Page 46 of When the Walls Come Down
Most people weren’t at their desks yet, but I got a finger-wave from a secretary, though I couldn’t remember her name. It was crazy having my own office. Yeah, I know it was something to be expected for most professionals in my line of work, but this was my first real job. Well, a real job that didn’t require me to deliver a basket of French fries or wear an apron. Bay Brewing was my first adult job. The reason I’d spent five years in college sacrificing my entire social life was to one day be able to wake up in my adult apartment, sit on my adult couches, wear my adult clothes, and go to work in my very own adult office.
It had only been one day, but I had it all.
And Shane was right; I could keep it all too.
This included my smoking-hot boyfri—um, guy in the office across the hall.
After I got situated and changed my shoes, my desk phone rang, which was odd because practically no one knew me yet.
“Hello,” I answered.
His deep voice warmed my ear. “Is that your subtle way of threatening to kill me with stilettos again?”
I looked up and through the door that was directly across from mine. There he sat. Shockingly, he was dressed in something slightly different than what I’d learned to be his work uniform. Today, it was a gray jacket, a white shirt, and a blue tie.
I was onto him.
“Nice jacket,” I said, smiling and then doing my best to keep my expression casual before we both got caught.
If things went our way today, I wouldn’t mind if people knew we were an item—later. But, for now, I wanted the staff to get to know me as Maggie Light, brilliant new coworker. Not assume I was some nepotist who had her boyfriend get her a job at his family’s business.
After wiping the smirk off my face, I gazed at all the many new things on my desk, and let me tell you there were plenty. However, even with all my work cut out for me, I couldn’t help but flirt while I still had him on the line. “That color suits you, Mr. Warren. And I like the facial hair.”
“Thank you. How nice of you to notice, Peach.”
“Maggie. Don’t call me Peach here,” I scolded, keeping my voice down.
“My apologies. I see you’ve found the files and reports I left for you.”
“Files and reports?”
“Yes. I only thought it was fair that since I have your full and embarrassingly brilliant résumé as well as your portfolio at my disposal, I thought I’d make you a nice assortment of some of my finer accomplishments since starting here. Winning campaigns. Profit reports. Things of that nature.”
“Aw. You made me a braggy scrapbook of yourself. You shouldn’t have.”
“Oh, yes, I should have.” His tone was still light, but he was all business now. “I’ve set up a time with Casey this afternoon for you and me to deliver our proposal. He wasn’t even supposed to come into the office today, but I lured him in with the pretense of you and me coming up with an idea he’s going to love. So, although you’re so certain you’ll be running circles around me, for our shared interests today, you need to do some history. You’ll see I am actually damn good at my job.”
“My, my. Not wasting any time. I like it.”
“We don’t have time to waste. That’s the thing. The sooner we get this straightened out, the sooner we can actually start making progress on the cider campaign and prove to him that keeping both of us is the right decision.”
He leaned back in his chair and bit at the end of his pen before adding, “I’ve also left all of the current artwork and designs on your desk. If you have any suggested changes to make, if you get them to me early enough, I can probably have them rush reprinted. Then we go into the meeting as one united force, wow him, and we both keep our jobs.”
He gave me a bright smile, one that compelled me to cross the hall and kiss his scruff-covered face off.
“Sounds like a good plan.”
“Old men have good ideas every now and then.” He winked, and I swooned. “Now do your homework like a good little marketing prodigy. You have a mini fridge in your wet bar to your right. I put an iced coffee in there for you and a Danish. There’s trail mix in your desk’s top drawer. You have a long day of catching up to do.”
“And what about you?”
“I have a long day of trying to avoid distracting you and trying not to ogle you from across the hall. I’ll probably force myself to close the blinds.” His brown eyes landed right on mine, and he said quietly into the phone, “I know this is borderline at best, but you look phenomenal this morning.”
