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The whole way to the door, I feel his eyes boring holes into the back of my head. It takes everything for me to keep it together, but I do until I'm out of his office.
"Why I should have put my fist through his—,” I mutter under my breath.
"He can be hard to deal with sometimes, can't he?"
A voice interrupts my ranting, and my head snaps in the other direction to see a dark-haired, round-face, and pleasant-looking man coming towards me. I don't want to assume that he means Gabriel because I have not seen him before, so I don't respond.
When he gets to me, he stretches out his hand.
"Hi. I'm Caleb Bennett."
It takes a second for the name to click, and then I'm smiling. "Hi!"
"Hi. We haven't met in person, but we talked over the phone," he says as I take his hand.
"Yes, very nice to meet you in person."
He is the person who reached out to me with an offer I couldn't refuse. I didn't care that we didn't meet in person, as I had decided before he was done talking that I wanted to be on this project.
"I'm glad you didn't change your mind. I told you I am the VP for StoneTech, right?"
"You did," I reply.
His smile brightens. "Good. I'd hate myself if I didn't give you enough information, seeing as Gabriel barely offers any info. I have to make up for his shortcomings, you know," he whispers.
I glance at Gabriel's door, and Caleb chuckles. "Don't worry. He knows. But he must be giving you a hard time if you want to put your fist through any part of his body."
"I won't tell," he adds, waving both hands, "so you don't need to worry about it getting back to him. To tell you the truth, I like it when people speak their mind."
As much as I want to believe him because he looks friendly and it would be nice to have someone to rant to about how insufferable Gabiel is, I stifle the urge.
He nods. "Issues trusting people, I see. I should note that for future reference."
"You mean strangers," I quip.
"What?"
"You said I have issues trusting people. I corrected you. I'm not in the habit of trusting strangers. People I don't know. Like friends of the boss."
When he laughs, a ghost of a smile touches my lips.
"I see. I should have thought about that before I told you my secret because you're a stranger, too,” he says.
The difference between Gabriel and Caleb, close as they might be, is that one is annoying, and the other is rather charming.
"You can pretend like you never told me about it, and I'll act like I forgot," I tell him. "How does that sound?"
Caleb shakes his head. "No can do, I'm afraid."
Please don't turn out to be another Gabriel in hiding.
I'm caught off guard when he takes my hand and shakes it.
"That was a friendship handshake. Now we're no longer strangers but friends, and you don't need to forget about my secret,” he says with a smile.
"I'm not telling you mine," I remind him.
He shrugs. "Sure. I can work with the suspense. I have to go now—" he gestures to Gabriel's office, "but I know I'll see you around. Please let me know if you need anything."
