Roni: Can I have his name and number?
Derek: Well, if I have to tell you that then I am in big trouble here.
Roni: Oh are you talking about my super-hot tech mogul boss?
Derek: Super-hot huh? I like being described that way.
Roni: Ugh, I bet you’re described that way by many girls.
Derek: You’re description of me is all that matters.
Roni: Whatever.
Derek: It’s true.
Roni: Go back to your computer mistress boss man. I WILL check up on you in the morning.
Derek: Yes, ma’am. Good night, and please be careful getting into bed.
He set his iPhone back on his desk. He stared out his office window, barely able to make out the outlines of the mountains in the pure blackness of the night. Derek stared into the darkness thinking of Roni, instead of his work as he normally did. He had spent plenty of weekends at the office clicking away on his keyboard. Nothing had been able to distract him. Now he sat at his desk, hands resting immobile on the keyboard, thinking of Roni.
Even before he had even spoken to her, Derek knew Roni was someone very special. He felt something for her. He wasn’t sure what that meant, nor did he want to examine his feelings in the moment. The women in his past only wanted him to buy them pretty things, take them to fancy restaurants or give them a good time in bed. None of them had ever wanted to do anything for him. Roni texting to be sure he wasn’t working himself to death was a new experience for Derek. Her insistence that he take care of himself, made him feel cared for. A sentiment that Derek was not familiar with.
He knew that spending weekends working as he often did was a death sentence for any relationship. His sole focus for nearly a decade had been the company that Alex and he was determined to build. This was their dream. This company was as important to him as a child was to a parent. They had started this company their last year in college. He was the brains and Alex was the salesman/finance guy.
During the day they went to classes and at night they worked on smaller contracts they were able to obtain through Alex’s sheer determination and charming personality. Derek suspected Alex had under bid and over promised a lot back then. He never cared though. Derek knew he could deliver whatever type of security package that Alex promised. The first program they ever sold was created in their apartment just off of the famous Pearl Street Mall.
They had grown that small beer money business into a billion dollar security power house. A name everyone in the industry, and even some outside, knew. He knew nothing but work and the occasional night with a woman for so long. He wasn’t sure he could maintain a real relationship without sacrificing the company he had built.
Derek pushed his wayward thoughts aside, no need to worry about a relationship when he wasn’t certain that is what Roni and he had. As his fingers began to fly over the keyboard once more adding to his masterpiece, the building security guard knocked on his office door. He held Derek’s pizza in his hands.
“Thanks for bringing the pizza up to me Marcus.” Derek said as he took the pizza from the military statue of a man.
“Was surprised to see the pizza guy. In all the years I have worked nights for you, I don’t think I have ever seen you order food.” Marcus laughed. “Good to know the rumors of you being a cyborg are false. Good night, Mr. Callaway.” Marcus left after that comment.
Derek shook his head. At that remark from the ever stoic, ever silent Marcus, he knew that Roni was right, he needed to be more personable to his employees. Maybe communicating via email was not as conducive to business as he had thought.
After devouring half the pizza, Derek settled into his work again. Thoughts of Roni no longer floated through his mind. His focus returned to his first love. The skeleton to his masterpiece would be concluded as he originally had planned
Chapter Ten
Sunday had come and gone. Roni had spent the day between the gym, getting ready for the work week and texting Derek. He was working, of course, but that didn’t stop her from harassing him from time to time. Now she was standing out front her new office building, temporary office building. She was nervous. After seeing all of the icons and software on the computer on her desk, she felt very overwhelmed. Roni took a deep breath and walked into the building. She was greeted at the security desk by an older lady with black hair tied back into a tight bun. She had a scowl that reminded Roni of all the mean school teachers in the movies. “Roni, I presume? I’m Linda, from HR. Come with me we will fill out your paperwork and get you an ID.” Linda said with open disgust in her voice. Linda walked away, Roni doubled her pace to keep up with her. “He had to hire someone new. He couldn’t just have one of the other assistants, cover for the few weeks.” Roni swore she heard Linda mutter.
