Pressing Adalyn

by Jenn Hype

  Ian nodded his head several times, taking in what I’d said. I just waited. Waited for the inevitable where he told me I wouldn’t be a good fit. What he did next surprised me.

  “Come with me,” he said, pulling me up from my seat and leading me towards the door.

  “What? Where are we going?”

  When we got to his car, he opened the passenger side door and turned to look at me. “I think you would be a great fit for my company, Adalyn. I can tell by the look you’re giving me right now that you don’t believe me. And I think the only way to prove to you that you would be an asset is to show you exactly what my company does. So get in, we need to run by your apartment.”

  Stumbling into the seat, I buckled my seatbelt as Ian rounded the car. “Why do we need to go by my apartment?” I asked as he started the car and pulled away.

  “You need a change of clothes. You’re going to want something more comfortable.” The confusion on my face had to be obvious. He was making absolutely no sense. “Trust me,” he said smiling at me. “You’ll see.”

  Chapter 15

  Ian

  I waited in the car while Adalyn ran into her apartment to get a change of clothes. The position I was actually looking to fill was secretarial, but now knowing how much Adalyn hates the mundane, I knew she wouldn’t be a good fit there.

  Stacy had shown me some of Adalyn’s art and even let me listen to a few songs she had written. I knew she had talent and would be beneficial to my creative team. We didn’t need anyone else in that area right now, but I’d be damned if I was going to let her get away. I could come up with a way to integrate her into the team.

  I was handling this all wrong. There were protocols that were to be followed when hiring someone for the creative team, but I knew if I started making Adalyn sign contracts before she even understood what we do then she would bolt. Handing her documents full of rules and stipulations before ever explaining anything did not sound like something that would go over well.

  I found myself bouncing my leg up and down anxiously, tapping the steering wheel incessantly. It felt like she had been gone for an hour, but looking at the time on my phone it had only been five minutes. Just as I thought I was going to lose it if I had to sit there any longer, she emerged from the building carrying a small duffle bag.

  “Buckle up, Sunshine¸” I said as she slid back into the passenger seat.

  “I don’t think calling me annoying nicknames is entirely appropriate during an interview, Ian. Assuming this is still an interview after the bizarre turn of events.”

  “Ian, I seriously hate this building,” Adalyn said to me with a look of disgust as we entered the main lobby.

  “So, tell me then, what would you do to make it better?”

  “Well, first thing I would do is remove everything in here and then replace it all.”

  “Oh, well if that’s all I need to do then I’ll just get right on it.”

  I liked this playful Adalyn. I felt like she was finally starting to be more comfortable around me. I could tell she was still guarding herself, but I was hoping that once she saw my main work space that maybe that would change. I had no way of knowing how she would react once we got up there, but my instincts told me she would like it. At least I hoped she would.

  Stopping her just before the elevators, I gently pulled her to the side, out of the way.

  “Before we go up there, let me explain a little bit about what we do here. We are creators. Not to be confused with inventors. We don’t invent entirely new products. We take existing products and make them better, expand on them or develop a similar product but with improvements. Companies come to us for re-branding and product makeovers. We specialize in entertainment, mostly in recreational types of products.”

  “Okay…I don’t know if that explanation made it better or worse. I still have no idea what you do here, and what all of that would have to do with me needing a change of clothes.”

  “You’re right, there really is no way of explaining it. Best I can do is show you. So, let’s head on up.”

  We rode up to my main office on the fortieth floor in silence. Despite how large the elevator was, we both stood very close to each other, our shoulders almost touching. I could smell her sweet perfume and could hear her breathing, slightly faster than normal. When our hands brushed against each other her breathing picked up even more and I risked a glance at her. She noticed my movement and glanced up at me returning my smile.

  I wanted so badly to twine my fingers through hers, pull her chest flush to my body and press my lips to hers. After our kiss at my apartment I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about tasting her again. I knew her working here would complicate things, but I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to spend more time with her. I was finally making progress and if what she needed was more time to get to know me and trust me, then I would be patient.

