Mommy Mouse (sequel to City Mouse)

Chapter 23: A Thousand Words

Cassie, an intern, was doing one of her favorite things, which was looking at Henry Gardener. They were in a boring, boring, staff meeting, and someone was droning on and on about something, so she just sat back and kept her head tilted toward her iPad. Her eyes, however, wandered in Henry's direction, often just remaining there, since no one was looking at her, anyway.

He was typing on his laptop and writing in a notebook at the same time, which was so sexy to Cassie, for some reason. Just watching his eyes flick back and forth as he moved his pen across the paper was so hot. He was engrossed in whatever he was doing, nodding along with the coma inducing speaker, looking up from time to time. A tiny smile ghosted his lips, making Cassie want to slide out of her chair and liquefy on the floor.

Henry himself did look at her once, making eye contact with her and asking, with raised eyebrows, if something was wrong when he realized she was staring at him.

Cassie quickly averted her eyes, clicking her pen against her teeth, trying not to look like she'd been daydreaming about her hot boss. Just to drive her point home, she typed something on her iPad, though it had nothing to do with anything.

Henry looked away and said something to another intern, Flora, who was sitting next to him. Cassie could tell that Flora thought Henry was gorgeous, too, and she had already established a rapport with him, the lucky fuck. Flora was beautiful, a former model who'd turned to photography because it was more intellectually stimulating or something, unlike Cassie herself, who felt she was so plain she could just blend into the wall behind her.

Cassie hated Flora.

So it happened that Cassie was looking directly at her hot boss Henry when he saw his muted phone light up with an incoming notification. Henry read the message, typed out a quick response, then began to do some very interesting things.

First, his eyes widened, and he quickly picked up his phone as he looked around to make sure no one could see it. Cassie knew that this was what he was doing, because she herself had done something similar, many times.

Then he began to blush. Normally, Henry was this great color, a perfect color, as far as Cassie was concerned, a color that enhanced his blue eyes and dark hair. Now, though, he was turning interesting shades of red, with splotches appearing on his cheekbones and getting darker where his chest showed above the unbuttoned polo he was wearing.

Henry swallowed, and Cassie could see his sexy Adam's apple move up and down.

Next, he ran a hand through his hair, and Cassie could see the tendons popping in his taut forearm as he raised it. Hot.

Then, he began shifting in his chair, as if he were uncomfortable, or sitting on something strange. Again, Cassie saw his eyes dart around the table to make sure no one was watching. He continued to hold his phone in his hand, and kept glancing down at it, as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

Cassie watched him move in his chair for a minute or two, thinking that, really, Henry Gardener had to be one of the most attractive men on the planet.

He was also, unfortunately, married. Happily, it seemed. And Cassie knew, as did everyone at the agency, that he was expecting a child with his much younger wife. She was as plain as Cassie herself, with nothing hair and a nothing face, yet somehow she'd managed to snag the gorgeous Henry Gardener, who was an amazing photographer and spent his days looking at people who were equally beautiful. She had a strange nickname, though most of the people in the office just referred to her as "rodent" behind Henry's back.

Henry rose abruptly, pocketing his phone and closing his laptop.

"Sorry, man," he said to the person who was speaking. "Something's come up, I'm going to have to get notes on the rest from someone, okay?" He looked around, his eyes finally coming to rest on Flora, who nodded.