Book 2 - Chapter 6
2587 Words
Valerie
"Woah, what?! You work with s*x-god-guy now?" My friend, Emily, squealed from my bed while I searched through my closet for something to wear to dinner tonight. I called her right after I got out of work and told her how I got hired on the spot and she wanted to take me out for a celebratory dinner. "And he went all hero on you and fixed your hand?!"
We met in college. Emily was looking for some tutoring and offered a small price for it. I needed the money, so I took the job and a few weeks later we were near inseparable. She was a cheerleader and total partier, but we hit it off. She and my friend Jessica were polar opposites and I was somewhere in the middle. Emily was perfectly tan and tall and curvy with brilliant blue eyes and had
beautiful chestnut hair. I was secretly jealous. Having a few extra inches would be nice at the very least.
"Yeah, figures. It would be my luck that the one and only one night stand I have ends up being my boss." I rolled my eyes.
"I fail to see the problem. You said he was the best s*x you had ever had. Hell, you wouldn't stop talking about him and even went back to the club every night for a week hoping to see him after swearing you didn't want a relationship." Emily laughed.
"I know, which is why this is such a problem!" I exclaimed, yanking a random top out of my closet and shutting the door. "How am I supposed to work with him if I can't stop picturing him naked and on top of me!? I found myself daydreaming about our night together on more than one occasion today, he's going to catch me drooling one of these days! And to top it off, he seems like a down-to-earth, normal guy."
"Definitely not your MO." Emily snorted. "Who knows, maybe he feels the same."
"Stop that. I can't think like that. He is my boss." I said unconvincingly.
"Stranger things have happened honey. You're young, he is a guy with quite an appetite from what you have told me. Go for it. What's the worst that could happen?"
"I could lose my job!" I huffed.
"So you get another!!" Emily laugh-yelled.
"No, ugh-uh. Not happening." I said while changing out of my borrowed work clothes and into jeans and a t-shirt. "Okay, I'm ready, let's go."
"Finally, I'm starving" Emily said, jumping off my bed.
We took her car and went to a small Mexican restaurant a few minutes from my house. I thought about Derek the entire time. Emily was getting upset about my lack of attention, but I could hardly help it. Just thinking about him made my core clench. We arrived at the restaurant and were seated quickly. The waiter brought over a basket of chips and salsa that we shamelessly devoured.
"This is so good." I moaned into the chips.
"Soo good." Emily agreed.
"Hey stranger." Carter said with a wink, standing at the end of our booth.
"Carter? What are you doing here?" I said while covering my mouth, which was full of chips. I swallowed quickly, a few rough edges clawing their way down my throat causing me to cough.
"Carter?" Emily eyed me, an intrigued look on her face.
"I just got off of work, I thought I would grab dinner before heading home." He shrugged.
"Oh nice." I nodded.
"I'm Emily, by the way," She said, shooting me another look.
"Nice to meet you." Carter smiled.
"Why dont you join us? We haven't even ordered yet," Emily suggested.
"Oh I don't want to interrupt...." He said, throwing his hands up in surrender.
"Please, I insist. We would love to have you. Right Val?"
"Join us." I nodded in agreement. Although I wanted to stay as far away from my past as possible, it was Carter we were talking about. He was my best friend at one time.
"Well, alright." He said.
I scooted over into the booth so he could sit down next to me. He quickly got in and started digging into the chips and salsa.
"So how do you two know each other?" Emily asked.
"We were friends growing up, he lived a few doors down from me," I said matter of factly.
"I thought we were more than that," Carter said, a bit taken back.
"You wanted us to be more than that." I firmly corrected him.
"Hi, can I take your order?" The waitress interjected at the perfect moment. I didn't want to relive the past anymore. We placed our orders and she went on her way.
"So Carter, tell me about yourself." Emily said before taking a sip of her water.
"Not much to tell. I'm going to school to become a lawyer. I have an apartment a few blocks away from here. Single." He shrugged.
"A lawyer, huh?" I grunted.
"Single, huh?" Emily said, staring at me again.
