Read One Week (HaleStorm) for Free Online

out of her brain. At the very least, the inside of her mouth would be too scorched to do any damage. “That’s... thank you.”
    Dammit, his smile still seemed a little lazy and sleepy, his hair ruffled from the chilly breeze outside. Tough to feel all bitchy and righteous when he stood in front of her holding out a bag of muffins with that tired half-grin. Tough not to think about the fact that he’d only recently woken up. In fact....
    “Your shirt isn’t buttoned quite right.” She pointed to his chest.
    He shook his head and hooked the bag with the muffins over his wrist while he undid his shirt halfway to fix the misalignment, exposing a toned, olive chest. “Didn’t get a lot of sleep last night,” he mumbled as he re-fastened his shirt.
    “I hear you.” Coffee. I need so much more coffee. Elise took another glug-glug of her mocha, and handed over Michael’s from a small table by the elevator.
    Wouldn’t it figure, he lifted the lid and took a swipe of the whipped cream with his tongue.
    This is not, not, not happening .
    “Delicious. I needed this, thank you.” Michael took another lick of the good stuff from the top of his drink. “So. Shall we?”
    Elise blinked and nearly snarfed her swallow. “Oh. Yeah.” Cough, cough. Not-so-ladylike throat clear. “Yes, we shall.” She didn’t argue when he offered to help gather her things.
    He punched the elevator button. “You know, if I haven’t said it already, I do appreciate you being here to help.”
    She blamed the fact that she hadn’t eaten breakfast on the jitters in her stomach. “It’s my job.”
    “Of course,” he said. He leaned his head back against the wall of the elevator, letting his eyelids drift closed. “All the same, your efforts are appreciated. This has been... a lot.”
    She tried to tell herself not to stare, but she let her gaze linger anyway. It slid over the shadows under his eyes, his strong nose. Those broad cheekbones. “You know, you didn’t have to come in so early. I can save the parts I need your help with for whatever time you usually arrive.”
    With a rub of his eyes and another slurp of his coffee, he said, “For now, this is the time I arrive.”
    As they stepped off the elevator, something pinged in Elise’s center. “I’m sure Tom could help me—”
    “Tom has other issues to handle.”
    “Right. Well. It’s nice to have you here.” It’s nice to have you here? Oh, Elise. She downed her mocha so fast she thought she might shoot peppermint and chocolate from her nose. At the rate she was going she’d have the full stadium-sized cup drained by the time they reached the conference room.
    He smiled though, and she nearly tripped over herself. God, she couldn’t think clearly at this hour. Not the way this sleepy, handsome, muffin-delivering version of Michael reminded her of the guy she’d fallen for that summer she’d interned at HaleStorm. He’d been so nice, so friendly. The way he was being now.
    She needed to remember how he’d pushed her away. The way he’d screwed her over. God willing, by the time the caffeine had kicked in, she’d have her brain back online.
    He went to hold the door open for her when they got to the conference room. Feeling the need to put herself back in the driver’s seat, she rushed ahead to get it first.
    He brushed past her as he stepped through, and grinned again. Shit, she didn’t have her mental defenses in place yet, and even in the early morning he looked like he owned the world. “Thanks again for the muffins,” she managed.
    “Least I could do,” he said.
    Unsure how to respond, she ignored the heat that rose to her face and focused on getting on with their day. And boy, was it ever shaping up to be a long one.
    ***
    B y the time they’d finished both their coffees and Elise had started her second muffin, they’d actually settled into a pretty good rhythm together. With Elise’s trusty spreadsheets laid out on the conference room table between