The Spanish Love Deception by Elena Armas (the mitten read aloud TXT) 📗

legs walk me out of the meeting room. My short limbs were on a mission, trying to catch up with the long strides of the man I was chasing.

In the matter of a couple of minutes, which wasn’t long but about enough for my heart to start racing with a weird and strange anticipation, he reached his office. I entered only a few steps behind him.

I watched Aaron walk up to his chair and let his body fall onto it, his lids falling shut and his right hand reaching for his face. He rubbed his eyes.

He must have thought he was alone because I didn’t think Aaron had ever allowed himself to look like this when there was someone around. So weary. Real and not that steel facade he always put on.

Just like it had happened on Saturday, the urge to comfort him rose again. And despite myself, I almost started in his direction and asked if he was okay. Thankfully, the little common sense I had around this man stepped in and stopped me from embarrassing myself.

Aaron did not want my comfort. He didn’t even want to be my friend.

Standing on the other side of his desk, only that piece of functional furniture separating us, I finally made my presence noticed. “Congratulations!” I blurted with a dose of extra enthusiasm that I regretted immediately.

Aaron straightened in his chair, his palm falling to the armrest. “Catalina,” he said in a voice that, now, I could not hear without thinking of last Saturday. His gaze zeroed in on me, his features piecing back together. “Thank you.”

“You deserve the promotion.”

He did. And beneath everything I was feeling in that moment, I was only happy for him. Genuinely.

He nodded in silence.

Grabbing on to my planner with both hands, knowing it was the only way I could keep myself from fidgeting, I hunted my disjointed mind for a way to voice what I had come here to say as we stared at each other in silence.

“I think we should …” I trailed off, still not finding a way to say it. “I think it’s better if we—” I shook my head. “I know you probably don’t have the time to talk. But I think we should do that.” I watched him frown. “Privately.” That frown deepened. “If you have the time, of course.”

I didn’t want that door behind me closed because the idea of being in a room with Aaron made my heart do silly, stupid things that I was trying really hard to ignore. But it was the only way to ensure nobody would either come in or walk by and overhear us.

“Of course,” he said with his brows still furrowed. “I always have time for you.”

That stupid lurch in my chest resumed.

Swiftly, Aaron unfolded his body from the chair and walked around the desk and then around me while I kept my gaze where he had been a few seconds ago. Standing there like a total dummy, I heard him shut the door, the noise echoing in the silent room.

“Sorry,” I mumbled as he reappeared in front of me. “I could have done that myself. I just didn’t—” I sighed. “I didn’t think. Thanks.”

This time, he didn’t return to his chair. Instead, he leaned his body on the edge of the wooden surface of his desk. “It’s okay. We can talk now.”

Those blue eyes of his pinned me down, waiting.

“We can talk now, yes,” I repeated, squaring back my shoulders. “I think we should do that.” I watched his head nod, feeling my skin clammy with trepidation. “It would be good to clear the air after … all that’s happened.”

“Yes, you are right,” he admitted. Bracing his arms on the desk, his hands grabbed on to the edge. “I came into work today with the intention to get you after the meeting. Suggest that we could have lunch together and talk.”

Lunch together.

“But we never do that.”

Aaron sighed very softly. “I know,” he said almost bitterly. “But I wanted to take you anyway.”

I stared at him, finding it hard to ignore the effect his words had on me.

“I don’t think I’ll be able to now. My whole day has been sidetracked by the news.”

That … that was just as shocking as him admitting to wanting to have lunch with me.

“You didn’t know Jeff would announce your promotion?”

“Not really. I didn’t think that was going to happen anytime soon. Especially not today,” he confessed, sending about a million questions rushing through my mind. “But that’s not important now. You want to talk about us, I assume. So, let’s do that.”

“But it is,” I countered, feeling outraged on his behalf and ignoring the way that us had made me feel. “I think Jeff ambushing you like that is important. I can’t imagine why he would do something like this. It’s just”—I lowered my voice, realizing it had somewhat risen—“unprofessional.”

The blue in Aaron’s eyes simmered, now looking surprised himself. “It is; you are right. And I’ll talk to him about how much, trust me.”

“Good. You should.”

Something softened in his face, and I averted my eyes, letting them rest somewhere above his shoulder. Not wanting him to know I cared as much as I did. Simply because I shouldn’t. We were still the same Lina and Aaron we had always been—certainly not friends—and about to be divided by a whole step in the hierarchy of the company.

Releasing one of my hands from the death grip I had on my planner, I scratched the side of my neck. My gaze still refused to shift to the left, where it’d probably connect with his. So, instead, it moved down, following the seam of the blue button-down that covered his wide shoulders while a thick silence wrapped around us.

“Listen, about our deal—” I started.

“On Saturday, I—” Aaron said at the same time.

Finally returning my eyes to his face, I found him gesturing for me to go ahead. I accepted the chance with a nod.

“I will say this, and I’ll be