Thirty minutes later, Roni had told the ever more irritated Linda every single detail about herself, signed her life away on a million different legal documents all telling her never to talk about her job and now she had a shiny new ID badge to show for her time. She left Linda’s office and headed straight for the eleventh floor. When the doors of the elevator opened she was encountered by a much different environment than she had been on Friday. Friday was typically a work at home day so many of the cubes had been empty. Those cubes that were filled on Friday, were occupied by programmers in their casual clothes. Today, every cube had an occupant, dressed in a professional. Employees were running off to meetings, laptops in hand. Still, she noticed that even with every cube filled the only noises that could be heard were those of keystrokes and footsteps.
She continued on through the maze of desks, no one seemed to even acknowledge her arrival. Derek’s door was closed, so she knocked gently. “Come in.” He shouted. Once again, she found herself needing to take a deep breath before entering his office.
Derek sat at his desk behind what looked like a wall of monitors. He still had not even looked up from his work. She cleared her throat to gain his attention. Finally, his head slowly came up so that he was looking at her. “Roni!” His face lit up. She smiled, liking that she had that effect on him. “Did you get through all the HR red tape?” He strolled toward her, buttoning his jacket as he spoke. His gray pinstripe suit hanging perfectly on his large frame. It was true what they say, a tailored suit on a man has the same effect on women as a woman in lingerie has on men. She wanted to sigh at the sight of him.
“Yes, all done. I’m all yours.”
He smiled mischievously. “Oh is that so?” He was now standing directly in front of her. He leaned down to whisper in her ear. “Too bad you left the door open or I would see exactly what you mean by that statement.” Derek kissed her quickly on the cheek before he straightened to his full height.
He took her injured hand in his. Examining the stitches. “Does it still hurt?” He asked with great concern in his voice.
A small shiver ran through her body in reaction to the brief contact. “No, it feels much better. Stitches will be out soon and I will have a cool scar.” Between the way he looked and the way he smelled, it would be a miracle is she was able to keep her hands to herself for the duration of the day. “So where would you like me to start?” Her voice was not a steady as she had hoped.
His smile widened. “Since we can’t start where I truly want to, I guess we should get to work.” Derek sauntered back to his desk picking up a large folder. “I figured that since you were having difficulty finding the task lists, schedule, etc. I would print them for you.”
It was her turn to smile. “Why thank you for not making me sit out there all day attempting to find a schedule on the NASA computer.” She began to walk toward him to grab the file, when her heel slipped off her right foot causing her to fall forward. Derek dropped the file on the floor in an attempt to catch her. His reaction was not fast enough and she fell on her knees. “Ouch!” She squeaked as her knees hit the carpeted floor. She looked up to see Derek’s face contorted into a worried look. She looked down to see papers scattered around his feet. She quickly crawled ov
er to his feet, picking up the papers. Thankfully, she was in dress pants today as she was crawling around his feet on all fours. Had she been wearing one of her skirts the whole world would have seen her pink thong.
“Are you ok?” Derek asked, sounding less worried and more amused.
She laughed as she finished crawling around picking up the papers, noticing that he had not made a move to help her clean up the mess. As she sat on her knees, she held the folders up to him. “Nice of you to help.” Roni said, raising an eyebrow.
“Sorry I was enjoying the view.” His voice was low and husky. Even from her position on the floor she could see that his eyes were completely dilated.
She smiled and licked her lips. She opened her mouth to speak when from behind her, she heard footsteps. Then she heard laughter. “Wow, sorry man, didn’t mean to interrupt. Looks like she was about to perform a duty well outside her job description.” Alex declared through laughter.
“Jealous your assistance doesn’t go above and beyond.” Was all Derek had time to respond before she flew off her knees and smacked him in the arm.
Alex gave a fake shiver and a grimace. “No, thank God she doesn’t. Not even Mr. Frostberry wants to see Mrs. Frostberry on her knees at this point.”
