Into You Series: The Complete Collection

24. Ian

CHAPTER 24

IAN

Four years ago

“ T his is a horrible gift, right?” Cameron asks me.

“No, it’s a great gift for people who live in the 90s, or people who like dismembered animals.”

“I never really thought of it like that…” Cam holds the pink rabbit’s foot keychain up to his face, scrunching his nose and pulling his lips back in a grimace. “Yeah, that does kind of ruin it.”

“I bet someone would find it fun,” I say. My feet are propped on Gary’s desk as I swivel around in his chair. I take a gummy bear from his large candy jar and pop it in my mouth. What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him.

“So, what are you going to get her?” I ask. “A teddy bear? Or—possibly!—a ring?” I let my jaw fall open, but the sudden point of his finger elicits only a tiny bit of guilt from me.

Cameron isn’t going to propose to his girlfriend. I know that, Cameron knows that, and Abby must surely know that. He wouldn’t settle for anyone less than perfect, or someone who’s such a jerk. Abby is like cool ice against hot asphalt—always seconds from melting and constantly surrounded by steam.

“That’s not funny,” Cam says, plopping himself back at his desk and scrolling on his laptop, probably trying to find another gift just as genius as the rabbit’s foot. I reach into Gary’s candy stash once more and toss two more gummy bears in my mouth.

The designer’s den is dark with the exception of Cameron’s desk lamp and every third overhead light, available in case of emergency. Cameron won’t say it yet, but he doesn’t want to go home. Hell, neither do I, but I have far different reasons. He’s just unhappy in his relationship, whereas my demons run deeper.

A stray light shines through the doorway and I lean farther back in the chair to catch sight of its source. I hear a door close and the clopping of heels on the concrete as Nia’s head pokes around the corner.

I should have known.

“What you two still doing here?” she asks.

“We’re shopping on Amazon,” I say, grinning. Nia smiles back, dawdling around the corner and walking down the aisle toward us, her purse swinging by her side. She’s wearing her typical outfit: tight pencil skirt hitting her knees, loose cotton blouse tucked in, and heels high. She’s both professional and sexy all at once. How she balances the two is a mystery to me, but it’s a puzzle I enjoy all the same.

“At work?” she asks. “Go home.”

I’m tired, it’s late, and all I want to do is follow that comment up with Can I go home with you? However, I’m also not a big enough idiot to provoke the one person who could convince the right people to get me fired.

“I’m not shopping,” Cameron says from behind his laptop.

“Liar,” I shoot back. He glares.

I reach into Gary’s jar of goodies once more and pull out a particularly squishy bear, twiddling it between my thumb and forefinger.

“Don’t play with your food,” Nia says, rolling her eyes. “It’s not even yours.” Her hand twitches and I wonder if she wants to slap it out of my hand. Instead, I take it to my teeth and grind the gummy slowly.

It’s silent for a moment with just the sound of Cameron tapping on his laptop trackpad and my intentionally obnoxious chewing of the candy. My eyes do not leave Nia. With her head turned toward Cameron, I take every moment I can to look at her long, curled locks, pinned in a half up-do. How do women do that? And why do they think it looks different enough to finagle? Seems like more trouble than it’s worth to me. But, also, I’m sitting here admiring her exposed neck, so maybe that answers my question.

“Any plans tonight?” I ask her, adjusting my legs to be propped higher on Gary’s desk, accidentally knocking over a cup full of pencils.

“Come on, Ian. Get your feet off the desk,” she groans. I drop them.

“Polly, sometimes I like it when you tell me to do things,” I say. Even in the low light of the office, I see her face flush red.

“And is this one of those times?” she asks with a slight stutter to her tone.

“It’s always one of those times,” I say. I love watching her glare at me—the narrowing of her eyes, the furrowing of her brow, and the small scrunch of her nose as she purses her lips.

I spot the pink rabbit’s foot on the edge of the desk and swipe it up, spinning the keyring on my finger.

“Hey, want a rabbit’s foot?”

Nia pauses then shrugs. “Sure,” she says, holding out her hand. I drop it in, grazing my fingers over hers. She snaps her hand closed around it, causing me to jerk my hand back with a grin. “I had one of these as a kid,” she says, rolling it in her palm. “They always freaked me out, but it’s morbidly fascinating, you know?”

I love seeing this side of Nia, getting little details about her life. Piece by piece, bit by bit, year by year, I find out more. I want it all.

“You’re an odd person, Polly,” I say, popping my feet back on the desk. When she glares, I don’t move. I lift an eyebrow in challenge. It’s silent. Dare I say we’re having a “moment”? She rolls her eyes. I wonder if she read my mind.

“Go home, you two,” she groans, turning on her heel and leaving. Once I hear the front doors close, I twist in my chair toward Cameron.

“See?” I say. “I told you some woman would appreciate it.”

“Whatever,” he huffs. “She can have it. Now help me find something better.”

I browse on my phone for more meaningless gifts, but all I can think about is if Nia will actually keep the one I gave her, and whether or not she felt the buzz between us just now.