Ryan froze. In his experience, most people weren’t like him. They preferred to shove things they were embarrassed about under the carpet, not put them out there.
‘Yeah?’
‘I apologise. Lucas came here to vent and I was trying to support him, but in doing so I said things that were unprofessional.’
‘Was that the bit about me not being likeable, or you being stuck with me?’
Her eyes held his and she smiled. Actually frigging smiled. ‘Both?’
It was her sunshine smile, too. The one that lit up her face, shimmered through her eyes and was alarmingly infectious. Determined to remain unaffected by it, he lifted his shoulders in a casual shrug. ‘Forget it. It’s nothing I’ve not heard before.’ He’d cut off his right arm before admitting how much the first comment had stung. He thought he’d got over being hurt by what people said behind his back, but maybe that was just people he hadn’t slept with.
‘Well, you shouldn’t have heard it from me.’
As he continued to hold her gaze, his control wavered. Whether it was the candour in those blue orbs or the tilt of her lips he didn’t know, but the need to kiss the woman who’d only moments ago said he wasn’t likeable became almost overwhelming. Shaking off his confused emotions, he walked towards the door. ‘Guess I’d better go and find Lucas. What the hell is a mochaccino anyway?’
‘A latte with added chocolate.’
He screwed his face up. ‘Not happening.’
He stepped out to the sound of her soft laughter. And the realisation that he was smiling.
The smile broadened when he caught sight of Lucas at the coffee machine. Christ. He was all for bucking convention but pink trousers and a green shirt? ‘I didn’t realise it was dress-as-a-fruit day today.’ Lucas’s eyebrows shot into his hairline and as he glared back at him, Ryan belatedly realised he’d used that word. Again. ‘What is it with you guys? Don’t you eat apples, oranges?’ He deliberately ran his eyes over Lucas’s attire. ‘Watermelons?’
Lucas frowned and looked down at what he was wearing, clearly unable to remember what he’d thrown on this morning. ‘The fruit dressed as a fruit?’
Ryan heaved out a sigh. This was why he avoided people. Why he needed to work alone. His social skills sucked. ‘Look, mate, I promise I was only thinking watermelon.’
For a few disconcerting moments, Lucas’s gaze seared through him. ‘You’re sure about that?’
‘You seriously think I give a flying fig who you sleep with?’
Finally, Lucas dropped his ready-to-strangle-him look. ‘Okay, darling, I believe you.’ He then proceeded to flash a smile that, if it had come from a woman, Ryan would have called downright flirtatious. ‘Do you like watermelons?’
Shit, where was he going with this now? ‘Sure. In a fruit salad.’
‘Umm, so you are partial to a bit of fruit then?’
As Lucas continued to smile at him, Ryan felt a blush creep up his neck. ‘Please tell me you’re not hitting on me.’
Lucas batted his eyelashes. Batted his damn eyelashes. ‘Do you want me to?’
‘Christ, no.’
While Ryan went all sorts of hot and cold, Lucas tipped his head back and roared with laughter. ‘I’m messing with you, Black.’ A sly smile flitted across his face. ‘I do have standards, you know.’
Relief made Ryan almost lightheaded. ‘Thank fuck for that.’ Once he’d stopped laughing, Lucas turned his attention back to the drinks machine and pressed a few buttons. Ryan watched with horror as an obscene amount of white frothy liquid spouted into a mug. ‘On the subject of standards, I never drink anything I can’t spell. I’ll stick to black coffee, thanks.’
Lucas pursed his lips. ‘Here was me thinking we were going to be friends.’
Ryan couldn’t see that happening if they were the only two left on the planet, but as he and Lucas seemed to have arrived at some sort of truce, he kept quiet.
Lucas carried both drinks into the nearby meeting room and placed them on the table before sitting down with a theatrical flurry. ‘So, it seems we’ve been naughty schoolboys.’
Ryan carefully sat on the chair furthest away. ‘At least I didn’t go crying to the teacher.’
‘Touché.’ Lucas took a sip of his mocha crap. ‘I wouldn’t have needed to if you’d bothered to talk to me on just one of the six occasions I came to run something by you.’
‘That’s what meetings are for.’
