Luke was coming back from his turn, which had gone wide. He muttered at her, “I think I hate this game. What if I turn the biscuit into a frog?”
She snorted seltzer up her nose at the image. He patted her on the back until she managed to stop coughing. Hernose hurt but she still couldn’t help grinning at him. “You can’t turn the biscuit into a frog.”
“I know,” he sighed. “I can’t actually turn the biscuit into a frog, it doesn’t fall under the budget criteria. What if I turn the biscuit into a biscuit?”
“American or British?”
“There’s a difference?”
“Soft and flaky or sweet and crunchy. British would probably slide better.”
“Next game.” He winked. She was glad he was here; somehow, he made it easier to have fun. Like he was giving her permission.
Hayley missed her last shot, losing them the game. Brad groaned while the developers cheered. “Best two out of three,” he declared as the staff reset the board.
“So the byline is our way in with Brad?” Luke whispered.
“Maybe. If he deserves it at all,” she whispered back.
Though anyone who used that many buzzwords in a sentence probably did deserve it. No. That was flippant and awful, and she was talking about real souls here. She needed to be sure.
“You two are sooooooooo cute,” Hayley slurred. She draped an arm over each of them. She had not been sticking to seltzer. “But, like, you need to keep it profesh, OK?”
“We’re, ah, we’re not—” Morgan tripped over her words. Was she so obvious? An image of Luke leaning in to whisper something more intimate than plans to steal her boss’s soul flashed across her mind’s eye, followed all too quickly by an image of doing something entirely unprofessional in the phone room in the back. She blushed. Luke inhaled sharply. Shit. She’d worried he’d catch wind of her desires,but it was a totally different thing to have the evidence. And worse that it had caught Hayley’s eye. If it were obvious enough for Hayley to notice, and Luke certainly wasn’t reciprocating, that was the kind of thing that showed up in corporate training videos on sexual harassment. Oh god. Was she sexually harassing Luke? She blushed even harder and looked away in shame.
“Sir, I was listening to this podcast.” Mercifully, Luke turned away from her to focus on his actual goal. “Investorama?”
“With Cory and Daveed? Aww yeah, they’re the best. Did you know in a poll of early-stage startup CEOs, they’re the most-listened-to podcast?” Brad said.
She tried to wrestle her mortification back under control. Behind Hayley, Josh/Justin poked Justin/Josh with a tang. The equipment manager gave them an admonishing look.
“They were talking a lot about the importance of selecting the right investor for your company. And I wanted to know… how do you decide who’s right for Zabloom?”
Ooh, smart move. Brad’s eyes lit up and he started talking about a sea of acronyms that were only faintly familiar to Morgan. There was no way Luke knew what the CEO was talking about, but he nodded along as if he did.
Hayley stepped up and sent her biscuit skipping off into the next lane over. The QA guys next to them protested.
“Whoopsie!” Hayley said, swaying slightly.
“Maybe you should have some water,” Morgan said, guiding her over to the seats. She wouldn’t have guessed the Head of People was such a lush. She kept half an eye on Luke and Brad. Brad was talking animatedly as Luke tried to take his turn.
Vijay knocked Brad’s puck into the penalty box. Brad cut himself off mid-curse.
“I bet you’d sell your soul to keep your next biscuit in the scoring zone,” Luke said lightly.
“I’d sell my soul to find out where that fucking asshole learned to play shuffleboard,” Brad muttered. “Who even plays this?”
Morgan took a few steps back, not wanting to be in Brad’s line of sight while he was angry. Hayley nearly tripped into her.
“I hope Brad isn’t too mad,” Hayley fretted.
“About the puck?”
“Biscuit.”
“Whatever it is. It’s just a game.”
“Nothing’s just a game to Brad,” Hayley said darkly.