“I fell, knocking the papers out of his hands. I was only picking up my mess, not…” Roni waved her hand in front of Derek’s pants which only made the boys laugh more. Rolling her eyes at their immature behavior. She decided she needed to change the subject before they asphyxiated from laughing too hard. “Who is Mrs. Frostberry?”
Struggling to gain his breath, Alex answered. “Mrs. Frostberry is my administrative assistant. In fact, she used to work for my dad. When he retired, I stole her away. She is old as dirt and a total pain in the ass most of the time, but she is incredibly organized and keeps me focused.” He smiled at the end showing how much he truly appreciated his assistant.
“I can’t wait to meet her if she can keep a dumb ass like you focused maybe she can explain some of what Jemma needs me to do.” Roni said hopefully.
“Jemma and she have very different approaches to their jobs, but I am sure she can at least help get you get started. Come by when you are done here.” He wiggled his eyebrows at her, then turned his attention to Derek. “Jemma was working on the costing and client estimate for the Maddox Corporation contract. I know she only had the completed information for a day or so before she had to take off, did she email anything to you?”
“No, she didn’t even mention it to me to be honest. Jemma was going to check in throughout the week, I will ask her when she does.” Derek and Alex were both all business now. When they spoke about business their entire demeanor changed. They both stood tall, arms crossed over their broad chests. Their voices held no amusement, only ambition.
“I can help with that.” The two alpha businessmen turned to her. Looking at her as though she had grown a second head or something. Sure, she didn’t know crap about computers, but numbers, numbers she knew. “I was a mathematics major with an accounting minor.” She shrugged. “I can piece it together or at least get the backbone completed and Jemma can clean it up upon her return.” She was really hoping they would let her do this small project. The rest of Jemma’s tasks, the ones she had seen on Friday anyway, seemed daunting.
“If your background is math and accounting you will be able to have it completed by Friday.” Alex spoke with authority. Authority she wanted to take seriously, but she was struggling to do so. “I will have Mrs. Frostberry send you the information on the contract and an example of the way I prefer the estimate and costing be presented.” Alex turned back to Derek. “My financial team wants to go over the current hours billed with you and your team this week. We will need to set up a meeting. IM me later when you get a better grip on how your week is going to play out.” Derek nodded in response and Alex strolled out of the office with a purpose.
“Before you begin working on what Alex is sending over, review the schedule and task list. Move any task that are not imperative to either next week or save for Jemma. Clear an hour or so out of my schedule for the financial team no later than tomorrow. I also need to speak with Jim and Craig. Send them a meeting invite for 2:00 in my office. Lastly, call the head of the legal department, Vivian. Set up a meeting for today, preferably at 5:00, to discuss folding Collin’s company under the CPST umbrella.” Without as much as a dismissive look he sat behind his monitors once again. His hands already moving across the keyboard.
Roni stood there for a moment, hoping she would remember everything he had told her. “Ok, off to work I go.” That got her nothing so she left his office closing the door behind herself. She sat at her desk, keyed in her long, complicated assigned password. Her super computer came alive. She exhaled a long breath and began working through her list of tasks.
***
A few hours later, Derek’s IM popped up on his screen. Derek was in the zone, he had finally figured out his error in a line of code that was preventing the drone security system from initializing the sending of the data backup prior to implementing the self-destruction component of the security system. This was the last line of defense if a hacker was able to gain control of the drones. Derek ignored the IM deciding that if it was important someone would come get him.
Seconds later, his IM popped up again. Figuring that he better deal with whatever the issue was now so that he could move on with his code, he opened the message.
Alex: You my friend are the dumbest man on Earth.
Derek didn’t want to take the bait, he wanted to be a better person and close the IM and go back to his coding. However, he always took the bait from Alex and this was no exception.
Derek: What the fuck are you talking about?
Alex: Hiring Clumsy Barbie. Big mistake!
Derek: Why she seems to be qualified enough to do this job for two weeks.