"Yep. What about you?"
"I'm in school to become a data analysist. I have two semesters left. I live in a duplex and I have just finished my first day at my new job." I shrugged.
"Yeah, how did that go?"
"It was...interesting." I nodded. Emily stifled a laugh.
"Hopefully your boss isn't too much of a prick," Carter snorted. Emily couldn't hold back this time and started laughing.
"So Carter, what do you do for fun?" Emily asked.
"Not climbing trees, that's for sure." I laughed, remembering when we were growing up he fell out of one and broke his arm. He never climbed again.
"Ha-ha. Very funny." He rolled his eyes, a hint of mischief in his glare. "I like lots of things, right now golf is my main hobby, or sport rather." He shrugged.
"Should I call you Tiger Woods now?" I deadpanned. Our carefree joking coming back to me even after all the years apart.
"No, no. I'm definitely not anywhere close to his league. But I enjoy it."
"Valerie, didn't you say you wanted to learn?" Emily said in a sly tone.
"I said I needed a distraction." I corrected her.
"I'm sure Carter wouldn't mind being a good distraction, he could teach you to play golf. Couldnt you, Carter?" Emily said, putting
him on the spot.
"I would love to. It would give us a chance to hang out." He smiled.
"Perfect, she is free tomorrow night at six."
"I thought we were catching a movie then?" I said in a clipped tone.
"Sorry babe, something came up." She winked at me.
"Who ordered the burrito?" The waitress came around with our food.
"Me." I said, moving my water to the side so the plate could fit.
"And the tacos?" She asked.
"Right here," Carter said. "We don't have to go out if you don't want to." He added once his food was in front of him.
"Rain check? My new job has weird hours, I cant make any promises about when I'll get out of work. Plus, I still need to study for my class."
"Sure, I understand." He nodded. "But can I at least get your number?"
"Absolutely." I internally sighed in relief that he wasn't pushing this harder.
Dinner went along smoothly, there were no awkward moments otherwise. I actually had a really nice time. I almost regret turning Carter down-for now. But what I said was true. I didn't know when I'd get out of work and I did need to study. Not to mention I had someone else on my mind....
- - - - - -
"Good morning, Sir." I greeted Derek.
"Good morning Valerie. Please call me Derek." He said as he set his things down. "I think we know each other well enough to use each others first names."
"Good morning, Derek." I corrected myself, heat flooding into my cheeks. "How was the drive in?"
"Uneventful, just how I like it." He said, flopping down in his chair. "How about you?"
"Same. I have breakfast on the way and a reminder that you have a phone meeting at 3pm today." I said.
"Thank you." He grunted, already sifting through files.
"Will that be all for now?"
"Yes, well no. Can you call this number and tell them Derek Anderson will be unavailable to attend?"
"Sure." I nodded and took the number.
I retreated back to my desk and made the call, declining whatever event Derek was invited to. By the time I had finished, I had a ping on my phone telling me that my order had been delivered to the front desk. Great, I get to go see Liz. I sighed to myself and headed downstairs to collect our food.
"Hey Liz, I just had food delivered for Derek, do you have it?"
"Derek? How dare you use his first name!" She hissed.
"Mr. Anderson. Have you seen Mr. Andersons food?" I said in a clipped tone.
"Ignorant humans..." I thought I heard her mumble under her breath. "Here." She snapped.
"Thanks." I took it from her and scurried back upstairs. Today's breakfast was waffles with a side of breakfast sausage and fruit. I was elated that Derek told me to grab food for myself as well. I loved to eat. Unfortunately, my budget didn't always allow for it, but things have changed and I'm in a better place lately. Financially. Emotionally. Mentally. Physically.
I quickly took his food out of the plastic to-go container and onto a real plate, trying to make it look as pretty as possible. Good thing it smelled good, because I really sucked at plating food. I left mine in the container because I could care less what mine looked like or if it was in a container or on a plate.
"Here you go." I said as I walked into Dereks' office, which now looked like a bomb had gone off in a paper factory. "Woah...." I mumbled.
