2. Chapter 2 He Was No One’s Prince Charming
Chapter 2: He Was No One’s Prince Charming
W ADE
“You should get on one of those hookup apps, not a dating app. That way, you’ll be too busy rolling around in bed with other guys when Chad comes sniffing around again, and you won’t accidentally fall back into bed with that loser.”
At Gloria’s words, Wade Edison froze on the cusp of entering the break room. He just left a meeting with his boss, Elizabeth, whose office was down the hall behind the break room. As a result, he was only steps away from a cup of much-needed coffee, but he was also able to eavesdrop without being seen.
Though he couldn’t see Gloria, his hearing was excellent. She was likely talking to her close friend, Jenny. Wade waited with bated breath for Jenny’s answer. In particular, he wanted to know if she agreed to her friend’s suggestion. He hoped Gloria’s words meant Jenny was single.
He listened for a minute before he realized he needed to leave. If he didn’t, he was going to storm into the room and demand the names of the assholes who told Jenny that bullshit about being too fat. She was soft and gorgeous and perfect.
God, if she only knew the number of nights he’d dreamed about her. It was embarrassing when he could hardly bring himself to talk to her. He never wanted to be the creepy guy who made a female co-worker uncomfortable, so he often avoided her unless she spoke to him first.
But that didn’t stop him from hoping he’d run into her as he went about his workday. It didn’t prevent his imagination from creating scenarios where he asked her out, and she agreed.
Jenny was sunshine and light, and everyone at the office adored her. She wasn’t like her predecessor, a dour, humorless older man. George kept to himself and acted like they were all beneath him because they played with computers all day while he dealt with the important financial affairs of the company.
No, it was a great day when their old finance head retired, and Elizabeth brought Jenny on as George’s replacement. Not only were their reimbursements handled quickly and without fuss, but she improved morale around the office with her cheerful personality.
There were more women at In-Tech than at other tech firms Wade had worked at, but most of them were so focused on being seen as equals that they never relaxed or tried to make friends. Jenny and Gloria were both exceptions to that, Jenny because she was so gregarious, and Gloria because she didn’t give a shit what anybody thought about her.
Even cranky old George liked Jenny, and he didn’t like anybody. George gave the first smile Wade had ever seen from him when Jenny gifted him a homemade cherry pie at his retirement party the week after she started.
Wade knew he had it bad. His best friend, Kyle, got a kick out of ragging him about his crush. Hell, he wouldn’t be surprised if his whole team knew about it. She was out of his league, but they were all in the same boat: geeks, nerds, and awkward misfits one and all.
It would be beyond embarrassing if someone caught him eavesdropping. He pushed his long hair out of his face and adjusted his glasses. If he pretended to be looking at his phone, he could listen for a bit longer.
He should go back to the office he shared with Kyle or check in with his team. They’d been working on an issue when Elizabeth messaged him to discuss tomorrow’s staff meeting.
Now he remembered why he needed a pick-me-up.
Due to last-minute oral surgery, Kyle was unable to go to a conference with him next week as planned. His boss asked his opinion about Kyle’s replacement so she could announce it at their all-hands meeting tomorrow.
Everyone on his team was already committed, and he worried Elizabeth would stick him with Jeff. Wade hated that guy, and that was an understatement. He would have preferred George to that skeezy jackass. His sigh seemed too loud as he walked into the lunchroom, but apparently it wasn’t as loud as he thought.
“Nobody should have to put up with mediocre sex and crappy behavior, but I still think a hookup app is a good idea.”
Gloria’s voice sang out as he crossed the threshold into the breakroom. From the corner of his eye, he saw Jenny’s face flame bright red when she realized he overheard Gloria’s declaration. Wade didn’t comment, but his eyebrows shot up. He didn’t want to embarrass Jenny, but he was curious how this would play out.
“It’s from a book!” Jenny burst out. Gloria looked at her askance, but Jenny kept going. “Gloria and I were talking about a scene from a book and how she would have written it. Because it wasn’t very believable.”
