Partners in Scheme

27. Reluctance

I went on with my days in a numb daze. Sawyer and I didn't speak after he dropped me in front of my car. Well, not unless it was work-related mutterings in the passing. I hadn't even stepped inside his cabin, not that there was any need either. We were playing the perfect role of supervisor and junior employee.

Devon had called me in his office on Tuesday out of the blue. I remembered the sigh I breathed out right before entering the once-familiar office.

He had been sitting on his leather throne like a king, working on his laptop.

The second I had stepped in, he looked up and gave me a beaming smile like a kid on a Christmas morning.

"Miss Hayes! Come, sit."

I silently took his pro-offered seat before his glass desk and crossed my legs.

"Any news? How's work?"

"Fine."

"Good. Good. Everything is going well then."

"Yes."

"And Sawyer?"

"Busy."

"With what?"

"Work."

He scoffed. "Mirasol, you know I didn't call you here—"

"Miss Hayes."

Now, he frowned. "What's wrong? You're not backing out on me, are you?"

A short pause.

"No."

"Then what?"

"Nothing. There's nothing to tell."

"Nothing? What do you mean by nothing? You've been with him for days—"

"He doesn't trust me."

His frown deepened. "Why?"

I leveled him with a cool gaze. "Would you have trusted your rival's former PA, sir?"

Devon sputtered. Loss for the word, maybe for the first time since I had been working for him.

An odd sense of satisfaction washed over me at the sight and I uncrossed my legs.

"If that's all..."

After that, even Devon stopped with his texts and calls.

Soon enough, it was the day before the big launch and we were running around like headless ducks for the final stage of preparations.

Sawyer scarcely spared a word with us as usual unless it was to bark orders. He was a tough boss to work with under pressure and right now the heat was at boiling degrees.

I was securing a fast customer when I spotted Juliet twist her heels mid-rush and swiftly regain her balance like nothing happened before diving inside Sawyer's cabin with files.

She had taken the role of impromptu assistant of Sawyer while spreading her load of work among the wide-eyed interns. Those new lambs joined the butcher field a little more than a week ago.

I gave my current gray-haired patron a parting smile as he strode away with his pre-ordered model and ran back to my desk for a quick sip of water. The piranha group of customers was already frowning on my cue.

Sean, Mary, Trent were already sweating over theirs beside me.

I was about to sit and attend my next glossy-haired teen when Juliet popped out of nowhere and huffed, "Sawyer."

I frowned. "Right now?"

"Now." her clipped tone and clicky heels didn't wait as she trotted away.

My jaw remained hung open as protest and scream stuck in my throat.