Chapter 162
“Bit of a character, isn’t he?” Jaiden asked.
I was so stunned he spoke to me, I tripped over something invisible on the carpet and fell flat on my face.
“Are you all right?” Jaiden asked as he helped me to my feet. Naturally, this had happened in front of the entire HR department, and I didn’t hear the snickers, but I knew they were there, somewhere.
“I’m fine, thanks,” I said on a sigh as I led the way to my desk. When we got there, Heather chose that opportunity to introduce herself.
“Heather Antwerp, Senior Associate,” she practically purred, slowly releasing his hand. “I’ve heard wonderful things about you, Jaiden.” She flipped her long brown hair over a shoulder, arched her back, and gave him a smoldering glance from clear gray eyes. I wanted to punch her
“We should do lunch sometime so I can tell you all about the little quirks in this company and get to know each other better.”
I’d seen Heather work her magic on other male coworkers. It hadn’t bothered me until today.
She glanced at me. “I hear you’ll be working with our Alister.” She winked. “Lookout, he can be a bit of a klutz, but he means well.”
Way to make me look good, Heather.
Jaiden smiled, though it seemed forced. “I’m a bit busy right now, getting to know the company and coming up to speed on projects. I’ll take a raincheck on that lunch, okay?” Then he turned his back on her. “Why don’t we go to my office and I’ll show you what I need help with?”
I saw Heather’s glower over Jaiden’s shoulder, but made no comment. I simply nodded and followed him to the elevator, then up two floors to the Finance department.
The layout was similar to that of HR, and I recognized a few of the staff, though they were all buried in spreadsheets and such, from what I could tell as I passed. Once we reached Jaiden’s office, he indicated a chair and I sat as he got comfortable behind his desk.
He immediately launched into the specifics of the project, and I did my best to follow what he was saying, instead of wondering how firm and full his lips might be when kissed, the resonance of this voice, the smell of his cologne, the way his long, thick fingers seemed to caress the monitor like a lover…
“Alister?”
I blinked and looked at Jaiden, noting the frown on his face. “Sorry?”
“Did you hear what I said?”
Er, no. “Sure. I’ll get access to the files from IT and get to work right away.”
Jaiden seemed exasperated. “Not that part. I asked you to have lunch with me so we could go over a few documents.”
“Oh.” I was blushing, I just knew it. Why a thirty-seven-year-old man still turned burgundy at the drop of a hat was beyond me. “My apologies. Sure, that’s fine. What time?”
Jaiden shook his head. “One o’clock. Sorry it isn’t earlier, but I have a meeting at twelve with the CFO.” He stared at me for a few seconds. “Are you always like this? Head in the clouds?”
No one had ever really described it that way. They usually saw the clumsy and the awkward and zeroed in on that. “Sometimes. I’ll try to keep that to a minimum, sir.” But it wouldn’t stop my dreams at night, though.
I stood hastily and managed to catch the chair before it fell over. “See you at lunch, then. I-I’ll meet you in the lobby?” I left before he could answer and sat at my desk minutes later, completely mortified.
I could practically feel Heather’s jealousy through the partition that separated us, but that was the least of my problems at the moment. I was going to make a fool of myself whenever Jaiden was around, and there was nothing I could do about it. Who was I kidding? A man like that would never look at me twice when he had people like Heather throwing themselves at him.
How was I ever going to survive the next few weeks?
* * * *
Lunch wasn’t that bad, in the beginning. Jaiden had chosen a sandwich shop about two blocks away that had wide tables where customers could eat and work, which was what we did.
The cashier flirted outrageously with him, as did the guy who made his sandwich. By the time we sat at our table, he looked annoyed.
“You seem to have a fan club wherever you go,” I said jokingly before biting into my bacon guacamole. Yum.
“I suppose I should be used to it by now, but it still gets on my nerves.” That surprised me.