AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Check out the newbie in the oversized shirt. Has no one told her she looks like a sack of potatoes?”
The second guy scoffs. “Come on, let’s get some dressing on this thing before Sharon realizes what we’re doing…”
I want to say something, but the words are stuck in my throat. I’m so uncomfortable and helpless, I frickin’ hate it.
Put me in front of a computer and I could rule the world. Put me with other people in a room to talk and watch me implode.
“Oh, crap,” the first guy gasps.
I can’t stop my head from turning just in time to see Will joining us in the kitchen. All of a sudden, the room gets smaller, the walls closing in and tightening around us. He gives the Accounting dudes a quick glare, then looks my way before he settles his attention back on them.
“That’s Sharon’s salad,” he tells them, nodding at the two bowls they’ve used to split the spoils of office war between them. “I know because I’m the one who told her to stop by Ennio’s this morning to buy one since she’s four months pregnant and craving salmon all the time.”
“Really?” the first guy croaks, failing to sound innocent.
“This isn’t even the first time I’ve caught you snatching a coworker’s lunch,” Will replies bluntly. “I suggest you put that back and go downstairs to the cafeteria if you don’t feel like eating out. It’s not like any of you are underpaid.”
“Sorry,” the second guy mumbles and pours both bowls back into the original salad box which he then deposits back on the top shelf in the fridge. “We’ll… um, yeah, we’ll go to the cafeteria…”
They slither out of the kitchen with their eyes glued to the floor, drenched in shame and embarrassment. It’s a small victory, but I’ll take it. My smile is quick to fade, however, when Will looks at me again.
“What’s so funny?” he asks.
“Erm, nothing. It’s just… they’re kind of rude. By default, I mean. Without anyone doing anything to them. I didn’t want to bring this up, but since you asked, well… yeah…”
And why are my words coming out in such an incoherent string of nonsense? Good grief, all it takes is one glare from Will Bucklow and my brain shuts down, my heart jumping around like a toaster in the bathtub.
He comes closer, the air between us thickening. His cologne tickles my nostrils as I struggle to remain upright under his stern look. “I foster a pretty competitive environment here. Some of the guys take it too far,” he says. “You shouldn’t take any of their banter personally.”
“You call that banter? They’re like the frickin’ fashion police,” I shoot back. “This isn’t competitive since I have nothing to compete against Accounting with. It’s just plain toxic. Sometimes I wonder if maybe I should’ve taken Lilian Darcy’s offer instead.”
Whew, that’s a mighty blow I didn’t even know I had in me, and neither did Will, judging by the stunned pause that takes over his expression. I instantly regret the words, of course, but there is just something about him that pushes and turns all my buttons at once. I felt it in that stupid coffee queue on day one, and I can feel it now. There is something between us, some kind of mismatched magnetism that excites and irritates me in equal measure.
“You’re free to quit if you want. I would never hold anyone against their will,” he says, his laser-blue eyes never leaving me.
My tongue gets tied. It takes a few more seconds for a reply to come out, and even then it’s not my best.
“I guess I’ll stick around. I’ve already signed the contract.”
“And I’ll have a talk with the rest of the staff. You’re right about the environment here. Not everyone copes with stress as well as you do, Miss MacArthur,” he says, raising his chin. There’s a five-o’clock shadow stretching along his jawline. I wonder what it would feel like to run my fingers over it.
“Please, call me Olivia,” I reply, then grab my mug and get the hell out of the kitchen before I melt in front of this man. Jeez, I’m rendered spineless before him.
As soon as I reach my desk, I can sense the tension leaving my body. Oodles of crackling electricity roll down my back and through my limbs, making my hands and toes tingle anxiously. My tea is too hot, my lips are dry. Will comes out of the kitchen and walks back to his office. I see him looking my way again, this time with clear intent.
I’m not sure what the intent is, specifically, but I can tell that it’s there.
To my astonishment, I give him as good as I get. Damn, this man is intense and powerful and just too much for me, yet I can’t stop myself from tightening my orbit around him. He’s a bright, burning sun. I don’t know if I want to be that lonesome asteroid that gets obliterated as soon as I touch him.
My heart is definitely asking for trouble.
CHAPTER8
OLIVIA
My youngest brother, Rick, has been staying with me for the past couple of weeks. Having sustained a pretty serious knee injury during his first season with the NFL, he’s got several months of rest and physical therapy ahead of him, and while I do enjoy having him around, my small apartment has gotten cramped with him in it.
I like having the distraction, though, especially since my mind keeps bouncing between Will and Asclepius like a raving tennis ball.