A smile poked at the corners of his mouth, but he squelched it. If he hinted that he knew what they were talking about, Jenny would flee; he had no doubt about that. Even though he could stare at Jenny all day without getting bored, he purposefully shifted his gaze to Gloria.
“Is that so? Do you write romance novels in your spare time, Gloria?”
“No, but I could. Haven’t you ever read a book and knew you could do a better job because the author had a good idea but made a mess with it instead?”
He nodded. “I have, and there’s a whole industry around fan fiction.”
When he peeked at her, Jenny still looked distressed. The last thing he wanted to do was make her uncomfortable around him, so he headed for the coffee maker. He’d grab a cup of life-giving nectar and leave so the two women could enjoy the rest of their break without him making things weird.
“What are your thoughts about it, Wade?” Gloria asked.
“About fan fiction? It’s okay, I guess.”
She laughed. “No, about hookup apps.”
“Is this for your book idea?”
“Yeah, sure.”
“It’s not something I’ve thought about.” Wade wasn’t sure how to answer since he knew her question wasn’t about a book.
“You don’t have to answer that,” Jenny said. “Gloria’s just teasing.”
“I want to hear his answer,” Gloria argued. “He’s a guy, and it’d be useful to have his perspective for my book. Would you rather have mediocre sex with an ex who said nasty stuff to you, or take your chances on a hookup app?”
Wade’s eyes flew between the two women who both stared at him intently.
“Uh, neither? I’m not the kind of guy girls are looking for on an app. And if an ex said shitty things to me, I wouldn’t even talk to them again, much less anything else. Being single is better than that.”
“Exactly!” Jenny burst out.
Gloria harrumphed but kept her opinion to herself. Wade made his coffee and perused the pastry case. The two women cleaned up to return to work. Jenny called out a “bye” as they left, and he raised a hand in farewell.
As they left, he thought Gloria said, “I just had the best idea! You should hook up with a geek, and we’ve got them in spades around here!”
Gloria’s quiet words stayed with Wade all afternoon as he tried to work. Did he hear her right? Was she encouraging Jenny to hook up with a geek? Did she have anyone in mind, or was it just a throw-away comment? Was this just to scratch an itch, or was it because Jenny didn’t want to be alone on Valentine’s Day?
Wade wouldn’t have thought she’d care about a contrived holiday, but he didn’t know her that well. Not as well as he wanted.
They had worked together on the holiday party planning a few months earlier, and he thought they had become friends. Even though they hung out often and talked regularly then, she had shared relatively few things about her personal life.
He planned to ask her out after the event was over so she wouldn’t be stressed by seeing him on the planning committee if she turned him down. It was quite a shock when she showed up at the company party with a boyfriend she never mentioned. Even more shocking was the way her boyfriend treated her.
That guy was such an asshole. It was somewhat reassuring that Gloria disliked him, too. Gloria didn’t have the hots for Jenny and could be more objective.
Wade wasn’t always the best boyfriend, but he never mocked a date in front of her colleagues or belittled what they enjoyed. Two minutes after meeting Chad, he wanted to punch the guy. Nobody should be treated like that, but someone as friendly and supportive as Jenny deserved so much better.
All afternoon, he tried to focus on work, but all he could think about was Jenny. And this time, it wasn’t the usual thoughts he had, about how she was too good for him or too pretty to be interested in someone like him. This time, he couldn’t stop thinking about Gloria’s words.
Wade wasn’t any woman’s dream guy. He wasn’t a socially inept, smelly know-it-all like so many in his industry, but he was no Prince Charming, either. The antithesis of the tall, scruffy bad boy women that was popular online, he was your typical nerd with glasses, a beard, and shoulder-length hair.
He worked out, but it was to combat the hours he spent hunched over his computer. His time in the gym was spent on the treadmill or rowing machine so he could listen to podcasts or audiobooks, but he also lifted some weights.
