| |
“QUIET—I SAID quiet you idiots!”
The room quieted down to a low hum of excited chatter as people whispered back and forth, grinning and congratulating each other. The first Chinese reaction had come down the pipes in regards to the merger, and the news was good. Each department had received a personal letter of approval from the CEO, and our collective egos had swollen to the point where I was surprised they could fit in a single room for the morning staff meeting.
I was being especially intolerable—as I had written the bulk of the section to receive the highest praise. The second I’d walked out of the elevator, Patti Macer had come over and lifted up my arm like I was someone out of Million Dollar Baby. I’d wandered up and down the hall on no less than six ‘water breaks,’ trying to give more people the chance to come up and offer their fealty and congratulations. And after a full ten minutes of non-stop boasting, Jamie had flat-out banished me from his office.
The only one who remained immune to our festive spirit was Rose, who sat back and watched the whole thing unfold into roaring waves of something she called ‘nerd love.’ It couldn’t have mattered less. We had worked hard, and now we were going to play hard. There was no stopping us.
Except for Trask. He actually stood a good chance of stopping us.
“The next one who speaks is fired.” An unnatural hush enveloped the room and he smiled blandly. “That’s more like it. Now, the last item of business on the agenda is a reminder about the company retreat. As heads and point people of your respective divisions, you are all expected to attend. After a unanimous vote, we will all be returning to The Lake House on the coast of Maryland. For those of you who haven’t been before, it’s lovely this time of year. Sailing, fishing, tennis, bicycling—whatever your heart desires. That being said,” his voice boomed out suddenly over the quiet room, “the CEO, Mr. Abe Larchwood himself, will be in attendance. That means you will all conduct yourselves in a way that reflects well on the company.”
There was a tittering throughout the crowd, and he stood up on his toes.
“Do I make myself clear, ladies and gentlemen? I will not stand for any shenanigans!”
* * *
BACK AT WORK, WE WERE kissing passionately. We tried to stay away, but we couldn’t.
“Someday, somebody’s going to find out about us.” I folded my arms across my chest and stared him in the eyes. “What are we going to do then?”
His face clouded for a moment before he dropped his head. His now perpetually, messy hair swung down in between us, temporarily shielding him from view. “I don’t know. I wish I knew what to tell you...but I don’t.”
I bit my lip and let the subject drop. Because the thing we weren’t saying—the thing the neither of us ever said—was that there was only one way this would end.
We would be caught. He would be let off. And I would be fired.
It was as simple as that.
“Hey,” he tried steering the conversation to lighter topics, “are you going to the company retreat?”
“You bet I am.” I grinned. “Rose and I are flying down the day after tomorrow.”
Tom chuckled. “That was my next question. Michael’s been pestering me for days to ask you whether Rose was coming as well.”
I shook my head. “That boy is hopeless. Seriously, what kind of chance does he think he has with her?”
Tom just shrugged. “He’s never been rejected before. I don’t think his brain knows how to process it—he’s probably just confused, so he keeps coming back for more torment.”
Torment was right. Michael had shown up early to work this morning—wearing an actual suit—and handed Rose a coffee he’d brought her special from the café. She took it with a blank look, not understanding what he was doing, before sweetly handing it to me instead.
The crestfallen look on his face would haunt me to the end of my days.
“Well, at least he’ll get another shot with her this evening,” I said with false hope.
Tonight was the night we promised Michael we’d be going out to dinner. Since learning the story of how he was actually instrumental in Tom and I getting together (not to mention the fact that he knew our secret and had promised to keep it without a second thought), I had risen above to be the best possible wingman. I’d told Rose funny and charming stories about him, rearranged her files, so the clippings of both his philanthropical work and pictures of him with his shirt off were on top. I’d even come up with some story about a huge mix-up involving Benadryl and a professional doppelganger to try to get him off the hook for kissing me. But no matter what I did, Rose just wasn’t interested in Michael.
Ironically, while Michael had always historically been that guy (albeit with an adorable, sweet and charming streak) all that went right out the window when he saw Rose. He was utterly smitten and powerless to do anything about it. It was very sweet...and kind of sad.
“I don’t know how many of these I can handle,” Tom shook his head as he readjusted his tie, “it’s painful to watch.”
“We’ll handle as many of them as Michael asks us to,” I said sternly. “As long as this is going on,” I gestured to the two of us, “we are perpetually in his debt.”
Tom grumbled but wisely chose not to contest this. I think a part of him thought his little brother had ingeniously schemed up our whole relationship just to give himself the upper hand.
“And on that note,” I said with a sigh, “I should head home so Rose and I can get ready.”
Tom pulled me closer and kissed me lightly on the neck, trailing even softer kisses up to my ear. “I miss carpooling with you. I miss our...phone calls in the limo.”
“Do you now?” I chuckled, lifting my head so my lips met his. “Well, if you play your cards right tonight, we just might find a way to make that happen...”
“Is that right, Miss Harks?”
“Listen, I’ve gotta go. You’ll never understand how long it takes a woman to get ready for a fancy dinner—let alone two.”
This time, he waited the obligatory four minutes in the closet, while I took the service stairs and headed up to the lobby. Five minutes later, Rose and I were headed home.