AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Mr. Sutton rocks back on his heels, head shaking. “You guys will get it, and I can help if you need an extra set of eyes to look something over. I want this software to succeed more than you do. But besides the deadline, marketing wants this launch to be a big celebration. It’s all in the email everyone will get later today. They’re already working on a VIP guest list.”
The pressure of getting my portion of the software debugged hits my stomach like too much cheese. I need to escape.
“Well then, we better get to work. Thanks for the heads up, sir.” I give Mr. Sutton a salute with my mug before slipping past him and down the hall to my office.
A party?
Parties and I do not mix well. Especially fancy grown up parties with things like hors d'oeuvres and high heels. And the last time Mailbox had a party didn’t go well for me.
I’m almost back to my office when a hand on my upper arm stops me.
“Derek, I don’t—” I whirl, wrenching my arm free only to be met with the amused faces of Raj and Manesh.
“You don’t what?” Manesh herds me into my office, Raj closing the door behind us. “And watch the coffee. You almost spilled it on me.”
“I don’t want to go with him, or have a drink with him, or whatever it is he’s going to get into his head.” I huff, setting my mug down by my keyboard. “I just want him to back off.”
“Have you said those words out loud to him?” Raj crosses his arms and stares down his nose at me before shaking his head. “Of course you haven’t.”
The guys share a look. One of those couple looks where you know they’re having an entire conversation with only the barest of facial expressions. Sophie and Mr. Sutton do it all the time, and it scares the shit out of me.
Manesh turns on me. “If you’re really not going to say it with words, you’ll have to beat him to the punch.”
“What does that mean? I should ask him out instead? No, thank you.” I flop down into my ergonomic desk chair. The one I special ordered in a smaller size so that I didn’t look like a little kid sitting in her dad’s chair in all my Zoom meetings.
Raj perches on the edge of my desk after pushing some of my Sailor Moon pencils out of the way. “Gross. Not Derek. Ask someone else. Anyone, just as long as you already have a date by the time he asks you to be his. Problem solved.”
“Except for the part where I have to ask someone to be my date. Who am I going to ask?”
Raj pats me on the head as he pushes up and moves toward the door, stopping to plant a kiss on Manesh’s cheek before taking him by the hand. “That’s your problem, chickadee, not ours.”
The morning passes in a blur of code and coffee, occasionally interrupted by the ding of an email. By the time my stomach growls hard enough to make me pay attention to it, it’s past two.
It’s the perfect opportunity to get a fix at Two Birds—there’s no way Julian or anyone else from the office will be there this late. Dreaming of their paninis and a chai latte, I head downstairs. I use the elevator ride to the lobby to check on the emails I’ve been ignoring for the last several hours. Just as the doors slide open, a new one appears, and my heart races at the subject line.
Save the date: MailboxM.D. launch party celebration!
I skim the contents for the two most important pieces of information—how fancy will it be, and will I need a date? Or rather, will I need a bodyguard so Derek doesn’t pretend I’m his date?
I’m halfway across the lobby when I smash face-first into a solid wall of muscle. Pain blooms across my tender face. “Fuck, fuck, shit, that hurts.” Tears from the pain leak out of my scrunched eyes as I clutch at my face awkwardly, trying not to drop my phone.
Hands on my upper arms steer me, and I follow blindly, my curses interspersed with slow breaths through my mouth to stem the pain.
“Here,” Tina says, and then a chair nudges the back of my knees until I sit. I crashed into Tina? “I’ll go get some ice.”
“Frankie?” Maybe I didn’t crash into Tina. I’d recognize that voice anywhere. I peek one eye open to confirm Julian is squatting in front of me, his enormous hands the ones resting on my thighs. “Are you okay?” His eyebrows pull together, a deep furrow between them. I never noticed before how thick his eyelashes are—they’re so pale it’s easy to miss. Especially when his eyes are more than a foot above mine when we’re standing.
I nod instead of speaking, and my stomach growls audibly in the silence. The concerned furrow disappears when Julian’s eyebrows shoot up at the sound. “On your way to lunch?”
An ice pack is thrust between us, and Julian leans back.
“Here, Frankie.” Tina shakes the instant ice at me. I take it, not sure how to juggle everything in my hands. “Are you okay? That looked like it hurt. Can I get you anything else? Julian, do you need anything?” Tina’s questions rattle on while I fumble with the ice pack, my phone, and my coat, everything slipping out of my grasp as I avoid making eye contact with the Thor look-alike squatting in front of me.
“I’m fine, Tina.” At least this time, Julian didn’t pick me up and carry me out of the lobby. I do not need anyone at work thinking I’m smaller and more helpless than they already think I am. I want to be invisible, not pitied.
“How about I take you to get something to eat to make up for damaging you again?”
Julian’s question takes me by such surprise, I make eye contact before I know what I’m doing.
