Page 36 of The Trouble with Love and Ink
I sent Anna a quick text, wishing her luck and asking her to keep me posted. Then, the realization hit me. And it hit me hard.
Anna was gone. The last good thing about this job.
Beck leaned against the edge of my desk. “That’s not too early, though, right? The baby will be okay.”
“Yeah, I’m sure everything will be fine,” I said, but my voice quivered ever so slightly at the end of the sentence.
“Hey, are you alright?” The tenderness in his voice surprised me. It almost made me want to cry more—like it permitted me to let my guard down.
Then I came to my senses. I refused to cry on Beckett’s shoulder today. I inhaled sharply, working to rally.
“Yeah. I’m fine. Does the team know?” I deflected. “Anna was in the middle of a workflow. We’ll need to divvy up her tasks.”
With Beck’s help, we notified the rest of the team about Anna and listed the things she hadn’t been able to finish. Wesley emailed back with a, Seems like you two have it covered. I angled the screen so Beck could read his response.
“Looks like it’s just you and me.”
He drummed his long fingers on my desk as he considered Wesley’s email. Between those fingers, his proximity as he leaned in close to read the screen, and his scent, my brain felt fuzzy. He wasn’t even trying to be sexy, which made me all the more annoyed. His everyday actions had me all worked up.
To be fair, it had been over a year since I caught Chad cheating on me, and I’d had neither the time nor the willpower to re-enter the dating scene. So, it had been a while for me.
Still, it’s not as though I had a visceral reaction to every man I encountered. Why, of all people, did it have to be for Beck?
“I know I’m still relatively new, but our team kind of sucks at acting like one,” Beck said, effectively knocking me from my lustful fog.
I snorted. “You get used to it.”
He looked at me. “That’s the problem. I don’t want to get used to it, neither should you.” Beck backed away. “I’ll be right back. Do not reply to that email.”
Not even five minutes later, Beck had responded to Wesley’s email.
Yep! Emily and I will knock out the workflow. We’ll leave the distribution of other tasks to you, Wes! Thanks!
My jaw could have hit the desk.
“Are you crazy?” I hissed as he returned to my cubicle, laptop, and rolling chair in tow.
“I was professional.” Beck nodded at the empty space next to me. “Do you mind if I work here? I think it would be easier to discuss the workflow in person rather than over messages?”
I was still stuck on his reply to Wesley. “You basically refused to do the other tasks.”
Beck sank onto the chair and logged into his laptop. “Senior-level Asshole perks. Remember?”
I shook my head, but I couldn’t keep from smiling. “Alright. Where should we start?”
To Beck’s credit, he worked with me nonstop to finish the workflow, that is, until four-thirty rolled around. It was Thursday, after all.
Beck looked down at the time. “I’m sorry. I’ve gotta go.”
“You know, Chili’s has their happy hour on other days besides Thursday.” I’d been joking, but I was also hoping he’d correct me with what he’d actually be doing.
No such luck. Instead, Beck chuckled lightly. “Thank you, Lane. You are a wealth of knowledge.”
I smiled at being able to make him laugh, but as soon as he left, I sighed. We’d made a lot of progress with the workflow, but there was still so much to do.
By six, I was kicking myself for taking that lunch break. The rest of the office was empty, except for a member of the cleaning staff who was currently vacuuming the huddle room. I decided to open YouTube and start a favorite playlist, sans headphones. The music floated into my cubicle, and I took a deep breath, willing the melody to loosen me up and calm me.
It worked a little too well. Within minutes, the yawns rolled out, one after another. I needed something stimulating, louder.
