorgeous?”
    I blushed at his term of endearment. I still
wasn’t used to being called that, even though I couldn’t remember
him referring to me by anything but since the first day we met. It
was always “gorgeous” just like Blake was always “sunshine”. I told
myself that I was reading too deeply into things, though he could
have come up with something less suspicious like “shorty” or
“peanut”. Thankfully, the oven beeped that it had reached the
appropriate temperature, and I was able to spin around to save
face. I took my time placing the baking dish inside to cook, then
bought myself a couple more seconds by setting the timer.
    “Iris,” I said once I found my voice.
    “Interesting. Very beautiful and unique.”
    “And not like a whole bunch of them. One,
maybe two. Big bouquets are so ostentatious.”
    “Agreed.”
    I sat down at the breakfast bar also,
intentionally leaving a stool open between us. I had been playing
things pretty cool up to this point, at least outwardly. My heart
rate had probably doubled since he showed up, and it wasn’t because
he had frightened me. No need to tempt fate and risk accidentally
brushing my leg against his. I had no clue what my reaction would
be to that.
    “So, how was your first day?” he continued,
not phased by the seating arrangement.
    I shrugged. “Pretty typical. Overwhelming.
The office is a dump and Blake would hate it.”
    Matthew laughed.
    “Blake would hate what?” The lady in question
breezed into the kitchen from the garage. “Hey, dork.”
    “Hey, sunshine. Your roommate was just
describing her new workplace.”
    “I see,” she responded, walking over to him
to obtain her usual hug. As she exited his embrace, she spied the
vase on the table, “Oooh, flowers. Too bad they’re roses. So
overdone.”
    “Read the card,” I urged, eager to hear her
reaction.
    She did so, staring for a moment as the words
processed. Her lips moved as she reread the lines again and again.
“Is this guy serious?”
    I snorted. “He’s not one to express his
emotions.”
    “Apparently not,” she agreed. “So, what’s for
dinner?”
    “I found this new chicken recipe online.
Fingers crossed that it turns out.”
    Blake focused her attention on the oven
timer. “Looks like I’ve got about half an hour to kill. I’m going
to go upstairs and work on something real quick. After I get out of
these damn shoes.”
    She disappeared around the corner and Matthew
and I were left alone once again. I decided to continue with my
recap of the day, including descriptions of my staff. Matthew
listened intently. Once I completed this an easy silence fell over
us. We stayed quiet for a few moments, then he cleared his
throat.
    “Does he make you happy?” he asked
finally.
    My breath hitched. I stared at him blankly,
not sure how to answer. I knew what my answer should be, but I
couldn’t bring myself to say it.
    “That’s what I thought.” He smiled sadly.
    “I won’t lie and say that everything is
perfect,” I said shakily, “but he tries. This was a difficult blow
for him to take, but we’ll figure something out.”
    Admittedly, that was a pretty sorry defense
of the person that I said I loved.
    The timer rang, ending any further