  When the elevator came to a stop and the doors opened I heard Adalyn let out a huge sigh. Had she been holding her breath that whole time? Was she as affected by me as I was by her?

  I placed my hand on the small of her back and guided her out into the room, and she tensed at the contact but relaxed after a few seconds. When she finally looked up and took in her surroundings I couldn’t help but laugh at the astonishment on her face.

  “Holy shit, Ian. What is this place?”

  “This is the game room.”

  “You say that like it’s supposed to clear things up for me. I thought we were going to your office. This looks like an arcade,” she said in awe, spinning in circles and touching everything. She ran her fingers down a vintage pinball machine to the right of the room and then plopped down onto one of the bean bag chairs that were laying around sporadically throughout the room.

  “Think of this as one of the employee break rooms.”

  “Hold up. First of all, this is just one of the break rooms? Second of all, who has an entire game room as a break room?”

  Extending my hand to her to help her stand, I took the duffle bag from her and slung it over my shoulder. “Come on, let me show you around. It will start to make more sense.”

  The room was expansive, and several employees were taking advantage of it’s perks. There was a full kitchen to the left that was fully stocked with every kind of beverage and food you could imagine. In each corner of the room were different table top games; a pool table, a ping pong table, air hockey and even ski ball.

  An employee walked over to ask me a question and in the ten seconds it took me to answer them, I had already lost Adalyn. I found her playing air hockey with Mitch, one of my developers. She was cracking up and trash talking him, laughing like they were old friends. How had she made a friend already?

  I just stood back and watched until the game was over, and after they high fived Adalyn hopped her way back over to me. “Sorry, I heard him say he needed an opponent and I didn’t want to leave him hanging.”

  This woman was an enigma to me. “It’s perfectly fine, I want you to be comfortable here. I think you’ll find that pretty much everyone here is laid back and easy to get along with. We encourage that type of environment. Stress in our line of work can be detrimental to our progress, so we do everything we can to keep the staff happy while they are here.”

  I led her down a long corridor, waving and saying pleasantries with my staff as we went.

  “I can see why you told me to get a change of clothes. Everyone here is wearing jeans and t-shirts. I look like an idiot in my skirt and heels.”

  Stopping in front of her, I put her chin between my fingers. “You look beautiful, Adalyn,” I said with the most serious and sincere look I could manage. She blushed and looked down, and I cleared my throat remembering I was talking to a potential employee, not a date.

  We approached the employee lounge. “This is our lounge area. It has showers, dressing rooms, lockers, free toiletries. Just about anything you need. Go ahead and go change, you’ll want more comfortable clothes for this next part. I
’ll wait out here for you.”

  A few moments later Adalyn emerged from the lounge wearing tight fitting yoga pants and a fitted pink t-shirt. Her clothes looked like they were painted on her, showing every curve of her perfect body, and I had to fight the stirring feelings that threatened at the sight of her.

  I placed my hand on the small of her back again, and guided her to the end of the hall. When we reached the door to our destination I stopped to look at her again.

  “One last thing, Adalyn. What you see behind these doors is highly confidential. You are the first employee to have been in this room prior to signing a non-disclosure and a non-compete clause. So I’m trusting that if you don’t take the job, you will keep everything you see beyond this door just between us. Do you understand?”

  Her eyes widened in surprise, and she swallowed heavily as she nodded in agreement. Taking a deep breath, I opened the door.

  Here goes nothin’.

  Chapter 16

  Adalyn

  Ian opened a massive red, metal door and I kid you not, it was like walking into Willy Wonka’s factory. Only it was toys, not candy. Ian started to talk, but I had already taken off running.

  “Oh my gosh, it’s one of those giant floor pianos like in the movie ‘Big’! I’ve always wanted to see one of these ever since I saw that movie. It was my favorite when I was a kid. I love Tom Hanks. Can I try it out?” I knew I was rambling and acting foolish, but Ian was laughing and his amused look relaxed me entirely.

