Lily

I grab my bag before standing up. I skip over to Muffin and he lifts his head. "Going on my lunch break." I say and kiss him on the cheek. "Want anything?"

He smiles, turns around in his chair and stands up. Muffin holds my head in his hands and I gasp when his lips meet mine eagerly. He kisses me passionately for a moment before breaking away. As I breathe heavily in disbelief, he touches my cheek. "You."

"Well, um, I-"

He sits back down and laughs. "Go to lunch, Lily."

I begin walking to the door. "And what are you going to eat?"

He lifts his head back down and gets back to working on whatever is on his desk. "I don't need to eat."

I frown and stop walking. "Yes, you do. I want you to eat something, Muffin."

His head lifts immediately, and he stares at me with a small smile. Muffin shrugs, "Then I'll just eat you instead."

"Eat me? You can't eat m-" I gasp and point a finger at him, "My goodness gracious, you horny man!"

He only laughs as a response and I shake my head, walking out of his office. After I close the door behind me, I turn around and jump slightly. Kelly stands in front of me with a look of confusion as I hold my heart.

"You've got to warn somebody, Kelly! You can not just appear out of nowhere like a gosh darn murderer!"

We begin walking as I rub my necklace to calm down, and she stops. "What if I am a murderer?"

I pause and grip my bag. I try to look in her eyes to decipher whether she is messin' with me or not, but I cannot quite tell and that begins to freak me out.

"If you're a murderer, you've got to be the nicest one I've seen."

"How do you figure?"

I frown. "Have you not watched any crime shows? A woman like me would have gotten my head blown off so fast even the flash himself wouldn't be able to help me. But you haven't killed me yet. You're a little softy!"

What if she's just waiting, though?

Kelly and I begin walking again and she faces me, "What do you mean, a woman like you?"

I laugh and pat her shoulder as we reach the break room. "Oh, honey, you know it's no secret I like to babble."

We take a seat at our table, her sitting across from me as usual. I take out my peanut-butter-jelly sandwich, diet Pepsi and orange as she takes out home cooked chicken wings.

I take a bite and when Garlica opens her mouth to speak, she stops, seeing Muffin walk inside. The talking stops and everyone turns away as he walks to me with a smile.

Muffin doesn't say a word as he takes a chair from someone's table and sits next to me. I smile and kiss his cheek, "Hi! Garlica and I were just getting ready to eat!"

"Hey, baby." He responds, his voice deep and my insides tingle.

He leans back in his chair and crosses his arms, the white long sleeve shirt he has, hugging his muscular arms. My goodness, I should have taken him up on that eating me offer. My hand goes over my mouth at my thoughts.

Lily! How nasty of you!

But I just can't help it. Theo has made me think like this since the moment I met him. He just gets my insides all warm and tingly. My cheeks are nearly always pink at the bold things he says and Lord have mercy, the way he treats me is just so darn attractive those kinds of thoughts never leave my head. Well, except when I'm eating his food. I don't think very nice things about him when I'm eating the food he has made.

Muffin looks around and frowns. "Why so quiet?" He asks, and I can tell he is seriously confused.

I laugh, "Theo, they're afraid of you."

His frown grows wider. "What? Why? I know I'm hot, but what have I done to scare them physically?"

Garlica laughs and I face her, "Mr. Acquire, you fire someone almost every other day. You've never smiled at any of your employees and just last week you strangled Jerry for buying Lily lunch."

Muffins' eyes land on mine and I turn away, blushing. I certainly remember that day because of what he did to me when we arrived home. I shutter and my heart begins to race just thinking about it. He smirks and rests his hand on my thigh before turning back to Garlica.

"Thanks for reminding me of that, Katie."

"It's actually, Ke-"

"I haven't fired someone in a while." When attention goes to the blonde woman and Tyler from the third floor, I know I won't see them again. "You're both fired." He orders and their mouths goes agape.

"But sir!"

My heart falls at the look of sadness on her face. I tap Theo and he faces me. "Come on, Muffin!"

He shakes his head. "Saw and her Tyler fucking in the print room."

I gasp and frown at them, "Y'all were bumpin' uglies in the print room!" They nod and I throw hands up, "Well that doesn't help your case, now does it!"

The blonde woman stares at me with tears in her eyes, "Lily, I'm sorry, but have you seen him?"

Muffin turns to me with a glare when I am about to glance at him. I bring my attention back to the blonde woman and narrow my eyebrows, "Are you trying to bring me down with you?"

"As I said before, you're both fired so g-"

I make Muffin face me, holding his face. "Okay, what about a staring contest?" I say desperately, "If I win, you've got to let them stay."

He gets out of my hold and shakes his head. "That won't work."

I frown, "Well, why not?"

"I need to concentrate in a staring contest." He stands up. "And I can't do that when I look at you."

I stare up at him in shock and feel my eyes water a little. I think that's the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me. It made me look at myself slightly differently. I glance at myself through the reflection on the toaster and smile to myself. I actually like what I see a little.

He bends down and kisses my cheek before sighing and begins walking away. "The only reason I'm not firing your asses is because I can never seem to say no to my girl." He says before exiting the break room.