Lucas stared back at him, jaw opening and closing like a goldfish. ‘I have to schedule in time to talk to you, do I?’ He rolled his eyes. ‘And people call me the Queen.’
‘I only called you a watermelon.’ Ryan huffed out a breath, wondering what the hell he was doing sitting here discussing queens and fruits with a man drinking a mochaccino. ‘Look, when I’m working, I need quiet. It’s nothing personal.’
Lucas frowned. ‘Then how about this for a wacky idea? Tell me that. Don’t just growl at me.’
‘Fine.’ He looked Lucas in the eye. ‘When you can see my head’s down, please don’t disturb me. It really ticks me off.’
‘Noted.’ Lucas flicked something off his trousers. Probably a confused insect looking for pollen. ‘There are still things we need to discuss though, and don’t tell me I have to schedule an audience with you.’
‘Wouldn’t dream of it,’ he muttered, taking a swig of his coffee.
‘How about we set aside half an hour every morning and every afternoon to … hook up.’ Lucas waggled his eyebrows suggestively.
Ryan decided to play him at his own game. ‘You sure half an hour is enough?’
‘I’m easily satisfied.’
Lucas’s face kept impressively deadpan – for about two seconds. Then his lips twitched and Ryan couldn’t help himself. He started to laugh. ‘Half an hour it is then.’ He drank the last of his coffee and jumped to his feet. Time to make a run for it while they were still on reasonable terms. But as he reached the door, Lucas’s question stopped him in his tracks.
‘What do you think of our Sam, then?’
Was it a fishing expedition? Or did the guy know something? Ryan couldn’t tell from Lucas’s impressively blank expression. ‘Too early to tell.’
Lucas’s expression sharpened as he stood and walked towards him. ‘Have you two met before?’
Ryan willed himself not to flinch, not to blink. He rated honesty above all other traits, mainly because he’d been lied to for much of his childhood, but this was a question he wasn’t prepared to answer. Even if, by not answering, he raised suspicion. ‘Why?’
Sure enough, Lucas’s eyebrows rose another inch. ‘Just idle speculation. There seems to be an undercurrent between you. I can’t work it out.’
Ryan snorted. ‘Yeah. She doesn’t like me. You were there when she told you.’ Before the man could ask anything else, Ryan shot off back to his desk.
Undercurrent? Was that code for sex? And why the bloody hell couldn’t he stop thinking about that night? It had been two weeks, for pity’s sake.
Maybe his obsession had nothing to do with Sam Huxton, he thought as he logged back onto his computer. Maybe he just needed to get laid again. Then again, considering how much trouble the last hook-up had landed him, maybe celibacy was the way forward.
In fact, considering his to-do list, celibacy was the only viable option.
Chapter 8
‘I’m going to throttle Hank. How could he recommend that guy to us?’
It was now four weeks into Ryan’s employment with them, and things hadn’t got any easier. This time it was Becky chewing Sam’s ear off as they walked together to the weekly management meeting. A quick glance along the corridor and it was clear Ryan was already in the meeting room, as was becoming the norm. Obsessive punctuality seemed to be as much his thing as obsessive quietness when he was working.
As if he could sense her, he glanced up and immediately her pulse shot up a gear. Sam groaned inwardly. Here went another hour spent pretending he was just anot
her employee.
Pretending she didn’t still find the man impossibly attractive.
‘Sam?’
She shook away her errant thoughts. ‘Sorry. Miles away.’
Becky gave her a sidelong look. ‘Oh boy, please don’t tell me you actually still like the guy?’
‘What guy?’ Becky huffed and Sam immediately caved. ‘If you’re talking about Ryan, I never said I liked him.’
‘But you can’t take your eyes off him, either.’
Sam lurched to a stop. ‘I can. See, my eyes are on you now.’ She gave Becky her best wholesome smile. ‘So, what’s our newest employee done now?’
Becky sighed. ‘He’s not easy to work with, you know? Locks himself away in the meeting room all day. It’s so frustrating when I have things I need to run by him. He’s been here a month now and it’s vital we start communicating more.’
‘Maybe you should gatecrash Lucas’s time slots.’ Aware that Ryan was still watching her, Sam started walking again. He probably thought they were gossiping about him. But when did being a responsible manager and listening to her staff’s gripes become gossip?
