Page 83 of Not In The Contract

“Don’t drink that,” Katya scolded. “It’s ice cold, let me grab you a fresh cup.”

“I’ll do it!” I offered, surprising even myself.

Two sets of wide eyes blinked at me.

“Are you sure?” Katya asked, her brows furrowed.

“Totally,” I insisted, avoiding Alex’s stare at all costs. Even if the cost was snagging my foot on the table in my haste to get out.

“I don’t know, I really could just-” Katya began, but I waved her off, already at the door.

“I got it,” I called over my shoulder. “Flat white with a dash of cinnamon.”

I left in the wake of their stunned silence, glad to have an excuse to be anywhere else just then. I rushed down the hall and into the decked out kitchen, making Alex’s coffee with a well-practiced hand.

Ever since we’d kissed, my thoughts had disintegrated and then formed once more with Alex at the center of it all. And because we lived together, I hadn’t had a moment alone to properly sort through any of it. So I was left with an eloquentwhat the fucktailing each of my incoherent thoughts.

I measured out the coffee in one of Alex’s favorite mugs and grabbed the jar of cinnamon.

“You seem distracted.”

The jar of cinnamon almost slid right out of my hand at the sudden intrusion and I jumped, swearing under my breath as I glared at Katya.

“Not cool, man,” I grumbled. “What if I’d been pouring scalding coffee into this mug, huh? I’d have third degree burns all because you walk with the grace of a fucking ninja cat.”

Katya doubled over with laughter, her tiny snorts every bit as adorable as Tamera had described. “I’m sorry.” She giggled, walking over to help with the cinnamon. “I just wanted to find out if you were okay. You seem pretty out of it today. And, well, yesterday too. And the day before that and-”

“I get it, har har,” I deadpanned, casting a nervous glance over my shoulder. “Did you just leave Alex in the conference room?”

“She had a private phone call so I came to check in on you,” she explained.

Unbidden, the memory of Jamie came to mind. “Is it Jamie?”

Katya lifted one shoulder in answer, rinsing out the filters and replacing them. “Her birthday is soon and Alex plans it every year,” she said. “But this year seems different.”

“How so?”

Katya looked toward the door as well before turning back and pitching her voice low. “I think Jamie feels abandoned because of how tight Alex’s schedule has become,” she whispered.

My stomach dropped. “Does it have anything to do with my research?” I murmured, bracing myself for the answer I already knew.

“Kind of.” Katya winced. “ I know I always say this, but I haven’t been here very long. One thing I can say for certain is that Jamie holds a lot of control over Alex.”

I already knew that.

And yet…

I deflated with the knowledge that I was causing Alex any kind of stress when she already had more than enough to deal with.

“Don’t make that face.” Katya pouted. “It can’t be helped. And it’s not forever. Do you want my opinion?”

Feeling a little dejected, I nodded, hoping for something to lighten the sudden weight pressing into my gut.

“I think you’ve been a good influence on Alex,” she whispered.

“How so?”

Katya leveled me with a glare that screamedreally?and shook her head. “Take for example that huge investor meeting that we’d been planning for weeks,” she said. “You know the one?”