I don't know, Mia mouthed to Kallie and Sev as she trailed in Harlan's wake to his office.
"So, uh." Mia cleared her throat as Harlan shut the door. She placed the croissant on the corner of his desk, the slate mahogany table bigger than the couch she'd been sleeping on at Ruth's.
"Am I in trouble?" she asked as he took a seat in his chair.
Harlan grinned. "Why do you also assume you're in trouble with me, Fray?" he asked before taking another sip from his coffee.
Mia shrugged. She was still standing in the center of his office.
Is that weird? she thought. Should I be sitting?
Mia slid into one of the oversized chairs flanking his desk. "I don't know," she admitted with a shrug. God, she felt like she was in elementary getting called to the principal's office.
What was it about Harlan Veers that made every encounter feel...vital?
"You're not in trouble, if that eases your nerves," he assured.
It did. Big time.
Mia's shoulders slumped in relief.
She shook her head. "So why did you want to talk to me?" She had to keep her gaze from sliding over to Kallie and Sev on the other side of the glass wall.
If they were trying to be subtle about their gawking, they were doing a miserable job of it.
"I wanted to talk to you about last night," he said.
Mia straightened in her seat. "Oh?" She ran her finger over the hem of her skirt. "I don't think there's that much to talk about." Everything had already been said. By her. In a very dramatic, un-Mia manner.
And then he'd gone off and fucked his pyro of an 'ex.'
Again, why the hell did she care so much? Harlan could be having 70 person orgies and it would be litteraly zero of her concern. And by the sound of what Kallie was saying about his past, Mia wouldn't be surprised if orgies were actually something Harlan did.
Harlan chuckled. "Not much to talk about," he echoed, the words rolling off of his tongue like silk. "I would disagree, Fray." Harlan placed his empty coffee cup on his desk. "I'd like to take you out for dinner tomorrow."
Mia nearly choked on the air. What? She must have miss heard him. "Like a, like a date?" she asked. She had absolutely no control over the quiver in her voice.
The corners of his mouth quirked up in a smile. "Yes, Fray. Like a date."
Mia met his stare. Those midnight eyes were suffocating in the best way. She wanted to say yes. Despite her desperate attempts to avoid drama, she wanted to say yes. But then she remembered Kallie and Sev. More accurately, she remembered what they had said about Harlan.
Ass naked, reaching for the condom, Sev had exclaimed about Lucy and Harlan.
And what Kallie had said about all of his exes. All of them beautiful and clinically insane...
Mia sat back, her brows furrowing. "No thank you, Mr. Veers," she replied softly. She spoke down into her lap. She couldn't meet his stare. "I just don't think we're...very compatible." Translation: I can't date someone I don't trust. I did that with Lake and I'm not looking for a replay. Because we all know how that turned out.
"Ah." Harlan sat back with a nod. His eyes slid to Kallie and Sev on the other side of the window. The two were obviously straining to hear. Kallie may as well have knocked on the door and asked them to speak up.
"So what rumor did you hear?" Harlan asked as he stood. With his long legs he crossed the space between his desk and the wall of windows that overlooked the entire office floor.
Mia shook her head. "No, no rumors? I was just saying I don't think dinner would be a good idea," she explained.
"Breakfast, then," he said with a wink. Harlan pulled the curtains closed, shutting out Kallie and Sev along with the rest of the empty office.
Mia relaxed once the windows were closed. She couldn't take another second of Kallie and Sev's glaring.
Mia tried not to laugh. "Harlan, I mean Mr. Veers," she corrected. "I should get back to work."
Harlan slid back into his chair. "If your answer is no because you're genuinely not intrested, I will respect that." He held up his hands in peace. "But something tells me you're saying no for a different reason. I'd like to know why."
Mia rolled her eyes despite the crimson blush crawling up her neck. "Is it so hard to believe that I'm just not interested?"
Harlan tilted his head back, eyes narrowing. "Yes," he answered with a smirk.
Mia crossed her arms.
He wanted to know why?
Fine.
"I'm not intrested in guys who sleep with their girlfriends, who they deny actually dating, and ask out another girl the very next morning." She cocked her head to the side. "Is that a good answer?"
Harlan laughed. A dry chuckle that sent her heart fluttering.
"So that's what you heard?"
Mia nodded. "Someone saw you and Lucy after the party...and you two were...uh...yeah, doing stuff."
Harlan shook his head in mild amusement. "Fray, do you want to know what I was doing after the party?" he asked.
Mia leaned back. "Shouldn't it be who," she mumbled under her breath. "Whoa! What are you doing?" she exclaimed as Harlan took off his shirt.
He tossed his T-shirt onto his desk, the black shirt falling on the pile of papers in a puddle of cotton.
Mia jolted from her chair in alarm.
Harlan was....beautiful. Tattoos covered his broad chest, the black ink extending from his collar bone down to the sculpted V of his hips and passed the waist band of his pants.
Mia's mouth went dry.
"Oh my god!" she breathed as he turned around. His entire back was littered in fresh wounds, white stitches threaded through the angry red gashes of open skin.
The wounds were fresh. Like, really fresh.
"After you left I might have..." Harlan smiled sheepishly, a slight blush hitting his cheeks. "Had a few too many drinks."
Mia pulled her hand back. She hadn't even realized she'd reached out in the first place. "So the drinks grew arms and threw your back into a shredder?" she breathed incredulously.
Harlan laughed. "More like I fell ass first through a glass coffee table. I spent the rest of the party in the ER getting stitches."
Mia threw her hand over her mouth. Her eyes slid over to the wall of windows where Sev and Kallie sat beyond the black curtains.
Oh god.
She was going to kill Sev. The one time she actually believed his dumb gossip. And it turned out to be a load of steaming crap.
"I'm so sorry," Mia pleaded, holding her head in her palm. She felt like such an idiot.
Harlan bent over his desk and reached for his shirt. "Sorry for thinking I had sex last night? Or sorry that my back looks like a war zone?" he prompted with a wink.
Mia sank back in her seat as a flood of humilation washed over her chest.
She shook her head. "Both?" she admitted softly.
So dumb. She was so dumb.
"I swear I usually never believe in the gossip around here," she began. "I just...I don't know, there's no excuse and I'm really sorry, Harlan. That was so unfair of me to assume that you...you know." God, was she still talking? Mia wanted the world to break in half and swallow her whole.
Harlan laughed. A gentle sound that eased the angry blush that had begun to consume her cheeks.
"It's okay, Fray," he assured. Harlan threw his shirt back on, the soft cotton sliding back over the muscles that rippled down his torso.
Damn.
His body belonged somewhere in a museum.
Mia shook her head. "If you want to take back your date offer? I totally understand," she admitted, giving him a clear exit off of her crazy highway of insane.
Harlan only chuckled. "Does 5 work?" he asked. He glossed over her question with a smile.
Mia smiled back. It was an easy smile. Which came as a shock because lately easy wasn't a word she could use in her life.
"5 is perfect," she replied softly. "We'll go after work?"
He nodded. "Perfect," Harlan echoed while sliding back into his seat.
"Oh!" Mia stood from her seat on numb legs. "Won't there be a problem with us going out?"
His left brow arched. She caught the glint of an old scar slicing down the side of his temple. Huh. She hadn't noticed that before.
"Just, you're my boss? Aren't there rules against going out with a subordinate?" she asked.
"I'm CEO, Fray. I pretty much make the rules."
She smiled. Right.
"Also there are forms we can fill out, too," he added with a wink.
"Okay. See you at 5," she said while heading for the door.
"See you at 5," he echoed.