‘I said the same to Lucas. He told me he didn’t want to share him.’ Becky started to giggle. ‘I seriously think he’s got the hots for Ryan and he’s hoping to turn him.’
A memory of Ryan’s dark, hooded eyes flashed through her mind. The way they’d burned into hers as he’d moved over her. Then slipped inside her. ‘I doubt the man’s for turning,’ she murmured, feeling heat pool between her legs. Would there ever be a time when she didn’t remember every blasted moment of that night?
Thankfully Lucas arrived at the meeting room just behind them, allowing her to keep her interaction with Ryan to a brief, impersonal smile.
‘The elusive Mr Black.’ Lucas strode into the room and glided elegantly into the seat next to Ryan. Sam stifled a smile as she saw Ryan’s forehead crinkle in a frown. ‘What’s wrong? Don’t you want me to sit next to you?’ Lucas pouted.
‘Sure I do.’ He glanced at Lucas’s bold pink and white striped shirt, which he’d teamed today with rather conservative beige trousers. ‘As long as your wardrobe choice isn’t catching.’
Lucas burst out laughing and Sam immediately glanced at Becky, who looked as shocked as she was. Were those two actually starting to get on?
The meeting began with department updates. ‘Are we still on schedule to have Privacy 2 finalised in two months?’ Sam’s stomach knotted, as it always did, when she thought of the rapidly approaching deadline.
It was Lucas who replied. ‘Boy wonder here is working his fine butt off.’ Ryan briefly closed his eyes, but Sam thought she saw his lips twitch. ‘We’ve managed to streamline the input side of things by providing a consent button to access third party data, like Facebook and Instagram. We’ve also got the app to monitor the user’s junk email, which we didn’t have before. If we carry on at the same rate of progress then yes, we should be done in time.’
Ryan raised his hand. ‘What Lucas meant to say was, if we don’t come across any hitches, if we can persuade you and Becky to be happy with the compromises we’ve had to make, and if we can agree on the next steps, then maybe there’s a chance it will be done in two months.’
Automatically Sam’s hands reached into her trouser pocket for the antacids. The thought of not having it ready before Damien’s launch … No, she wasn’t thinking like that. They were going to do this. Taking a breath, she pushed a smile onto her face. ‘Sounds good.’
Next to be discussed was the upcoming investor meeting. They held one monthly to keep those who’d ploughed a considerable amount of money into the company abreast with how things were going.
‘Will your parents be attending?’ Becky asked after she’d given them all a brief update on what she was planning to say.
Ryan’s head snapped up and Sam was aware of his eyes watching her intently as she replied. ‘I don’t think so. They said they didn’t want to interfere. Just to help.’ Why did she suddenly feel as if Ryan was weighing her up, and finding her wanting? Worse, why did she care if he was?
‘Mummy and Daddy funding your pet project, are they?’
At the derision in his eyes, she felt her blood boil. ‘This isn’t a project,’ she told him tightly. ‘It’s my life. My parents didn’t give me a penny until …’ She slammed her mouth shut, aware she’d nearly given him further ammunition to laugh at her. ‘It’s none of your business.’ Words she should have stuck to in the first place.
‘You’re right. Sorry.’ Ryan gave her an awkward-looking smile. ‘Sometimes crap comes out of my mouth before my brain has a chance to filter it.’
Mollified – and more than a touch surprised – by his unexpected apology, Sam moved quickly on. ‘The next agenda item is employee of the month. Does anyone have a recommendation?’
‘What?’
The look on Ryan’s face was almost comical. ‘We have an employee recognition scheme,’ she explained patiently, well aware he’d feel as much affinity towards that as he did to open-plan working. ‘Anyone can nominate someone for it. They just need to give a reason. We discuss the recommendation in this meeting. The nominated employee gets to keep the plaque on their desk for a month.’
‘Whoopee.’ Though his tone was sarcastic, his eyes were amused.
‘They also earn a fifty-pound voucher of their choosing.’
Ryan’s lips curved in that funny smirk. ‘Can I nominate myself?’
Becky leant unsubtly towards her. ‘Self-nomination is the only way he’ll get one,’ she whispered, though whispered wasn’t quite the right word as Ryan’s eyes flashed in their direction.
