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Merlin kicked at the slush in his path. He’d been pacing in front of Pendragon, Inc. for the last twenty minutes, waiting for his crush to arrive. He thought it would be best to waylay her before they got inside the building, because once inside, his boss would waylay him and keep him busy all day. Plus, this idea had been niggling at him for days and the only way to make it stop was to ask her.
Morgana Pendragon was the most beautiful VP anywhere, let alone at Pendragon, Inc. He remembered the first time he’d seen her, on his first day of work here. She’d made her Chanel suit look fantastic and she smelled heavenly as she walked to his desk. Her ebony hair swirled loose around her head and her jade-green eyes took him by surprise. So stunned was he that he missed her question the first time she asked it. “I’m sorry?” he said.
“Is Arthur in? I need to speak to him.” Then she’d smiled kindly at him with her perfect mouth.
He made sure not to get lost in her lips so he could answer, “Yeah, go ahead.”
“You’re new here, aren’t you?”
“Hmm?” In his head he’d already fantasized about what he could do to that mouth.
“You’re Arthur’s new PA?”
“Oh, yes. Just started today.”
She stuck out her hand. “Morgana Pendragon, VP over design.”
He stared at her hand for a second before taking it. She was actually touching him! “Merlin Emrys.”
Her smile nearly knocked him out. “Nice to meet you, Merlin. I look forward to seeing more of you in the future.” Then she turned and minced her way to Arthur’s door, entering without bothering to knock.
And they had seen a lot of each other. Morgana and Arthur worked together a lot, it seemed. And every time she came to see her half-brother, she made sure to chat with Merlin a little first. He also saw her at company events and those sometimes evenings when Arthur invited him to the pub. She was always friendly, warm and kind, making sure Merlin was included. And he just fell deeper and deeper.
That brought him back to this moment, a year and then some after he’d started his job. His friend Gwaine was throwing “the ultimate New Year’s Eve bash” and had told Merlin that “he’d better not show up stag again” or he’d set Merlin up with someone. And that never worked out well for Merlin. Gwaine just sat on the sidelines and laughed his bum off.
So here he was, waiting for Morgana to show up so he could ask her to the party. And oh, there she was now, getting out of her car. He rushed forward. “Morgana, hi.”
“Hello, Merlin. Is there something I can help you with?” She stood there while her car drove away.
“Actually, yes. I, um . . .” He froze, forgetting the script he’d come up with inside his head. Poof! Gone.
She tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear as she watched him fumble for words. “Is it about the company Christmas party? Because I know you and Gwen have it—”
“No!” He cut her off accidentally. “Sorry. Um, I wanted to ask you something.”
She smiled. “Go ahead.”
“What are you doing New Year’s Eve?” he blurted out shyly. “I mean, you probably have like a thousand invitations and maybe I’m crazy to suppose you’d choose to come to my friend’s party with me, but . . .” he clapped an embarrassed hand over his mouth to stop spewing nonsense.
“You want me to go to your friend’s party with you?”
“Yes?”
She touched his arm. “Merlin, out of all the invitations I’ve received, yours was the most sincere and heartfelt. I’d love to go with you to that party.”
Merlin’s heart began tap-dancing in his chest. “You will? Fantastic!” He took both her hands. “Thank you so much.”
She looked a little surprised at his enthusiasm, but smiled back at him. “Would you like to walk me inside?”
“Absolutely!”
Morgana held onto his arm as they walked inside and took the elevator to their floor. As they walked to his desk, she leaned up to plant a kiss on his cheek. “Don’t forget to e-mail me the details,” she told him before walking away to her own office.
Merlin floated down to his chair, ignorant of the stares he was getting from the rest of the office. As far as he was concerned, his day had already been made. Nothing Arthur told him to do would ruin the sublimity that was this perfect day.