So—work was good.
I answered a few emails and filed some paperwork that I’d been ignoring, and before I knew it, it was 6:30. I decided to call it a night, so I began to collect my things when the sound of the elevator ding rung out through the hall and into my office.
Huh. I wonder who that could be.
Keys in hand, I stepped out into the hall and turned around, running directly into Jonah. I hit my head into his chest, and he had to reach out to catch me as I stumbled backwards.
“Oh shit,” I said. “I’m sorry.”
“You have nothing to be sorry about,” he said. “I was coming in hot, should’ve warned you.”
We both laughed. I pointed to the elevator. “I thought I saw you leave like over an hour ago.”
“I just went to grab some dinner,” he said. “I have a call with some people from Japan starting soon but I knew it wouldn’t be fun to do it on an empty stomach.”
“Japan, wow,” I said. “So, this project is really going somewhere? That’s exciting.”
He smiled and crossed his fingers. “I hope so. The meeting tonight is pretty important. It could really make or break the whole thing.”
“You nervous?”
“Extremely.”
“Do you want help preparing?”
He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck, and I knew where his head was at so I quickly clarified. “I mean, I will actually help you if you want. This doesn’t have to be a sexy after-hours thing, I understand how important this meeting is.”
“In that case, I would love some help.”
“Great, lead the way.” He went towards his office, and I followed him; meanwhile my stomach started to growl and I wondered what type of dinner I could fix up for myself from food out of the breakroom.
* * *
“T-minus five minutes to go,” I said. Jonah was sitting at his desk, his computer screen open to the video chat. He messed with his tie, undoing the perfect knot I’d just done for him, so that I had to come over and fix it. I swatted his hands away. “Let me, let me.”
He put his hands down and pushed the knot a little ways up on his neck, then reached out and smoothed down a rogue hair. “There,” I said. “You look great.”
He smiled at me. “Good enough to eat?”
“Focus.”
“Right, okay. But really quick.” He grabbed me around the waist, slid me into his lap, then dipped me down and planted a fat kiss right on my mouth. Winking at me, he said, “For good luck.” Then he prompted me up on my feet again and squared his shoulders.
I took a moment to collect myself. “And with that, I’m going to get out of your hair. I hope it goes well.”
“Wait,” he said. “Are you leaving?”
“Our work here is done.”
“The meeting is only going to be an hour,” he said, his voice low and flirty.
“So what?” I laughed. “You just want me to sit around for an hour, like your on-call, booty-call. Oh, you know what, that sounds like the name of a song.”
“Here,” he said, reaching into the bottom drawer of his desk and pulling out a bottle of nice whiskey. “Go to the break room, get something to eat, have a drink, and before you know it, I will be done, and you and I can go out.”
“Go out?”
“Anywhere you want. To celebrate, or to commiserate, depending on how the meeting goes. Vic is with a friend anyway, so I don’t have to be home early.”