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He laughed again.
Oh, Mackenzie, you funny girl, you. Felicity stared at her computer screen, so he wouldn’t know she was listening.
“Okay. Okay. If you insist. Macks, it is.” Then he slipped into his office, closing the door behind him.
Max? Or Macks?
As in short for Mackenzie?
Either way, it proved they were on personal terms.
Through the glass wall that divided their workspaces, she watched Austin sit down at his desk and continue the conversation. She couldn’t hear what he was saying now, but he was animated. More than she’d ever witnessed before.
His face transformed as he seemed to give a full-throated laugh, his eyes crinkled at the corners, lighting up and dancing. He leaned back casually in his chair, raking his hand through his hair.
She wasn’t even bothering to sneak peeks at him now. She was full on staring, greedily watching him delight at whatever it was that this Macks had to say. Of course, Austin was oblivious that she was watching him.
What kind of a woman called herself Macks?
Felicity’s phone chirped Maia’s text tone. Reluctantly Felicity dragged her gaze off Austin to see what her friend needed.
Are we still on for tonight? Just wanted to make sure you’re able to untangle yourself from the Beast.
I’ll be there.
ETA?????
6 p.m. as planned
By the time Felicity put her phone in her purse and looked back at Austin, he was off the phone and on his computer.
She needed to borrow a page from this woman and start being more of a Macks—not a Mackenzie. Mackenzie sounded prim and proper, like a rule follower. Macks sounded like a woman in charge of her destiny.
Felicity pulled up the interoffice messaging system on her computer and typed, Do you have a moment? She pressed Send before she could change her mind. It was twenty minutes until five o’clock.
She was going to channel her inner Macks and march in there. First, she was going to tell him she was leaving at five because she had plans. Then she would ask him if he’d talked to his dad. She was not going to sit around and wait for him to come to her. She was going to be proactive.
Austin had been out of the office all day, which meant he would be pulling a late night tonight. Usually, she stayed as late as he did. She didn’t mind, as it gave her time to get a jump on future projects such as the FI charity ball. She was single-handedly organizing the ball. It was a big job and took a lot of extra time. But tonight, she had promised Maia she would come to the salon so her friend could practice for the hair show. She said she’d be there at six o’clock. That meant she needed to get a move on if she was going to go home and grab a bite to eat and change out of her work clothes and into something more comfortable before she went to the salon.
She jumped at the sound of the chime notifying her of Austin’s reply.
Sure, come on in.
She looked at him, but his head was bent over his desk and he was busy writing something.
Felicity’s stomach bunched, then fell as she realized in a matter of minutes, she would know whether or not Miles Fortune was on board for keeping her on board. The sooner she knew, the better. She gathered her courage and closed the short distance to Austin’s office.
“Hey, what’s going on?” He leaned back in his chair, laced his fingers together and cradled the back of his head. His biceps pushed at the boundaries of his shirt sleeves. Her gaze lingered. She couldn’t help it.
He motioned for her to sit on one of the chairs in front of his desk. She chose the opposite chair from where she’d sat when she’d given her notice.
“What did your father say? I’m dying to know.”
His blank stare made her wish she could retract the question.
“What did he say about what?” Austin asked, leaning farther back in his chair, but not looking nearly as relaxed as he had when he was talking to Macks.
“Really, Austin? You don’t remember?”
He blinked once. Twice. Then he tapped his head. “Oh, my God, right. I’m sorry. It’s been a crazy day.”
I’ll bet. Macks must be occupying a lot of real estate up there.
“I’m sorry, Felicity. I haven’t had a chance to bring it up with him. The other night when we were at dinner I intended to talk to him, but it ended up not being a good time. We had some family business to discuss and Belle was pushing his buttons. She got him a little riled up. You know how he can be.”
