Monday morning came, as Mondays did. Ben wasn’t sure how he felt about his new commute to work yet. The timing was about the same, but with fewer trains and more walking. It would take some getting used to.
He liked this building. It was… shiny. Flashy security gates stood inside revolving doors at the entrance, the lobby had an open two-story ceiling, there were both escalators and elevators, and chrome and glass details everywhere. Even the floor had a high gloss to it. It felt like a busy place, a successful place. The Starbucks was a nice perk too; he was going to like having a fresh latte on his desk. And maybe a chocolate croissant.
If he had a desk yet. Or an office. Or anything.
Relax, he told himself as he got in line for coffee. He needed to be more like Keith and roll with the punches. It would be a little inconvenient for a week or so, that’s all. He could meet his clients for coffee or lunch. Have conference calls. It would be fine.
He made himself take a deep breath. He didn’t feel like it was going to be fine. His sense of order had been profoundly disturbed by the whole idea of moving, let alone moving to an unfinished office space. Obviously the gym hadn’t been enough of a stress-reliever for him this weekend. He wondered what had happened to Cole. It was a casual thing It wasn’t like either of them had committed to showing up, but he could have used a little of that muscle, a little relief that—
“Ben.”
He blinked at the man standing next to him. Cole was out of context here, so he needed to be sure he hadn’t conjured up a fantasy standing in the coffee line.
“Earth to Ben?”
He laughed, embarrassed. “Sorry. I hadn’t expected—this is a weird coincidence.” He rolled his eyes at himself and tried again. “Hi.”
“Someone needs coffee.”
“Yeah. For sure.” Ben nodded. Cole already had his, a venti-something. “What are you drinking?”
“A lot of black coffee. What are you in line for?”
“A latte.” This was a strangely normal conversation for two guys who didn’t talk much. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m not stalking you, man.”
“Oh, no. No, I didn’t think—” He moved up in line, and Cole sidestepped along with him. “It’s just wild running into you here.” They’d never run into each other anywhere else.
Cole nodded silently.
Where were you Friday? He wanted to ask, but that would be weird right? It wasn’t a date. They didn’t have each other’s cell numbers. He didn’t know Cole’s last name.
“So… I had to work Friday night. Big job.”
“Oh, no worries.” You missed me? “Some other time.”
“Next?” the barista called out when he didn’t step up fast enough.
“Oh. Sorry.” He looked at Cole. “Listen—”
“I have to get to work. See you soon maybe.”
“Yeah. Maybe.”
There was a horrifically awkward moment in which neither of them knew whether to handshake or hug and, in the end, they did neither. Cole nodded, he nodded back, and Cole took off.
“Next, please!”
Shit. “Sorry. Uh… a grande latte and a chocolate croissant, please.” He held his phone up to the scanner, then turned around in time to catch Cole watching him from the escalator, looking almost as hot in blue jeans as he did out of them. The tool belt was a nice touch, the stuff of fantasies. He looked away quickly before he got himself in trouble and moved down to the pickup counter to wait for his order.
“Good morning.” Brett stepped up next to him.
“Oh, hey. Good morning. This is such a great building.”
“Isn’t it? We’re going to be good here I think.”
“The clients will certainly be impressed with the upgrade.” It really was about time.
“Have you been upstairs yet?”
“No…” He looked at Brett. “Should I be worried?”
Brett laughed. “No. It’s not done, but the kitchen is functional, the conference rooms are done except some of the detailing, all the carpeting is down in the common areas.”
“Okay. Is there WiFi? Where should I set up?”
“Benjamin?” A barista called out his name and his croissant landed on the counter. He grabbed it.
“I’ll show you when we get up there. Not to worry.”
The last time he’d seen the office it wasn’t even fully framed out yet. It was mostly a huge empty space with exposed HVAC venting and wires hanging down from the ceiling. But he remembered the view, all the windows and the light. He had high hopes… though not for today.
He and Brett took the escalator to the mezzanine level, then got on an elevator to the forty-fourth floor. It didn’t take long; he watched the numbers fly by as they ascended.
“Wow.” Ben was impressed.
“Nice, right? I’m telling you, when it’s done you’re going to be so glad we did this.”
“I know. I’m just—” Stunned. Excited.
“Averse to change?”
“What? No. I’m—”
Brett raised an eyebrow. “Traditional.”
“No. Well, yes. But—”
“Old?” Brett laughed. “You’re old.”
“Shut up, asshole. You’re older.”
“By a year.”