Alex: Not the point. You will fuck this up with her having to deal with you being a moody visionary eight or more hours a day. Should have kept her on the shelf until this contract was over.
Derek: Kept her on the shelf? She’s not a doll asshole.
Alex: You know what I meant. This is the worst time for you. The final push means no time for extracurricular activities.
Derek: You seem to make time.
Alex: Of course I do. I’m not a monk. Plus, I don’t date I’m only interested in a few hours of fun.
Derek: Whatever I know what I am doing. She will work here for a few weeks, I will get to spend time with her everything will work out.
Alex: I still think you’re the dumbest asshole alive for trying to pull this off but more power to you. Now if you will excuse me, some of us have work to do.
The annoying voice in the back of Derek’s mind told him Alex was right. Derek didn’t have time for a real relationship at this point in time. If he was being honest, he didn’t have time for a relationship period. He was married to his company. Derek was drawn to Roni though, in a way that he couldn’t even begin to explain. Nor had he ever felt this pull with any other woman before her.
As he sat there debating what his next move should be with Roni, in walked the subject of his great internal debate. “Its 1:30 and you haven’t eaten. I took the liberty of running out to the deli down the street and getting you a meatball sandwich. I also grabbed you a couple more Dr. Peppers. I saw a whole bunch in your trash can. I figured you had an addiction going for the pop. And what kind of assistant would I be without enabling your addiction.” She closed the door behind her this time he noted.
“Crap I didn’t even realize it was that late. Thank you for thinking of me and my addiction. Are you going to eat with me?” He knew he should be working, but he could spare 15 minutes to be in her presence even if all they did was eat.
“I did.” She held up a second bag as proof. She sat down in one of the guest chairs in his office. As they both set their lunch on the desk, she looked at him and looked away quickly. “Can we not be a bo
ss / employee during lunch?” She seemed nervous as she asked the question.
Derek nodded. “I would like that. I am not a very sociable person when I’m in CEO mode. Even regular every day Derek isn’t a social butterfly.” He went for self-deprecation, but was sure it came across slightly pathetic.
“I know CEO Derek does not like people at all. However, regular every day Derek seems to do just fine in the world. Look at this past week. You were met with a multitude of social events; meeting new friends, after I knocked you into their table, going out with a girl whose clumsiness seems out to get you and her friend who is out to kill your friend. And let’s not forget the whole walking in on the COD marathon.” She had ticked each example off on her fingers. “All events that someone with no social skills would have been overwhelmed by, you on the other hand seemed to enjoy every minute. Well, maybe not the parts where your life was in mortal jeopardy due to my clumsiness.” Roni ended with an optimistic smile.
Derek sat quiet for a moment, trying to process her reasoning. He decided the only response he had was a shrug. He took a large bite of his sandwich so that she would not think it was odd he was not responding with words.
“You don’t see yourself that way do you?” She said with her head tilted to the side in confusion. “Is that why you work so much? Because you don’t want to be around people?”
Derek really didn’t want to have this conversation right now. No one knew about his social anxiety not even Alex. No one had ever figured out how uncomfortable he was in social situations, until Roni that was. And she had figured it out in a matter of days. “I like being around people I know. The social obligations of being the CEO, cocktail parties and charity events, mostly, take a great deal of energy for me though. So when it comes to my personal life I keep my socializing to a select few who I am comfortable with.” Derek stared at his desk the entire time he spoke, not wanting to see the look of pity on her face at his admission.
After a period of silence, Derek’s curiosity got the best of him. He looked up to see Roni had the biggest smile on her face. One of almost pure excitement. She turned shy in reaction to the confusion displayed on his face, tucking a piece of stray hair behind her ear. “I like that I’m becoming one of those selected few.” Then she looked horrified, almost like she didn’t mean to say that out loud. “I mean I hope I’m becoming one of those select few.” Now it was her turn to look down at the desk.
Falling Into You (Geek to Chic) Page 8