On Monday morning, Lauren entered the office, earlier than usual. The break room was empty, so she went over to start the coffee pot. After setting the filter in and pressing the button, she turned to go back to the desk and ran into a hard chest. Hands gripped her arms, and she looked up to see his brown eyes, so dark, so warm.
"Hi."
"Parker."
The rush he felt at hearing his name was ungodly. His hands tightened and he looked into her green eyes.
'So pretty…' he thought out loud
She gasped and pulled back, moving to the other side of the room, trying to put a safe distance between them.
He'd come in early, hoping to catch her and ask her about Cara, but he'd never expected to run into her, literally.
She watched as he ran his hand through his hair and cupped the back of his neck, his shirt pulling on his shoulder. A shoulder her palm itched to feel again. She could still feel heat in her arms from his touch, but it was nothing compared to the way her stomach had clenched from the heat in his eyes. He hadn't put on his lab coat yet, making it hard for her to see him as a doctor instead of the man she knew he was.
"Cara called me." He said.
"Oh?"
"Yes.
You couldn't have told me she was staying with you?"
"You didn't know?"
"No. I didn't."
"Oh…she told me she was going to tell you."
"Oh…"…Cara…
he realized. "Well, I'm sure we can work out some sort of
schedule." His voice hardened.
"What?"
"Obviously, it pains you to be in the same room with me, for whatever reason, so since she'll be staying with you, I'll just set up some time to meet with her, and you don't have to be around." He turned and walked out.
She whirled around and faced the cupboard, running her hands under cold water, pressing them against her face, desperately trying to sooth the heat, this new pain…trying to mingle cool water with the tears streaming down her face.