“I’ll take it.” Ben grinned at Brett. He wasn’t averse to change, he just didn’t like disruption. He didn’t like the interruption to his routine. He would get used to it.
Soon.
Again, probably not today.
The elevator opened right into their suite. It was only a couple of steps into the reception area which was… actually beautiful. Professional. Polished. “Hey! This looks great! Hi, Jenn.” Jenn smiled at him as he approached the reception desk. “How do you like your new digs?”
“It’s pretty comfortable. I like the extra height and the way my computer kind of hides back here.”
“Yeah? And things are working?”
Jenn shook her head. “I.T. is still trying to get the phone to work, but they know what the issue is so they should have it running soon. I’m taking calls on my cell phone for now. They forwarded the number.”
He looked over at Brett who shrugged. “Don’t look at me. I made sure the construction guys finished this area over the weekend, so if clients came in we’d be putting our best foot forward. I don’t know anything about technology.”
He snorted. Most of his clients called his cell phone anyway, if they didn’t just email. “Is the intranet up?”
Jenn nodded. “Oh, yeah. Emails and everything are all good.”
“Let me give you a tour, Ben.”
“Okay. Sounds good.” He looked down the hall and saw carpet and painted walls. Maybe this wasn’t going to be so bad.
Brett stopped by the conference rooms, which were all at the front end of the office so clients didn’t traipse through all the confidential stuff like they had in the previous location. Good move.
“This is the big conference room. We’re calling it the board room. It’ll seat twenty, and those double doors at the end can be opened up to the smaller conference room next door as a break-out, or to serve lunch, or if we need more seating.”
Ben poked his head in. This room was in pretty good shape. It needed a ceiling, and paint, but the furniture was in, the giant conference table and modern chairs all brand new. The chairs still had tags on them. “Nice. This is going to be nice.”
“Right? Okay so the two smaller conference rooms we’re calling East and West for now.”
The rooms were on opposite sides of the hallway. East had a long line of windows like the Board Room, but West was interior and had no windows at all. That was deliberate, because sometimes they needed to video depositions and whatnot, and the light from the windows was tough to block out. These room were about in the same shape as the board room, but the furniture had come over from the old office.
“Are we going to get new furniture in here? This stuff looks kind of run down now that it’s in a new space.”
“I think so. Not right away, but there’s room in the budget to talk about some other upgrades. I’m going to put you in East today. Your office… well, most of the offices, are nowhere near done.”
He sighed. He’d expected that, but it was still such an imposition. “Yeah, okay.” Ben set his briefcase down on the round conference table with his breakfast.
“You want to see the rest?”
“Um. Yeah. But let me get—”
“Hey, Brett? Brett?” A voice came down the hall and then a head popped into the conference room. “There you are. Listen, I know you said no drills until after five o’clock and that’s cool, but I need to hammer for a minute. Just a minute. Is that cool?”
Holy shit. Cole. In his office.
“Uh, for a minute, okay. Thanks for checking.” Brett turned to look at him. “That’s okay, right, Ben? Just for a minute?”
Cole looked right past the back of Brett’s head and gave him a wink.
Oh, what a little shit. Cole knew. He’d probably figured it out when they were downstairs at Starbucks. He knew, and he didn’t say anything.
What a little fuck. A hot little fuck too.
“Ben? That’s okay?”
“Oh.” He blinked again. “Yeah. Sure. Fine.”
“Cole, this is Ben. He’s one of the other partners. Keith is on his way in so you’ll meet him later.”
“Ben.” Cole offered him a hand to shake.
The little fuck.
“Colt, was it?” Two could play that game. He shook Cole’s hand.
“Cole. Like the stuff you set on fire.”
He couldn’t stop his eyebrow from arching into his hairline. He was working on a smart comeback when all the lights went out.
“What?” Brett sighed and left the room, shouting for I.T. “Ashley? What’s going on with the lights?”
“I think you have some work to do, Cole.”
Cole grinned at him. “I should have said something downstairs, but this was too good to pass up.”
Oh, hell no. This was not happening in his office. This was his place of business. Of organization. A place for clients and for making money. Professional. Tidy. “You better get to it.”
“Oh.” Cole straightened up and that grin disappeared. “Right. I’m sorry. The noise should only last a minute.” Then Cole was gone.
Jesus Christ. If ever there were two worlds that shouldn’t collide it was these two. His full-time profession and his weekly recreational lay. This was bad. Not good. He hated distractions. Hated them.
He liked Cole though. Just not… here.
He looked up as the lights came back on and closed the door.