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He strolled right up to Farren with that smooth, cool-guy smile she remembered all those months ago when they had first met.
“Farren Fields, I didn’t expect to see you here tonight,” he said.
“I don’t imagine you did, since I didn’t expect to be here tonight,” she retorted.
“You look good.” He smiled at her like he thought he was being charming, but she was far beyond falling for that anymore.
“Thanks. You look… drunk,” she said, but smelled drunk was really more like it.
Shea piped in at that moment. “Hey, Paul, I think you forgot something inside. Maybe you should go back in and rejoin your date.” She spewed the word date out like it had left a bad taste in her mouth.
Paul gave Shea an annoyed glare, but turned his attention back on Farren.
“Hey, so would you want to go hit up a movie sometime?” he asked, and his arrogant smile was back.
The thing was, hitting up a movie sounded nice. Just not with him. She wondered if Rogan did such normal, mundane things as going to see movies, not that she would ever find out.
“Thanks, Paul, but I don’t think that’s such a good idea. You really should probably get back to your date. You don’t want to keep her wondering where you are.” Or seeing you out here asking me out, she added silently. She gave him a friendly pat on the shoulders.
He gave her a look that said he wasn’t finished with her, but he turned around and went back inside.
“Can you believe the nerve of that guy?” Shea said once he was out of hearing range.
Devin didn’t say anything, but shook his head disapprovingly.
“Yeah… Look, guys, I really hate to be a downer, but Shea, could you please just take me home. I’m really starting to not feel so good. I just want to go home and get some sleep.” Farren gave them a pleading look and cupped her hands together in front of her like she was begging.
“Sure, Far. Let’s go,” Shea agreed, and the three of them went out the back gate to get into Shea’s car to leave.
She lay in bed that night with a profound heartache she was no stranger to, longing for the love of someone who would never give it to her.
***
Farren noticed as soon as she got to work that Monday that Rayner was in the office that day, and she felt a rush of excitement as she walked into Rayner Technologies that morning.
“Hey Rita. Hey, Toby.” She greeted as she walked past the front desk toward the hallway to her office.
As usual, Toby froze at the sight of her. Rita waved to her excitedly and greeted her back in her thick, Southern drawl. “Good mornin,’ Farren! Don’t you look chipper today?”
Did she? She wasn’t su
re, but she had certainly felt a lift in her mood the moment she saw Rayner’s truck in the parking lot as she drove in. It felt different when he was there, and even if she didn’t speak to him much, it was still nice having him around.
She got to her office and started booting up her work station to get everything started for the day. No sooner had she sat down that the side door to Rayner’s office clicked open, and Rayner came walking through.
The smell of his cologne was the first thing to hit her, and she took a deep breath of him, savoring it while she could. She turned to see him approaching her desk, and she tried to hold back a giant smile that wanted to take up residence on her face.
“Good morning, sir,” she greeted him.
“Good morning. What have you got going on today?” he asked in the deep, husky voice she was so used to hearing now.
“Just those Wappler programs you had me making adjustments on last week. Did you have something else for me?” she asked, hopeful.
“Yes, I’ve got a new project I’ve been asked to help with for a security company across town. They want us to develop and install a new system, and I could use your help as a second pair of eyes to locate and identify any vulnerabilities. They’ve asked to have it done on a pretty tight deadline, so it’s going to require some long hours.”
He paused, searching her face for an indication that this might bother her in some way.
“Are you okay with that?” he asked.
