“I’m aware,” Asher snaps. “But if you offer to get my breakfast, I don’t expect it to be thrown at me and I’d prefer it to be delivered before I die of starvation.”

“I see someone’s brushed up on their acting skills since middle school drama club.”

The whole office laughs. Asher doesn’t. He slams his door shut and the wreath I hung this morning falls to the floor. What a Grinch.

“I guess some things never change,” Levi laughs and glances back at River McGowan, the co-CEO and Asher’s father, who is also laughing.

“Let’s go to my office,” he says.

For one last time, Levi looks down at me and winks. “It was a pleasure standing under the mistletoe with you.”

The only thing I can think to say is, “thank you.”

He walks away and I don’t move for at least forty-five seconds. I keep waiting for him to come back. To get down on one knee and confess his love.

He doesn’t.

I sigh wistfully as I search blindly behind me for the doorknob and stumble back first into Asher’s office.

“I hope you’re here to apologize for assaulting me with a bagel that is neither double-toasted nor slathered in cream cheese.”

“Sorry.”

“Yeah, you sound it.”

Levi Booker held my hand. Underneath the mistletoe. If I had a blog—which I definitely don’t, especially not one about extraterrestrial conspiracy theories that the government might be interested in—I’d never stop writing about this moment. For the rest of my life. It’s all I’m ever going to talk about. I have officially peaked.

“Levi Booker is a fucking toad.”

I take a deep breath and count to three, which is how I start every conversation with Asher.

“There’s a Prince Charming inside every frog.”

“No, he’s just a fucking toad,” Asher says and he has cream cheese smeared over his lips. “But he sure did charm the panties right off of you.”

“That’s rude.”

He shrugs. “I wouldn’t feel too special. He did the same thing to Harriet from accounting and she’s, like, sixty-eight.”

“Stop trying to ruin my moment.”

Asher rolls his eyes. “You’re gonna meet a lot of Levi Bookers in this industry and the sooner you realize he’s already forgotten your name, the sooner we can move on to more important matters, like this exceptionally wrong bagel and the press releases I needed on my desk thirteen minutes ago.”

“I was just getting them.”

“Were you? Because I think you were drooling over a troll.”

“That is so—”