Chapter Twenty
I met Devon at the top of the parking garage ten minutes before eight. His gray suit and copper tie highlighted the best of his features. I loved how bright his hazel eyes shone in the early morning sun. Devon had texted me earlier that morning to park at the top. Nobody else parked up this high. It was a great idea.
He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into a deep kiss. “Hey,” he said when we broke apart.
“Hey.” I slipped my arms under his wool coat.
“I need to tell you something. And I don’t think you’re going to like it.” I tried to pull away but Devon held strong to my arms. “One of the reasons… No, the reason I’m standoff-ish here is simple. My father would hear about anything…” He pressed his forehead against mine. “What I’m trying to say is if I’m a dick, it’s not because of you.”
“You can be professional without being a dick.”
“Not around you.” He pressed another quick kiss to my lips. “It’s dickery or nothing. If I’m anything less, somebody will see how crazy I am about you. And that will get back to Dad. I don’t need to hear his opinion on workplace romances.” He took my hand as we walked toward the stairs. “He’s not an asshole or anything and it’s not like he wouldn’t approve of you. He’s just not a big fan of certain things. One of which is me not working at JenCar.”
“So I shouldn’t be offended if you completely ignore me?”
“Or if I’m an asshole.”
He pulled the door open and let me go through it first. I waited for him before I pushed him against the wall and kissed him like he kissed me outside O’Malley’s. Devon responded in every way, his entire body heated beneath his clothes. I pushed him back gently.
“I just wanted to give you a reason not to be an asshole.” I turned and hurried down the stairs before I ripped his clothes off in the stairwell.
“Jesus, Olivia.” His dress shoes clicked against the concrete as he raced to catch up.
I laughed until I rounded a corner and almost slammed into Marvin Acton.
“Liv, Philip just asked if I’d seen you yet. You might want to hurry up.” His gaze shifted over my shoulder and up the stairwell. “If you’re not too busy playing house.”
My mouth fell open and nothing would come out.
Devon, however, had a reaction to everything. “You mean because she nags me about classwork like she’s my wife?”
Acton raised his eyebrows at him, then at me. “Judging by how swollen your lips are, I don’t think that’s what was going on. Just…keep it out of the office. I don’t care, but it’s frowned upon and against company policy.” Acton pulled open the door to the crosswalk and let it slam behind him.
“Well, shit.” Devon touched my elbow for a moment before shoving his hands into his coat pockets. “At least he won’t say anything to my father, but he might hold it over your head. He can be a jerk sometimes.”
I snorted and opened the door. “His assholery trumps yours any day of the year. Don’t worry about me.” I glanced over my shoulder. “But maybe we should just ignore each other completely. Skip lunch?”
Devon’s frown and creased eyebrows answered my question. “Dinner?”
“I have a study group tonight. What about dinner tomorrow?”
“Practice.” He sighed. “I want more than occasional make-out sessions. You know that, right?”
“Me, too. We just need to figure it out.”
“Lunch again tomorrow?” He stretched his jaw in circular motions.
“Perfect. What time’s your practice?” I asked, hoping he’d say it was late.
“I have to be there by one-thirty for a pitcher’s meeting. Practice starts at three, then coach wants the pitchers and catchers to have dinner together.” Devon shrugged. “It’s a team bonding thing. We’ve got a couple of rookies who think they’re hot shit. Like Rosie. What about this weekend?”
“I have to work Friday and Saturday night until close. Then the Sunday lunch rush. We can have dinner at my place.”
“Shit, I have a family dinner at the house Sunday night.” Devon ran his hand through his hair. “What about next weekend?”
“Heading back to Kerns. Bradley’s birthday party.”
“Our timing sucks.”
We stopped outside the entrance and swiped our key cards. Not only did it allow us in the building, it tracked our time for HR. I needed to make sure I was paid for every minute.
“Have fun with the hot shots.” I shifted my tone to professional as soon as I became a JenCar employee for the day. “I’ll see you later.”
“Later, man-eater.” Devon chuckled under his breath, but his tone had changed, too. His inner asshole had been let out.
I locked my purse in the filing cabinet and hung my coat in the cubicle before strolling down the hallway to Philip Lawler’s office. The door was closed, but I could tell he wasn’t alone. The frosted glass windows on either side of the door didn’t show much, but they did show silhouettes. There was one. Philip rarely left his desk so there had to be someone standing in front of it. I pressed my ear against the door. Yep, there were two voices. I could’ve gone back to my cube and worked on one of the many files I still needed to sort out, but I decided to wait it out. The meeting couldn’t last too long or the other person would’ve sat down. I leaned against the wall beside the door.
After ten minutes, I realized I’d made a bad decision. So I knocked.
“Enter,” Lawler shouted loud enough to be heard in the cafeteria on the second floor. I opened the door to see Rex Anderson in a stare-down with Lawler.
“S-Sorry, sir,” I stuttered. “I heard you wanted to see me as soon as I settled in. I—”
“How’re you doing on those files I gave you?” he asked, not once leaving his stare-down.
“Um…okay, I guess. I’ve sorted a few of them so they’re cohesive, but there’s a lot of information and they aren’t in any order so to speak.” I glanced between the two men. “I’ve started working on the math for the rudder, though. It’s a brilliant idea, but…”
“But what, Ms. Dawson?” Rex Anderson asked, his attention completely on me.
“Um…” I rocked from side to side and dug my stubby fingernails into my palms. “The math is off.”
“You’re saying that you know better than a man who has been with this company for five years and has his master’s degree?” Anderson’s nostrils flared.
“I’m not—”
“He has his master’s in English, Rex, not in engineering.” Philip slammed his hand on the table. “And she’s not telling you anything you don’t already know.”
Marvin Acton had a master’s degree in English? That didn’t make any sense. Why was he working on engineering projects?
“Just get it together, Philip.” Rex pointed his finger at Lawler’s chest. “Shit rolls downhill. It’s hitting me now, but it’s coming to you next.”
Rex turned and left the office without another glance my way. I stared at his retreating form down the hallway.
“Close the door, Liv,” Lawler said as he pinched the bridge of his nose. I did as instructed then faced him. He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. “How many files have you gotten through?”
“Maybe ten or so.” I sat in the chair I’d cleared off my first day. “There’s a lot of paperwork out of place and there are scraps that don’t necessarily go in the folders they’re shoved into. I’ve tried to sort out where they do belong, but I don’t think they belong anywhere so I’ve just left them where I found them.” Lawler nodded so I kept on rambling. “And the math is off on several of them. You don’t need AutoCad to see that. The dimensions are all wrong.”
“Anderson wants something from Marvin ASAP. What’s the closest?”
“Probably the rudder. It’s the most innovative, and I’ve already started recalculating some of the dimensions for a single-engine plane. The rest of the schematics are for larger planes and need a lot more work.”
“Just keep at it. Focus on the rudder design.” He waved me away with his hand. “When you have something solid, let me know.”
“Yes, sir.”
I left the office and went back to my cube, replaying the incident in my head. Lawler stood up for me even though I was more than capable of standing up for myself. Still, I appreciated it. Rex Anderson could hold my future in his hand.
One word from him could crush my career. Or it could make it.