response to the name selection results had been far from Christian, but she could take the high road. And then there was Mitch. Hadn’t he understood the unfair behavior and taken steps to support a cause she loved?
She raised the issue with her group, which sparked a whole new discussion, this centered on work versus personal relationships.
“The part that takes me by surprise is the recognition that I want to impress him. I want to earn his…respect. His trust.”
“And, thereby, his admiration?”
The slightest lilt of knowing flavored Rosemarie’s question. A sweet rush of attraction swept Tiffany through. Heat tangled with dizziness and pressed against the restraint of her natural and ever-present shyness. “Oh, don’t go too far with that scenario. To be frank, I doubt I’d know what to do with a man like Mitch Alexander. He’s oceans away from my league, and that’s OK.”
Lee Yong frowned at that verdict. “What we do—what we are about—is love. He would be lucky to inhabit your league. You need to stop retreating and selling yourself short. If he has come into your life with a punch, there’s a reason for it. You need to think about that. You need to pray about that. Don’t live a life of fear. Don’t be timid!”
Tiffany nodded, not so much to agree as to appease her friend. “Point taken, Mr. Yong. Thank you.”
He softened immediately. “God bless you, sweet one.”
“You as well, and I’ll see you next week.”
She strode to the bank of elevators that would lead her to the thirty-eighth floor, pondering the impact of the Scriptures they had reviewed today as well as the mentoring of her friends. She had always been one to blend into her surroundings, and there was nothing wrong with that characteristic. She’d never be the kind of chic, urban glamazon like the hundreds upon hundreds who brushed past her each day. She meant it when she said that was OK. She loved to observe, not bask in the limelight. There was beauty to that fact, and she knew it, but she also knew she couldn’t continue to allow her natural sense of reservation to push people away from her heart.
Especially when it came to someone who enticed and excited her the way Mitch Alexander did. He unsettled her safe and comfortable sense of the status quo. That spelled trouble, but in an odd form of paradox, it also spelled promise…
5
Mitch made excuses to see Tiffany, to be close enough to observe. JR’s arrival in the city complicated matters, because everyone realized the search for Mitch’s successor had reached critical mass. As such, office-wide attention homed in on him and sharpened focus. Stilted behavior turned into the rule of the day.
Regardless of office innuendo and curiosity, all of a sudden he noticed everything about Tiffany. Everything . In the days that followed, he took note of finer details, like her ‘tea routine.’ Each morning she had a habit of spending a few minutes in the café area of their office space, chatting with colleagues while she brewed peppermint tea. The scent struck Mitch as spicy and appealing. Today, oddly enough, her glasses landed on his mental radar screen. She probably wore contacts as a rule, because she didn’t sport glasses very often, but today she wore red frames that struck him as both studious and adorable. The stylish, oval specs popped color in a lovely way against her fair skin and dark, chin-length hair, calling attention to large, dark brown eyes.
And when she really lost herself in a given task—as seemed to be- the case right now—she tended to nip at her lower lip, visibly focused and intent. The image stirred a pulse jump and the kind of warmth he hadn’t even known he was missing before now. Before her.
And, he was staring.
Mitch forced back a groan and focused on the conversation he held with a colleague as they stood near Tiffany’s work station. He discussed Internet connectivity issues being faced by a prominent client who had just moved
She raised the issue with her group, which sparked a whole new discussion, this centered on work versus personal relationships.
“The part that takes me by surprise is the recognition that I want to impress him. I want to earn his…respect. His trust.”
“And, thereby, his admiration?”
The slightest lilt of knowing flavored Rosemarie’s question. A sweet rush of attraction swept Tiffany through. Heat tangled with dizziness and pressed against the restraint of her natural and ever-present shyness. “Oh, don’t go too far with that scenario. To be frank, I doubt I’d know what to do with a man like Mitch Alexander. He’s oceans away from my league, and that’s OK.”
Lee Yong frowned at that verdict. “What we do—what we are about—is love. He would be lucky to inhabit your league. You need to stop retreating and selling yourself short. If he has come into your life with a punch, there’s a reason for it. You need to think about that. You need to pray about that. Don’t live a life of fear. Don’t be timid!”
Tiffany nodded, not so much to agree as to appease her friend. “Point taken, Mr. Yong. Thank you.”
He softened immediately. “God bless you, sweet one.”
“You as well, and I’ll see you next week.”
She strode to the bank of elevators that would lead her to the thirty-eighth floor, pondering the impact of the Scriptures they had reviewed today as well as the mentoring of her friends. She had always been one to blend into her surroundings, and there was nothing wrong with that characteristic. She’d never be the kind of chic, urban glamazon like the hundreds upon hundreds who brushed past her each day. She meant it when she said that was OK. She loved to observe, not bask in the limelight. There was beauty to that fact, and she knew it, but she also knew she couldn’t continue to allow her natural sense of reservation to push people away from her heart.
Especially when it came to someone who enticed and excited her the way Mitch Alexander did. He unsettled her safe and comfortable sense of the status quo. That spelled trouble, but in an odd form of paradox, it also spelled promise…
5
Mitch made excuses to see Tiffany, to be close enough to observe. JR’s arrival in the city complicated matters, because everyone realized the search for Mitch’s successor had reached critical mass. As such, office-wide attention homed in on him and sharpened focus. Stilted behavior turned into the rule of the day.
Regardless of office innuendo and curiosity, all of a sudden he noticed everything about Tiffany. Everything . In the days that followed, he took note of finer details, like her ‘tea routine.’ Each morning she had a habit of spending a few minutes in the café area of their office space, chatting with colleagues while she brewed peppermint tea. The scent struck Mitch as spicy and appealing. Today, oddly enough, her glasses landed on his mental radar screen. She probably wore contacts as a rule, because she didn’t sport glasses very often, but today she wore red frames that struck him as both studious and adorable. The stylish, oval specs popped color in a lovely way against her fair skin and dark, chin-length hair, calling attention to large, dark brown eyes.
And when she really lost herself in a given task—as seemed to be- the case right now—she tended to nip at her lower lip, visibly focused and intent. The image stirred a pulse jump and the kind of warmth he hadn’t even known he was missing before now. Before her.
And, he was staring.
Mitch forced back a groan and focused on the conversation he held with a colleague as they stood near Tiffany’s work station. He discussed Internet connectivity issues being faced by a prominent client who had just moved
Similar Books
