“Well, the next time I piss you off, I’ll be sure to leave my dirty clothes with you,” he said as he pushed his sleeves up his forearms.

“I mean, didn’t you kind of do that once already?” I teased.

My eyes caught his as he let out a surprised laugh. I loved that we could go back and forth like this; he could dish it, but he could also take it. And it dawned on me: Talking to Hayes was fun. So fun, in fact, that I’d forgotten why I was there in the first place.

“Well…” I trailed off. “Um…I’m just going to measure your windows so we can finalize the shades so…”

You’re here to work, Franny, I reminded myself. And he’s dating a blond skyscraper of human perfection. You need to let it go.

“Of course. Don’t let me hold you up,” he said with a curt nod. We were back to being cardboard cutouts, two paper dolls dancing around each other. It was probably better this way, I reasoned. This was work, nothing more. But I couldn’t help but hate the quiet left in the wake of our laughter.

I gave him a small wave and walked toward the endless windows beckoning me, ushering in the late-afternoon light. I snuck a look back to see him sitting on the floor of his office, leaning against the wall, legs long and crossed in front of him, laptop on his thighs. His focus was intense, singular, direct, and watching him stare at his computer reminded me how much I liked it when that focus was squarely on me.

I stuck my wireless headphones in and got to work measuring, photographing, and flipping over to my iPad occasionally, referring back to the mood boards I’d made. The light shifted on the wood floors below me, the shadows disappearing as the sun set lower in the sky. I got into a groove, plopping down on the floor to work, so involved in what I was doing that when I felt a hand on my shoulder, I shrieked in shock and yanked an earbud out of my ear, tossing it across the floor.

“Whoa,” was all I heard behind me. I twisted around, and there, overhead, like the sun, was Hayes.

“Sorry, you surprised me.” I shook out my shoulders, that sudden adrenaline rush still coursing through me. “I can kind of get lost in my work.”

“I get it,” he said, and then he laughed. “I thought you were about to kick my ass.”

“Maybe later,” I said, giving him a grin.

“Are you doing anything else with the roof today?” he asked. “I wanted to see if you needed help.”