‘Not very teamy of you, Becky.’ He gave a slow shake of his head. ‘At least direct your sarky comments to my face.’
‘Not very teamy of you to shut yourself in a meeting room all day.’
He raised his eyes to the ceiling. ‘I don’t sit at my desk dreaming up cute ad slogans. I write complex code. It requires thought.’
‘Seb wrote code,’ Becky retorted, never one to step down from a challenge. ‘He also sat in the open plan area and was happy to be interrupted when I needed to ask him something.’
‘Is this the same guy who told you he could do the impossible?’ Before Becky could reply, and from the way she was practically vibrating, Sam knew her friend was itching to deliver a snappy put-down, Ryan spoke again. ‘Look, I’m sorry I need quiet to work. If you need to talk to me, why not use the same slots as Mochaccino Man.’ He pointed at Lucas.
Becky stiffened. ‘That’s rude.’
Lucas, though, looked far from unhappy, his blue eyes shining with amusement. ‘That’s nothing. He called me a fruit the other day.’
As Becky gasped, Ryan cut in. ‘It’s not as bad as it sounds. He’s winding you up. And at least I don’t talk about people behind their backs. I say it to their faces.’
Sam felt a dart of guilt as she recalled Ryan overhearing her and Lucas talking about him. But God, had he seriously told Lucas he’d looked like a fruit? And was Lucas really as okay with it as he seemed to be?
Time to move the meeting into safer, more professional territory. Sam cleared her throat. ‘Okay, enough. While Ryan’s working in the meeting room, Becky will use the same time slots as Lucas if she needs to talk to him.’ Not that she was going to let Ryan work in isolation for much longer. She fully believed employees who chatted together and socialised together worked better together. One team, one mission, one heart wasn’t just the company motto. It was a fundamental part of their success. ‘Now can we get back to employee of the month?’
‘I’d like to nominate Alice.’ Becky gave Ryan a pointed look. ‘She’s been terrific, helping me as much as she can when Ryan’s been … unavailable.’
Ryan’s face twisted. ‘There’s something going on with her.’
Not the response Sam had been expecting. ‘What do you mean?’
‘Nobody can be that happy all the time. It’s not real.’
>
‘Especially not working with you.’ Becky uttered the words loud enough for Ryan to hear this time.
He let out a low laugh. ‘Good one.’
Sam accepted Alice’s nomination and moved hastily to the next item on her list. The conference. ‘We’ve agreed to have a stand at the mobile app conference next month. Becky, I know you and the sales team will be attending on both days. Do you need support from anyone else?’
‘In the past we’ve had one of the development team come, in case we get asked anything technical.’ She smiled sweetly over at Ryan. ‘Alice did a great job last time.’
He smirked. ‘What, you don’t want me?’
‘If your face can do anything other than glower, then yes. Otherwise, we’d rather have Alice.’
Sam sighed. Here they went again. She was going to throttle her friend. Sure Ryan was a pain in the arse, but Becky knew that. She’d flipping interviewed him. Needling him was only going to make him worse.
‘You think this face can’t smile if it needs to?’ Ryan countered. ‘At least I don’t have bright blue hair.’ As Becky bristled, he held up his hand. ‘Hey, don’t get me wrong, it’s kind of cool, but who’s to say it won’t put more people off than my sour face?’
Ignoring him, Sam turned to Becky, trying to gauge her thoughts. Did she want Ryan at the conference, or not?
Her friend clearly read her unasked question. ‘If he puts on a suit and plays nice, I’m happy for him to come.’ She paused a moment. ‘Will you be coming?’
‘Yes, for a bit.’
‘Then it probably makes sense for Alice to come on the first day and for you and Ryan to come for the second day. We can hold an informal Q&A at the stand.’ A slow smile crept over Becky’s face. ‘And I think you and Ryan live near each other, so this way you only need to bring one car.’
Sam’s jaw dropped open. What on earth was she cooking up? But Becky just continued to smile.
‘Ryan?’ With great trepidation, she looked over at him, but he wasn’t listening. He was staring down at his phone, a tight expression on his face.
‘Sorry, got to get this.’
The New Guy Page 6
