He blinked. “From you?”

“I brought in gifts for a few co-workers; I wanted to bring you one, too.”

He held my gaze for a moment, but with every fraction of a second that passed, I seemed to sink another inch into the floor. Without uttering a single word, he made me feel as if I’d done something terribly wrong when I thought I was doing something nice. Then, finally, he reached out and took the gift.

“Thank you,” he said flatly.

I watched as he set it aside on his desk and resumed jotting notes down on his notepad.

Even though I felt like I might burst into flames if I stood there another moment, I forced a faint smile. “Aren’t you gonna open it?”

He looked up at me again, enough irritation in his gaze to flood me with embarrassment. Wordlessly, he reached for the present, tore it open without even noticing the paper it was wrapped in, and ripped off the top of the box. He barely glimpsed the tie inside before closing the box and setting it aside. “There. Happy?”

I was crushed. He seemed angry at me for getting him a gift. I knew he wasn’t expecting one, but I thought it would be a pleasant surprise, not an annoyance.

Thankfully, I had to run an errand that day, so I fled the building before I suffocated on my own humiliation.

Not that my errand was much more enjoyable. I had to pick up a piece of jewelry for his wife. When I returned to the office, I had to wrap it, too. I was at my desk ensuring every crease was neat and perfect for her when Lee walked in with a Christmassy unicorn stuffed animal.

I looked up at him blankly as he set it on my desk. For a fraction of a second, I thought he was giving it to me. I was confused, but tentatively excited.

“Can you wrap this for my daughter, too? I like to get her something just from me.”

“Of course,” I murmured, grabbing the soft unicorn toy.

His daughter, Tina, wasn’t his biologically. When he met Tess, she was pregnant by an ex-fling. The biological father didn’t want to be in the picture, so when they started dating, Lee stepped up and took on that role. I think it’s one of the reasons they got married so quickly, maybe at all. In most regards, Lee is a careful, deliberate man who weighs his moves before he makes them, but he only dated Tess for six months before marrying her.