Iris

"Ivy, I need to have a word with you."

Garrett's rumbling voice heated all the right places. Unfortunately, I was in the wrong place for that to happen, and I dragged my fingers away from the keyboard and swiveled my chair to face him. Thank god whatever he wanted to talk about was making me too anxious to focus on devouring him with my eyeballs because good lord the man made a suit look indecent.

"Is everything okay?"

Holy crap. I expected the question to come out shaking and nervous; instead, it was smoke and velvet wrapped in a purr and absolutely did not belong to me. Did I actually transform into my sister overnight?

He cleared his throat and adjusted his tie. "With Paul and Portia being out, you'll be the one helping me with the proposal for this year's Community Outreach Conference. Most of it's done, but there were a few numbers we needed to finalize, and..."

"And?" I prompted after he hesitated for longer than a few seconds. It was almost as if he was embarrassed.

A thick, dark brow arched as his lips twitched. "And I hate to admit this, but I don't really know how to navigate the program for the presentation. I also don't have access to any of the shared drives your team uses. Portia keeps the raw data there and sends me the polished product."

I relaxed. While not ideal with all the other work I had to catch up on, this was something I could do. Before my first book made it big, I'd been one of the best admin assistants in the area. Nothing they were using in this office was new to me, and I'd studied up on the proposal in case anyone asked questions.

"Do you mind sending me an email with a precise list of what it is you need? I like having that on hand for reference, but I can start with getting you the raw data files."

"Actually," Garret cut me off, rubbing his hand across the back of his neck.

He inched his way further into the cubicle and propped his hip against my desk. We were close enough I could smell the expensive cologne he wore, and it did something funny to my insides.

I looked up and found his green gaze had slid several inches lower than my eyes, which prompted me to look down since the perfectly modest button up blouse I was wearing wouldn't tempt Satan himself. Turns out the cologne also did funny things to my outside, and the lace bras Ivy insisted on making me purchase did nothing to disguise my hard nipples.

Garrett cleared his throat again. At least, that's what I thought he did. It sounded like he was in physical pain.

"I'm going to need you to show me how to access everything myself, since I'll be attending the conference alone."

Alone. That was odd. Not that I didn't think he could handle it himself, but I'd looked at the schedule. Anyone with that much to do, much less someone of his stature, would require an assistant to travel with him, but... with Portia and Paul gone, that left only me. And he clearly didn't trust me—or Ivy—to get the job done.

Torn between wanting to prove I could do the job and avoiding an awkward weekend with my sister's boss who I would totally sleep with if he so much as hinted at being interested, I forced a smile to my lips. While this little swap with my sister was for both our benefits, I couldn't do anything that would jeopardize her career.

"Sure, I can do that, but I need to finalize a few orders if we want the supplies to come in this week."

Garrett nodded and rushed out of the office like it was on fire. "That's fine. Look at our schedules and pick something that works for both of us. We may have to work a bit later than usual to accommodate everything."

"I need to make up my time, anyway." Overtime with Garrett. Dear lord. That's the opposite of what I needed to happen.

"You know we aren't counting that against you. Things happen, Ivy." He paused. "You are okay, right? After yesterday?"

"I'm fine."

"Fine," he repeated. "He hasn't tried to contact you, has he?"

He'd been blowing up Ivy's phone. She'd sent me a few screenshots, and they were enough to make me a bit nervous about running into him. But I didn't think he was dangerous.

"No. I haven't heard from him." At least that wasn't a lie.

"Good. You'll tell me if he has." It was a command. Not a request. And certainly not one a boss should make.

"Will do."

"Good. We'll talk again this afternoon."

When he was gone, I slid down in my chair and banged my head on the desk. Today had been going so well. I glanced at the time. A quarter before noon. Maybe one day I would make it through lunch without hiccups.

"Only two weeks and two and a half days," I whispered, picking up my mouse and trying to find where I'd left off. "I can do this. God, I hope I can do this."