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Chapter 1
    Allison
    Friday: also known as the day every person in the office goes just a little insane with wanting the week to be over. Fridays made me antsy in general, but today I had a gift ready to give my boss, Joshua, and I didn’t know how I was going to give it to him. I wanted to hand it over in person, but I also wanted to avoid the awkward moment where he looked away, distracted, after barely acknowledging my existence.
    I bounced up and down in my cushioned swivel chair, and tried not to get up for a third time to use the bathroom. I kicked my legs out in front of me, stopping every couple of seconds to look at my feet. Maybe I should have worn the black flats with these pants, instead of the brown ones. Maybe I should do some stretches, read an inspirational quote or two.
    Maybe I should just give him the damn present already, go home early, and curl up with my cat.
    It didn’t matter much what I did, or what I wore. Nobody really saw me behind the walls of my cubicle, and I wasn’t one of the pretentious girls who had to flaunt themselves in the office. Not that those girls bothered me. It just seemed kind of silly for them to be so obsessed with their looks. Or maybe I was just jealous because when it came to make-up skills, well. I didn’t have any.
    I checked my desk drawer for the second time in five minutes to make sure the special gift was still there. Then I peeked around the edge of my cubicle and tried to catch a glimpse of Joshua. To seem less obvious, I pretended to rearrange the dried lavender sachets that I’d pinned to the wall. I’d made my little space as personal as I could, and Joshua had even complimented me on it one time. I could still remember when he asked me who the “big black fur ball” was in my picture. It was Bub, of course, the giant black cat I had rescued from a shelter five years ago. Joshua had glanced at a few of my other photos, too. He commented on how cute my niece Becky was, and how much my sister and I resembled each other.
    So I wasn’t invisible; Joshua had even noticed me. Once.
    His office door opened with a snick sound that I knew better than my favorite song, and I risked another peek over my wall. There he was, six manly feet of gorgeous alpha CEO, standing not twenty feet from me. He was deep in conversation with a brusque-looking woman I didn’t recognize, probably an advertiser interested in cashing in on Scintilla’s popularity. Technically it was Tolbert & Tolbert, but we all just called it Scintilla, after the matchmaking website that had taken off and was snowballing in popularity.
    I could still remember the first time I saw Joshua. He’d been wearing a chambray jacket with a polo shirt underneath, and a pair of khakis. I couldn’t believe how handsome he was, and I knew that I was in love with him from that moment on. His dark, wavy hair always reminded me of a model, and his dark brown eyes looked like they could see right through me. In fact, they usually did see right through me. As if I wasn’t even there.
    I sighed. My best friend kept telling me I needed to be more confident. So I read one of the quotes that I’d tacked above Bub’s picture. What you send out to the world comes back to you.
    I opened my desk drawer one more time. The bottle of Highland Park Dark Origins , Joshua’s favorite liquor, was still there. Like any responsible woman with a giant crush on her boss, I’d overheard him talking on the phone one day. He mentioned this being his favorite drink and I’d been waiting for the perfect opportunity to give it to him.
    “Hey you,” came the chipper sound of a male voice.
    I slammed the drawer shut.
    “Oh, hey.” I tried to sound casual. Jamie Tolbert, Joshua’s brother, was peering over my cubicle wall at me. He couldn’t seem to stay in his office; I’d once heard Joshua joking about gluing Jamie’s ass to his chair, just to make him get some work done. Jamie was a good guy, but nothing compared to Joshua. He