Moment of Weakness

Lighten Up A Little

In the time that she now had to get ready, Rey knew she had a little extra time to spice up her appearance. As Leia's assistant, she had found a little room to be adventurous with her clothing choices but in this New York climate, she knew she had maybe even a little more room to add some flavor. Of course, it'd be better to ease in just in case, but turning up the heat a little every day seemed like a great way to do that.

After washing her hair and styling it back in a sleek ponytail, Rey dug through a couple of her boxes looking for the pieces she needed to put together her desired look. She intended to get Ben's attention and be distracting enough that he couldn't help but focus solely on her. Locating her box with her pants, she dug until she found her black crop dress pants with a faux leather strip down the side and then added her sheer black high necked blouse with a camisole underneath, and black pumps.

The driver called her cellphone right on time, and she shrugged her tan peacoat on, buttoning it in the mirror, and grabbed her black leather purse containing her wallet, tablet, and the book Ben had given her this morning.

--

Finn was already seated at his desk when she got to hers and he looked up at her while she took her coat off, raking his eyes up and down her body. "Good to know you're alive," he teases with a smirk.

Rey looks up at him, suddenly remembering that she was supposed to meet him and other coworkers for drinks last night. "Oh my gosh, Finn. I'm sorry!"

"You're okay, seriously. It was your first full day in the city, I'm sure you had a few things going on," he looks at her with a genuine look of forgiveness and she relaxes. "What kept you?"

"You won't believe it," Rey says a little quieter while glancing over her shoulder, and Finn perks up at the idea of potential drama.

"What?" He turns as Rey comes to his desk and leans against it so she's facing Ben's office but can also talk quieter. He's already in his office and still working on reading that same manuscript he was reading this morning. It's 8:55 so she still has five more minutes before she has to go in there and face him.

"Mr. Solo asked me to go take care of his dog last night because he was working late, and I fell asleep on the couch."

"Were you still there when he got home?" Finn asks, his eyes huge.

"Yeah," Rey nods. "And get this, he didn't wake me up, instead he carried me to his guest room." Finn's mouth drops open. "He even put me under the covers and set a spare toothbrush and container of toothpaste out for me in the guest bath."

"You can't be serious. What happened when you woke up?" Finn sits forward ready for more information.

"Well, he was awake and in the kitchen when I woke up, so I wasn't able to sneak out like I was hoping. Instead, he made me eggs and I stayed for breakfast."

"Whaaaattttt?" Finn says in a high pitched voice, obviously shocked. "Did you two talk, or was it awkwardly silent?"

"We talked. He saw that I had been reading the book by one of the authors he is publishing and asked my opinion."

"Which author?"

"Kylo Ren?"

Finn rolls his eyes and takes a drink of his coffee. "Of course."

"Why that reaction? The book is amazing, I couldn't put it down."

"Oh, I'm sure it's amazing. Solo doesn't publish people unless they're New Times Best Seller Level. It's just a weird situation. From the sounds of it, the author is kind of recluse," He pauses and looks at Ben through the window. "According to Phasma, no other editors have ever met this author and Solo only meets him privately outside of the office."