  “Of course you can try it. It’s an exact replica of the one in the movie,” he answered, crossing over to push some sort of power button. I didn’t waste any time. I was dancing all over that piano like a crazy person.

  “So what is this place?” I yelled over the noise I was causing. When I couldn’t hear his answer, I stopped bouncing around and walked over to him. He was leaning against the wall with his legs crossed at the ankles and his hands shoved into the pockets of his pants. “Are you going to make me play by myself, or are you going to join me?” I teased.

  Ian shook his head and laughed, but started pulling off his jacket. He kicked off his expensive dress shoes, tossed his jacket and tie to the ground and started to unbutton his white dress shirt. I felt my breath hitch at the site of him undressing, and all I could think was that I wanted him to keep going. To remove everything. The thought of seeing Ian naked made my stomach flutter and I felt my cheeks flush.

  As he undid the last button and shrugged off his dress shirt, I couldn’t help the giggle that escaped my lips. “Oh my gosh…what is on your t-shirt? Are you wearing a Superman t-shirt?”

  He glanced down, looking almost embarrassed, tugging on the hem of his t-shirt. “Yeah, I mean, you know…” He trailed off, and I playfully punched his arm, not even trying to hide the huge grin on my face.

  “Ian Drake, are you a closet nerd?” I teased, laughing when a blush colored his cheeks. “Wow…I can’t believe how wrong I was about you.”

  His face fell and the sadness that overtook it threw me. “I’m sorry, Ian. I owe you an apology. All the things I assumed about you at first are obviously wrong. Way wrong. I shouldn’t have made a snap judgment.”

  “I understand,” he cleared his throat, seeming to struggle to make eye contact with me. Was he really that mad at me? I was trying to apologize. “Well, thank you for coming in. I assume you can find your way out,” he said as he turned to walk out.

  I grabbed his arm, stopping him and his head jerked around, his eyes staring at my hand on his arm. I quickly pulled away and started fidgeting with my hands. My nervous tick. He was laughing and smiling a minute ago. What caused this sudden shift in his mood?

  “Wait…what? Did I do something wrong? I mean…we didn’t even discuss the job. I really am sorry I misjudged you, Ian. I…I would like an opportunity to see if I might be a good fit here. If…if you can forgive me.” The pleading in my voice was obvious. I needed this job. I wanted this job. I didn’t even know what the job was but I knew I wanted it.

  “You…you still want to do the interview? You want to work here?” He asked me in disbelief.

  “Well, yeah, I mean, this place is awesome. I don’t think I’d ever want to leave. Would the job require me to live here? Because I’d be okay with that.”

  He raised one eyebrow, looking at me quizzically. “Are you being serious right now?”

  He was confusing the crap out of me. I obviously was missing something. His behavior was so off. This insecure and timid version of Ian was strange. I found myself wanting to comfort him, to ease whatever it was that was making him feel so unsure. He had no reason to feel anything but confident. He was gorgeous and owned a very successful company that also happened to be the coolest place to work on the planet. What had him so out of sorts?

  I placed my hand on his arm again. He looked down, staring at the contact again, but I didn’t pull away that time.

  “Of course I’m serious, Ian. This place,” I gestured around me, “this place is amazing. I still don’t even understand what it is you do exactly and I don’t know what my job would even be, but I know it has to be great if it’s at a place like this. Hell, I’ll scrub the toilets if you’ll let me come in here and play all day. It’s cool if you don’t have a place for me to sleep, I’ll just build a fort,” I winked at him, and his whole body relaxed as he let out a long breath. He’d been holding his breath?

  “I can tell something is going on, though, Ian. What am I missing? Why would you not believe I would want to work here?”

