“This is Corrine’s office. I know the two of you will get along well.” He points to me and winks as he walks away. “Pay close attention. You’ll learn a lot from her.”

I take a moment alone on this side of the door. I check my tie, catch a glimpse of any stains on my suit in the reflection of the glass. But all I see is a blob of brown on top of my head and dark shapes where my glasses sit. Fuzzy and undefined. That feels depressingly on brand.

I adjust the pant leg I’m in an ongoing battle with, but it creeps up my leg again, displaying my lucky socks. Taking a deep breath, I knock.

“Come in,” a voice calls from the other side of the door.

I step into an all-white office. It’s so bright I squint. So clean, so sterile I want to take off my shoes to not to leave footprints. A small white couch, an armchair with no arms, and a glass coffee table sit in the open space in front of a white desk. Two pocket doors bracket the crisp white wall behind the desk.

And standing across the room, one dark eyebrow arched, her red lips tightly pursed, casting a stark black silhouette in this crisp white space, is the woman from the elevator.

My brain stutters, stalling on the image of her there and now here. Her hair shining under the elevator lights still lingers on the backs of my eyelids. The smell of coconuts doesn’t belong here. That scent belongs back in that elevator. But after two good sniffs, here it is still.

I close my eyes tight, like if I turn my brain off and on again it will work better. But when I open them, it’s still her, with that severe bun and the peplum top and red glasses. The Corrine Blunt I found on the company’s website looked nothing like this woman, who glares at me like she eats bright-eyed and bushy-tailed things for breakfast. Whatever similarities I thought we had have been surgically removed. Every possible reason for why this woman is in Corrine Blunt’s office runs through my head. But it keeps returning to the only horrifying explanation:

Corrine Blunt is the woman from the elevator.

Copyright © 2021 by Ruby Barrett

Carina Adores is home to romantic love stories where LGBTQ+ characters find their happily-ever-afters.

SAILOR PROOF by Annabeth Albert
MEET ME IN MADRID by Verity Lowell
THE LIFE REVAMP by Kris Ripper
IF YOU LOVE SOMETHING by Jayce Ellis
D’VAUGHN AND KRIS PLAN A WEDDING by Chencia C. Higgins
SINK OR SWIM by Annabeth Albert
GOING PUBLIC by Hudson Lin
BOOK BOYFRIEND by Kris Ripper
EIGHT WEEKS IN PARIS by S.R. Lane
THE ROMANCE RECIPE by Ruby Barrett
PACK OF LIES by Charlie Adhara
THE NANNY CATASTROPHE by Kitt Sterling
THE GENTLEMAN’S BOOK OF VICES by Jess Everlee

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