Let Me Hold Your Hand (ManxMan)

Five

Working with William Carson was actually not as bad as I thought it would be. Yes he was still rude, yes he still said a mean word here and there and yes, he keeps trying to throw me out of his office whenever it’s lunch time and I arrive with food.

Yes to it all.

It’s just...

Now it’s like I know something subconsciously that I am not presently aware of. Yet. Though William still scowls when I show up with lunch, it doesn’t last long and by the time we have finished eaten, there is a teeny tiny smile playing on his lips.

The most alarming thing to me, is the fact that I liked seeing the tiny smile. It makes William look a thousand times more attractive than before. It is alarming because I never actually focused not did I really see how attractive he was before the lunches began.

“Dev, do you have the Mackinaw report?” William asked as he stepped out of his office, hands in his pocket. He really didn’t have to. It’s why he has an office phone, to restrict unnecessary movement. So why was he standing in front of me and looking really good?

“It’s on your desk, Mr Carson.” I said, raising a brow at him. See. He didn’t have to come all the way here and slap his handsomeness in my face. Merely looking at him made my heart and tummy feel funny.

Today, he was dressed in a white shirt tucked into white pants, sneakers on his feet and his dark hair styled off his face, his beard was trimmed and f**k did he look so good. I’d like to know who his parents were and congratulate them on creating this fine specimen.

And also maybe ask them a question or two abut why he was a rude little s**t.

“It isn’t there, Dev.” William said and it sounded like he was placing emphasis on my name. What did he want now? I still had a lot of emails and appointments to sort through.

Knowing he was not going to let it drop, I locked up the desktop and got up with a sigh, shouldering last William, into the office.

My eyes almost popped right out of my head when I saw the papers that littered his desk. How was he going to find anything like this?

“I ha-“

“Yeah. You have a system.” I cut him off. I was so tempted to roll my eyes at him but the faster I found the missing files, the faster I can leave.

“You know, you always complain about how rude I am but you’re ninety percent worse than me.” William said as he walked around his desk and settled on his big chair.

I scoffed at him, arms crossed. “I’m a delight.”

“Sure you are.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “I give back the same energy I receive. So if I’m rude...” I trailed off, leaving the sentence opened ended and from the twitch in William’s brow, I think he got it.

Not wanting to waste any more time, I started packing up the papers, putting them in their appropriate folders. While doing this, I could feel William’s gaze on me. It felt like I could feel it on my skin.

“Stop staring.”

“My eyes, my rules.” William said and I laughed. I laughed so hard. I wasn’t expecting that. It sounded so silly coming out of William’s mouth.

“You are ridiculous, Mr. Carson.”

“It’s William.” He said and I stopped, looking up from the papers I had been arranging.

“What?”

“Call me William.” He said and I stared at him, blinking owlishly. What?

“Are you sure?”

“I call you Dev. It would only be fair if you call me William.” He said with a shrug, trying to look nonchalant about it when actually this is a big deal.

“O-okay.”

I had to admit. I was a bit flustered. f**k. Scratch that. I was a lot flustered. The way he said it, they way he was looking at me while he had spoken. It felt like a zing shot through me. His deep voice made the whole thing seem... even more.

Fuck. I had to leave and calm the f**k down.

Not knowing what to say, I got back to finding the Mackinaw folder. It took less than five minutes now the table was mess free and I handed it over to William.

“Thank you.” He said. “You did a good job with these files.” Ah. f**k. What was going on today. This man was doing a total 180. It felt nice though to be thanked and I really appreciated it. He didn’t look like it pained him to say it.

I quickly got out of his office and made my way towards the private bathroom on this top floor. I splashed my face with water, taking deep breaths in order to calm myself down. I was probably over thinking this. Maybe I finally wore him down and he’s trying to be nice. We had been spending some time together l, maybe this is him offering me an olive branch.

And I’ll take it. It would make working easier and I would not have to be on my toes so much. I liked being praised or thanked for my work, it’s one of my bad habit and Lavender has told me tons and tons of times that it was realistic . But it’s just what I liked.

Today, William had thanked me and praised me for my work and I liked it. I don’t think think I like what this means but I’m going to give it time and see how this new thing with William pans out. It might end today or even last for two days. Who knows. The mans mood changed like the weather. Quickly.

Before returning to my post, I made myself a nice cup of coffee, breathing the steam in as I made my way over to my desk.

For lunch today, I’ll order in some pizza. It would be good to eat something greasy and made with cheese, meat, pepperoni, corn and some olives and green pepper here and there.

Yum.