  He stood there for a long time, looking over my shoulder at nothing. I waited patiently, trying to figure out why pain etched his face all of a sudden. I fought the urge to reach up and rub my fingertips across his furrowed brow and down to his jaw, cupping his face in my hand. He was so beautiful; it was painful not to touch him.

  Shaking his head, he snapped out of whatever daze he had drifted into. “I’m sorry, it’s not important. I just have a lot on my mind.”

  “Um, yeah, I’m so not letting you get away with that answer. You’ve really gone out of your way the last few days to try and force yourself into my life, no matter how much I protested. If I’m going to work here and if we are going to be friends, then I need you to be honest with me.”

  His expression pulled at my heart strings as he stared into my eyes. He looked so vulnerable. Why was this such a difficult question for him? Since I didn’t think pulling him into an embrace would be appropriate, I decided a little sarcasm might do the trick. “What, is this some kind of ruse? Like, you’re some creepy child molester and this is how you get kids into your clutches?”

  That earned me a smirk. “No, nothing like that.” He hesitated again, his smile falling just a little. I was starting to get nervous. Dark clouds took over his thoughts, I could see anger rising. It was almost palpable. I instinctively took a step back, putting distance between us. I wasn’t afraid he would hurt me, but I had a feeling whatever was about to happen would require me to keep it together. And when I was so close to Ian, drowning in his scent, warmed by his body, I couldn’t think straight.

  “Adalyn, I may not be the man you think I am.” Okay… he’s really not making me feel any better about standing here so close to him. Before I could react, he kept going.

  “I don’t know how much you know about me. How much you’ve read in the gossip mags, how much Stacy has told you, whatever rumors you’ve heard. There are few people in my life who truly know me. Even my closest friends only know as much as I let them. Probably the only people in my life who truly know me are Stacy and my sister. I learned early in my career that being successful came with sacrifices. I have to be very private, which is part of why my employees sign a non-disclosure.” He paused, lost in thought again. I wanted to snap my fingers in his face, but I sensed this was a confession of sorts and figured he wouldn’t appreciate me giving him attitude right now.

  “There is something about you, Adalyn. I can’t even explain it. I barely know you, b
ut I want to know you. It’s been a long time since I really let someone in, let myself be who I truly am. Being vulnerable is hard for anyone, but it’s especially difficult when you’ve been burned before. I’m not saying I’ve never faced rejection in my life, but it’s been all business for me for a very long time now. The last time I really opened up to someone, it almost broke me.” He pulled away and ran his hands through his hair and turned his back to me.

  “Why are you telling me all of this, Ian? You barely know me. I’ve not even really been nice to you. What makes you think I’m worthy of taking a risk on?”

  Before I could blink, he turned around to face me again and closed the gap between us. He took my hands in his, our noses almost touching. He was staring right into my eyes, like he was searching. Pleading. Like he could see my soul and was begging me to see his. It was intense and terrifying and… beautiful. Something shifted in me and I wasn’t afraid anymore. I wanted to know this man and whatever secrets he held. I wanted to be the one he could trust not to hurt him, even if I couldn’t trust him. At least, I couldn’t trust him yet.

  “I’m telling you this because I know you better than you think, Adalyn. You are fierce and confident and go after what you want, but I see what’s behind what you choose to show the world. You’re unsure, just like me. You’re showing people what you want them to see, not who you really are. There are secrets you keep hidden, too, guarding yourself from pain. But I know how exhausting that is, because I do it too, and I’m tired of keeping it all in. I may not know very much about you, but I already know what matters. I always trust my instincts, and my instincts tell me you are worth the risk.”

  For once, I had nothing to say. I could feel hot tears pricking the back of my eyes, but I had no idea why. It’d been a long time since I’d cried, since I had let someone see me that vulnerable. But I was defenseless against this kind of honesty. No one had ever seen through me so easily, even Stacy, who knew everything. I had a good poker face, yet somehow this beautiful man had seen right past all my bullshit and could see how broken I was and he still wanted to know me.