Chapter Twelve
Beck cleared his throat, drawing my attention back to him. Clasped his hands together on top of the desk as he leaned towards me.
“C and G is a small company and we like our employees to get along. But we expect our employees to keep a…professional distance, shall we say.”
I tilted my head, eyebrows scrunching together to try and decipher exactly what he was implying. Did Beck think I was going to throw myself at him in the middle of the office? When I didn't answer, he carried on.
“Jaz is a friendly guy…”
My mouth dropped open as his words trailed off. I'd only met Jaz the previous day. Did he think I was going to jump in bed with a colleague after knowing him for one day? “Are you kidding? I thought you brought me in here to fire me, and you're accusing me of being too friendly with Jaz?” Beck had the grace to drop his gaze.
“I wanted the situation to be clear.”
Biting back the retort I wanted to blurt out, I reminded myself I needed this job. But I had to say something. “Oh yeah, I forgot. You're all about being clear aren't you, Beck?” Shifting in his seat, he ran a hand across his stubbled chin. Unbidden, I recalled the feel of that stubble scraping across my skin. Shook my head to stop those unhelpful thoughts.
“Ah yes, I also wanted to speak to you about that.”
Muscles rippled as his thumb traced across his wrist again.
“Beck is a…more of a nickname, I guess. I don't use it in the office, though.”
Folding my arms across my chest, I leaned back in the chair. “Yeah, I kind of guessed that when you were introduced as Kyle Robinson.” He gave me a rueful smile, and I shook my head.
I wasn't seeing the funny side of this situation. It was a perfect fucking disaster. Hot guy rescues me on a plane only to show up as my boss weeks later. Failing to see what was funny yet.
“Nobody here knows that name and I'd like to keep it that way. The man you met…let's just say I like to keep the work me, the man here, separate from the man I am outside of the office.”
Well, that made everything so much clearer. Not. But the more he said, the more pissed off I got, and I wasn't sure why. He didn't owe me anything. Hell, I'd never even expected to see him again after losing his business card. “Fine. Is that everything? That data's not going to input itself.”
Eyes narrowed as he stared at me, I wondered if I'd gone too far. But he nodded his head.
“Yes. But Kimberly? I'm sorry. I won't make this situation any worse than it already is.”
I paused halfway out of the chair. “It's okay. We won't be working together, so it's not like we have to speak to each other in the office every day. It'll be fine. I'm only here for a month's contract anyway.”
A pained expression flitted across his face before he hid it by stroking his hand across his cheek and mouth. When he didn't say anything more, I strode out of his office and pulled the door shut behind me.
I glanced around the room, but nobody was paying me any attention. But it wasn't okay. And I didn't understand why I was so angry. I had no right to be, but his behaviour made me feel…betrayed somehow. He had lied to me, which made me feel cheap. Used, even. Which was ridiculous. I'd been the one to take things further.
I strolled back to my desk, reminding myself we hadn't made each other any promises after that night. But he was the one that had left his card. He was the one that had wanted to see me again or else, why did he leave his number? And yeah, okay, so I hadn't called him—
“Everything okay?”
Rearranging my scowl into a smile for Jaz, I nodded. “Yes. A welcome to the office and this is how we do things chat. That's all.” His lips twisted to one side. “What?”
“Nothing. It's…Kyle doesn't normally get involved that way. He leaves that up to Tony seeing as he'll be the one supervising you.”
I guess it wasn't a normal situation for Kyle. Then again, what did I know? No way was I planning on sharing how well—or not—I knew Kyle. God, I didn't want anyone at the office to find out I'd slept with him. So I gave Jaz a nonchalant shrug, hoping he'd drop the subject.
Sliding behind my desk, I picked up a spreadsheet from the mountainous pile. Skimmed through it as I waited for my computer to start up. From the corner of my eye, I saw Jaz swivel around to face his computer and I let out the breath I'd been holding.
“Okay, then.”
I didn't answer him. What else was there to say?
The rest of the morning dragged by in a haze of numbers and account details. So many that my eyes started to blur. Which is why I triple-checked the data before I turned to Jaz.
“Hey Jaz, can I show you something?”
Twisting away from his computer to look at me, he waggled his eyebrows at me. I couldn't help but chuckle at him, but then waved a spreadsheet at him.
“Sure. What's up?” he asked, as he made his way around to my desk.
“It's the Lewis account. I've checked the figures three times, but something's not right.” Leaning over my shoulder so he could see the figures, I waited for him to look them over.
“Huh.” He dropped down into a crouch next to me and pulled the spreadsheet over in front of him. Ran a finger along the lines of figures for the account. Looking up at my screen he asked, “Is this their account?”
I nodded and scooted over to the side so he could see the screen better. Of course, Beck had to wander over to Jaz's desk right then.
“Have you seen Jaz?”