I smile and clap happily as the blonde woman and Tyler breathe a sigh of relief. My smile drops when I turn back around to Kelly. A frown rests on her face.

"What's wrong, honey?"

"Are you sure he's not leading you on, Lily?"

I take a bite of my sandwich and swallow it before replying, "What do you mean?"

"I'm just saying, how do you know he's not leading you on? You guys have known each other for almost five months and been together for what, almost three months?"

I try to shake off the doubt that is creeping in at her words. "We're taking it slowly. We've both been hurt, so we want it to be r-"

"Taking your time, yeah, I know. Blah, blah, blah, blah. It's all gibberish if you ask me. He's leading you on and you're just too blind to see it."

"No he's not. He's just a little scared. We're both sca-"

She pats my shoulder. "Think about it, Lily. How many beautiful women do you see around here that he could have a serious relationship with?"

I think I've just lost my appetite.

Tears forming in my eyes, I throw my sandwich in the garbage and sling my bag over my shoulder. I fix the straps on my sandals before standing up.

"I thought you were my friend." I say before walking away.

I try to think nothing of it, but as I pace back in front of Theo's office, her words remain in my head. She was right. I'm absolutely no match to the perfect women walking around this building every day.

I open the door quickly and his head shoots up."Hey, Lily-"

"Is it true, Muffin?" I ask, and when he looks closer, he stands up.

"Why are you about to cry?"

"Is it true, Theo?"

He steps closer. "Is what?"

"Are you leading me on? Am I just your practice run?"

"What? No. Why would you say t-"

I shake my head and grip my bag before walking back to the door. He tries to follow behind me but I close the door behind quickly. I rub my necklace as I stride away. I go into the bathroom and pace in front of the sink.

I don't know why I'm acting this way. It seems like the thought of Muffin being with someone else always makes me emotional. That realization makes me pause. I stand in front of the mirror with a small smile.

"I love him." I whisper. My smile grows wider. "I mother frickin' love him."

Diddy always told me, the moment I started acting crazier than I already am for someone, I was in love. At the time, I was confused. Mostly because he was teaching me how to cut a tomato when he said it.

I stride back out of the bathroom in determination to tell him. I have to take the stairs because the elevator is broken and once I reach his office, I am out of breath. I take a deep breath before opening the door. His head lifts as I stand in front of him.

I hold a finger out as my breathing starts to return to normal, "Boy, those stairs are nothin' to play around about."

Once I finally do, I grip the sides of my dress in nervousness. "You're mean. And you're always makin' fun of me. Your cooking is not very delightful and you've got a big temper."

"Lily-"

"But that thing you do with your hands is so darn cute. The noise you make when you first wake up is adorable and gosh darn it I love you." I finally say and wipe my eyes aggressively to keep the tears from falling. "There, I said it and if you don't feel the same way, well then, I'm going to feel very stupid."

He stands up slowly and begins walking towards me. "Say it again."

"Don't mock me, please."

"I'm not mocking you. I'm asking the person I love to tell me they love me again."

My eyes widen. "What?"

"I love you, Lily."

I shake my head in disbelief, "Your messin' with me, aren't you?"

He holds my head in his hands, "I am in love with Lily Hernandez."

"Are you ta-"

"No, I'm not talking about another Lily Hernandez. I'm talking about this one right here. The woman I'm so desperately in love with it hurts."

I lift my head down as a few tears fall down my cheek. He makes me look at him and frowns. "Why are you crying? What did I d-"

I smile and get out of his hold. "These are happy tears, baby."

He smiles and I pinch his cheek, "You look so pretty when you smile, sugar."

His cheeks brighten a little and he starts walking back to his desk. "You're blushin'!"

"No, I'm not shut up."

Theo and I work for a while longer before we decide to leave early. I make my aunt Lou's fried chicken recipe for dinner and Muffin tries to help me, but I don't allow it. I think I'd just about go berserk if my chicken came out wrong.

We watch his favorite movie, Venom, which has got to be the scariest movie on Earth, if you ask me. After the movie, I decide to go to sleep as he puts on a reality show.

"Goodnight."

I give him a quick kiss before turning away and putting the blanket over me. He turns the light on, and the television before getting out of bed. I frown as he kneels on the floor and rests his arms on my leg.

"What's wrong?" He asks.

I smile, "Nothing's wrong."

He frowns." Did someone fuck with you, Lily? I'll kill 'em, I swear."

"No one messed with me, sugar. Why? What happened?"

"You didn't say Muffin."

"What?"

"Goddamnit, Lily, you didn't say Muffin. You said, 'Goodnight', gave me a kiss and turned around. Instead of 'Goodnight Muffin.' and putting your leg on mine before turning around. That means something's wrong. So, what's up?"

I laugh. "Aren't you just a peach? You're adorable, Theo." I hug him tightly and rock side to side as he grumbles something underneath his breath.

Once I let go, he stands up and turns the light back off. "So you're not mad at me or anything? Nobody fucked with you?" He asks, getting back into bed and places my leg on his.

"No, Muffin. I'm perfectly fine." I reply, smiling in happiness. Not for any particular reason. But simply because I can go to sleep knowing I am loved by the man I love so dearly.