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“Welcome to Lockwood Tech. We’re very excited to have you.”
She dips her head with a smile. She looks nervous and nothing like she did at our impromptu dinner and drinks the other night. “Thank you.”
Lisa gives her a short tour of our small office with me trailing behind. I say hello to a few employees, as I rarely leave my office, and once she’s met everyone and shown her cubicle inside the IT department, I make my way back to my office.
“Um, Mr. Lockwood...?”
I turn around. Lisa is already making her way back to HR in front of me, but she stops and we both turn around at Taryn’s question.
I ignore Lisa and say, “Yes, Ms. Andrews? Is there something you need?”
She glances at Lisa, then at me and her cheeks turn a slight shade of pink. “Can I have a word with you privately?”
“Absolutely. Follow me to my office.”
I decide to completely ignore Lisa before she can—
“Do you have additional questions?” Lisa asks, of course butting in.
“No, ma’am. Just wanted to talk to Mr. Lockwood for like five minutes,” Taryn answers.
Lisa glances at me, then back to her. “Do you need me to be there?”
Lady, you’re skating on thin ice...
Taryn shakes her head. “No, I’m good. Thank you, though.”
God, she acts like I’m some dangerous predator who’s going to assault Taryn in my office. It wasoneslipup withonesecretary years ago. Lisa needs to get over it, and I have half a mind to callherinto my office after I meet with Taryn to tell her so.
I open the door and gesture for her to enter without even remotely touching her, and then look Lisa in the eye as I close the door, removing her judgy glare from my view.
“What’s up?” I ask with my hands in my pockets so I keep them to myself.
“I just wanted to thank you again for the job. This building is beautiful and I already love my desk and cubicle.”
I bite back a smile. “Okay. Well, I hope you like the work. And your coworkers.”
“I know I will. And I also wanted to say...” She trails off but I patiently wait, still with my hands in my slacks pockets.
My eyes hold hers and the heated confidence in them is starting to turn me on, but I refuse to break eye contact.
“...I hope things won’t be weird with us working together. That’s all.”
“Well, Taryn, I didn’t even think of that,” I lie to make her feel better. “But I promise, no weirdness.”
“What’s going to happen when Eric gets out? Will you guys be friends? Because then I’ll be seeing you outside of work...”
I close the distance between us, taking my hands from my pockets and placing one on her forearm. “I think you’re overthinking this. Let’s just let things progress naturally. If you start to feel uncomfortable working here, you can leave, no hard feelings. Okay?”
She visibly relaxes. “Okay. Thank you.”
I realize I’m still touching her, so I remove my hand. “Anything else?”
She shakes her head. “No, that was it. I feel better now.”
I lightly chuckle. “Good. Now get your ass to work.” My fingers twitch because I’d love so badly to follow it up with a nice, firm smack to her backside for emphasis. But of course, I don’t.
Her eyes widen but a smile tips her lips when she sees the mischief in my gaze and my own smile.