In answer, I pointed down to my side. Beck leaned over to see Jaz right next to me on his knees. And yeah, after our 'chat' that morning I guess it could look bad.
Jaz leaned around my computer to look up at Beck. “Did you need me for something?”
Hands on his slim hips, Beck scowled in response. “I need to speak to you about the Gallagher account. Come to my office when you've finished…” He waved between me and Jaz. “Whatever it is you're doing.”
As he turned on his heel, I rolled my eyes. “Go on. You better go.”
Jaz pushed himself upright as he tapped a finger against the spreadsheet. “It's not an account I've worked on, but something's not right. I'd speak to Tony if I were you. Maybe he can shed some light on it.”
“Thanks. I will.” By the time I'd finished speaking to Tony and got back to my desk, Jaz was pulling on his coat.
“Do you want to get some lunch with me?”
God, yes. I needed out of the office. “Yes, please.” Grabbing my coat off the back of my chair, I followed him towards the stairs.
“I usually go to the coffee shop next door. Happy to go there?”
I'd quite happily go anywhere right then. “Sounds great.”
And it was. The aroma of freshly brewed coffee hit me as soon as we entered The Caffeine Cave, and it was heavenly. To the side of the long wooden counter was a refrigerated display with freshly prepared sandwiches on one side and cakes and pastries on the other. My mouth watered at the sight and smells.
Once we collected our lunches, I followed Jaz down the stairs, the name of the shop making sense to me then. It was dimly lit, and the room was divided into small seating areas by all the exposed stone walls. We took a seat at one of the free tables, and it was…just like being in a cave.
“So, what did Tony say when you asked him about the account?”
Staring at the wall where an oddly shaped brick stuck out further than the rest, I tried to figure out what to say. Accusing your supervisor of being less than above board wasn't a great move on your first week in a new job. Jaz laughed and I returned my attention to him.
“He can be a bit of a pain in the arse, but he's a good guy. Did he give you a hard time?”
I shook my head as I tore open the paper bag containing my sandwich. “It was weird. I explained to him that as far as I could tell the amount the firm had paid us didn't match their invoice. But he didn't seem bothered.” Jaz nodded as he took a huge bite of his sandwich. “So I told him how they'd overpaid but then part of the payment seemed to have disappeared.” I shrugged because I knew I didn't know much about accounting but even I could work out when numbers didn't add up.
Jaz swallowed down half the can of Coke he'd ordered. “What did he say?”
I tore off the piece of ham that was hanging out of the bread and shredded it into smaller pieces. “That's when it gets weirder. He took the spreadsheet from me and said I shouldn't be working on that account. It was,” I made air quotes with my fingers, “a 'senior level' account. Whatever that means. But the way he said it, he might as well have patted me on the head and said it was too taxing for my little lady brain.”
Jaz laughed and I raised my eyebrows at him. He waved at me. “Sorry. It was just the way you said it. I wouldn't take it personally. Like I said, he can be a pain sometimes, but he's good at his job.” He gave me a lazy shrug. “You've done your bit by reporting it. I'm sure it's just a mix-up and he'll take care of it.”
He was right. But I didn't like it. Plus, it was bugging the shit out of me that I couldn't figure out what was going on except the numbers didn't match. It was like a scab I just wanted to pick at. I wasn't good at letting things slide, even when I knew I should.
Instead, I took a bite of my sandwich before I could say anything else. As I chewed, Jaz gave me a look I couldn't work out. After I swallowed my food down too quickly, almost choking on it, I asked, “What?” He smirked at me which made me worry I wasn't going to like whatever he was about to say.
“Must be the day for weird conversations.”
Don't ask, don't ask. “Why?” Of course I asked.
His smirk turned into a smile, those ridiculously pink lips stretched wide. “Kyle spoke to me about the account I'm working on.”
I didn't see anything weird in that. “And?”
“Then he not so subtly pointed out that he expected employees to keep a professional distance between themselves.”
Oh, Christ. The same words he'd used with me in our little chat. My cheeks burned, which didn't go unnoticed by Jaz. Was Beck trying to make working together as awkward as possible?
Jaz laughed. Then the horrible thought crossed my mind that maybe Jaz thought I was interested in him, and that was the reason behind Beck's warning. Was this Jaz's subtle way of letting me know he wasn't interested?
“Pretty certain that's Kyle's rule because it doesn't mention it in the employee handbook. Which makes me wonder…” He tilted his head, scrutinising my face.
Don't wonder Jaz. Just leave it alone, please. The heat in my cheeks spread down my neck under that look, and I wriggled in my seat. “Makes you wonder what?” Maybe I would take my own bloody advice one of these days.
“Makes me wonder if maybe Kyle would like less of a professional distance between the two of you because it sure sounded like he was warning me away from you.”
Leaning back in his chair, he stared at me as I managed to choke on my own saliva. “Yeah, I doubt that.”
He waggled his eyebrows at me in response and then winked at me. “We'll see.”