Despite knowing he wasn’t a catch, his mind kept circling back to what Jenny said. He was furious that some jackass said such nasty and untrue things about how she looked. She was gorgeous, a wet dream came to life. He’d woken up hard after dreams of her more times than he wanted to admit.
Her other words danced around in his head non-stop.
“If a guy’s not going to take the time to figure out what I like and what gets me off, relationship sex is just masturbation with extra steps.”
The real killer—the thing he couldn’t stop thinking about—was what she said next.
“I’ve never had an orgasm with a guy, and I don’t think a hookup app is going to change that.”
How was that even possible? What kind of selfish assholes had she dated that they didn’t want to spend the time making sure she was happy first?
Too bad he wouldn’t be around on Valentine’s Day this year.
“Is it five, yet? Today has dragged on forever.”
Wade glanced up from this keyboard as Kyle dragged out his last word.
“I don’t know about you, but I haven’t gotten anything done,” he admitted.
“You’ve been weird since you got back from your meeting with Elizabeth. Everything okay?”
“It’s fine. She wanted my opinion on who to replace you with for the conference.”
“It sucks my root canal got rescheduled for next week.”
“Is the pain bad?”
“Nah, I just meant because now I can’t go with you. I was looking forward to talking shop all day and then hanging out all evening.”
“We do that already.”
“But not in a hotel bar while trying to see if we can find a conference hookup.”
Wade rolled his eyes and laughed at his friend.
“As if. What’s with everybody and hookups today? I swear, there’s something in the air.”
“Yeah, duh. Valentine’s Day is next week. Valentine’s Day and a conference? I bet there will be a lot of one-night stands next week.”
“You think so?”
“Eh, I don’t know.” Kyle shrugged. “It sounds like some movie romance shit, though. Who else is talking about hookups?”
“Just something I overheard when I was getting coffee.”
“Office drama, and you didn’t tell me?”
“Not office drama. Besides, I’m not a gossip.”
“Because I tell you all the good stuff, so you don’t have to ask. Now it’s your turn. Gimme! What did you hear?”
“Nothing. I overheard part of a conversation I’m not going to repeat”—Wade laughed at Kyle’s exaggerated sulk—“and then got pulled into a different part of the conversation, which was about hookup apps.”
“No offense, man, but you’re not a casual sex guy. Why would someone ask you about that?”
“They wanted a guy’s perspective.”
“Oh, I get it. You overheard something between Jenny and Gloria. Wait, which of them was talking about hookups?”
“How did you—?”
“Seriously? It would have to be two women talking to need a guy’s perspective. They’re the only two women who hang out together at work often enough to talk about sex on their break.” Kyle rolled his eyes. “I’ve already guessed the major parts, so you might as well tell me the rest. You know I’ll bug you until you do.”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Oh, I see.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means Gloria suggested Jenny find a hookup. You wouldn’t be so distracted if it was Gloria. Wait, I thought Jenny had a boyfriend.”
“That loser bailed.”
“Good. He was a dick. So, what are you going to do about it?”
“What do you mean?”
“Dude.” Kyle gave him a look that said he was being an idiot. “You’ve liked her since the second she started working here, and it sounds like she’s interested in finding someone new. You should go for it.”
“I don’t know. What if I make her uncomfortable. I don’t want to be that guy. Besides, I don’t even know if we’re allowed to date co-workers anymore.”
“It’s fine, unless one of you is the manager of the other, or you’re on the same team, which isn’t the case. You’ve got to fill out a form with HR, but that’s it.”
“How do you know that? Why do you know that?” Wade asked.
“I like knowing things.” Kyle cleared his throat. “But don’t change the subject. If she didn’t want to go out with you, she could just say no, and you’d go back to what you’re doing now.”
“But—”
“It’s not like you corner her in the copy room or stare at her breasts when you talk to her. That’s the kind of stuff that makes women nervous of guys they work with, not a respectful guy asking them out and accepting their answer. And even if it went poorly, you don’t work together very often, so no big deal. Ask her out.”
“I’ll think about it.”