"Thanks....you can set it down....ugh....here." He said, cleaning a spot just big enough for the plate on his conference table.
"Sure thing...is there anything I can help you with?" I asked while I looked over all the piles of loose papers.
"No... I've got it." He sighed.
"Alright then...make sure you take a break to eat." I said. Derek only grunted and continued working.
Finally, back to my desk, I sat down and began eating my own meal while I waited for Derek to give me something else to do, or until lunch, when I planned on picking up burgers from a small mom and pop shop down the road. Derek said I could use my free time however I wanted, as long as I was ready at the drop of a dime for him. That in mind, I pulled out my books and began working
on one of my assignments while I took my time eating my food.
I'm not entirely sure where the time went but before I knew it, it was just about lunch time. I finished my assignment and even got some studying done. Not too shabby for a Thursday morning. I peeked my head into Dereks' office. He was on the phone so I simply shook my keys and pointed my thumb towards the exit, letting him know I was heading out. He nodded and continued with his call, and with no further objection, I was on my way.
Twenty minutes later, I was back in the office, food in hand. I had called and placed our order earlier this morning, so my absence in the office would be minor. I placed Dereks on a plate again before heading into his office. He was sitting at his desk this time, a frown on his face and his eyebrows knit so close together I would have thought he had a unibrow.
"I have your lunch." I said, looking for a place to set it down on.
"Lunch?" Derek asked, his head snapping to look at the clock on the wall. "s**t," he said under his breath.
I looked around and saw that his breakfast was right where I left it, completely untouched. "Yes and apparently you haven't eaten." I added. I pulled up a rolling chair to his desk and moved a few folders he had stacked. Derek began to protest but I shot him a look. Part of my job was helping him with time management as well as eating, and, clearly, I failed on both accounts today. But that was about to change. I set the food in front of him, snatched the folder from his hand and handed him a bottle of water. I quickly went back to my desk and grabbed my own food. I sat across the desk from Derek and began eating my lunch, which spurred him on to eat his. Mission accomplished.
"Thanks." Derek said between bites.
"Mhm." I hummed, my mouth full.
His phone rang a minute later and I snatched it up before he could.
"Anderson Trading Company, this is Valerie speaking. How may I help you?" I said in a chippy voice. It was the cable company confirming their appointment for tomorrow, which I already had in the calender. Derek looked like he wanted to grab the phone from my hands but instead kept eating. "Yes, we are still on for tomorrow, see you then." I said, handing up the phone.
"Thanks, again." Derek grunted.
"Just doing my job." I smiled and continued to eat.
We mostly ate in silence, but it wasn't a bad silence. It was a relaxed-I-feel-comfortable-with-you kind of moment. It was nice. Derek inhaled his lunch, I even gave him half of my burger since I was still pretty full from breakfast. He cleared his plate, which made me think I should get more food for him next time.
"That was perfect." He said once we were finished.
"Perfect, huh?" I laughed while I collected our trash. "Now, what can I help you with in here? And don't say 'nothing'. It's obvious you are in deep."
Derek looked like he was having an internal battle with himself before he finally gave in. He went to his office door and shut it before sighing and looking over the mess. "I f****d up."
"Oh?" I laughed slightly, not knowing if it was serious or not. "What happened?"
"I don't know. This is everything from the past decade from one of my clients. My numbers aren't matching but I don't know what the problem is, so I can't go to them and say 'hey you owe us money' when I don't even know what the problem is. I had the financial department go over it, several times in fact, but they came up empty handed. I have looked over these reports again and again but I don't even know what most of them mean. I'm just hoping something will pop out eventually."
"Well, I might not know much about it either, but I'm willing to help you look through it." I shrugged.
"Its worth a shot. I'll send you the folder in your email. It has everything pertaining to their account in it.."
"Sounds good to me."
Little did I know that when Derek said everything, he meant everything. Some of the stuff in there seemed like junk, others I didn't understand either. This was definitely going to keep me busy. But I didn't mind, being busy kept my mind off of....him.
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