Chapter 5
Mark
I was a coward. I knew it, and as soon as Sawyer woke up, he would know it too.
Given that I had been in my office sipping coffee for over two hours now, not getting any work done, it was likely that Sawyer already knew that I had taken the coward’s way out—getting up early, slipping from my bed, and going to work.
Was he going to be late? Probably, given that he had to somehow manage to get a hold of a suit and get to work.
Plus, when I had left him, he seemed so comfortable, surrounded by the plush comforter.
My comforter. The one I picked out when I bought the place.
I’d never had so much trouble leaving my bed, but I had to get away and clear my head.
Maybe have it examined for signs of insanity.
Last night had been incredibly wonderful.
I knew any night with Sawyer would be explosive, but seeing how well we fit together rocked my world.
I knew Sawyer appreciated praise. Seeing how those same blushes came out in the bedroom when I showered him with praise would be my undoing.
There was no way I’d ever be able to ignore that knowledge.
But fuck, it could not happen again. Especially since it was a rebound for Sawyer. But it was so much more to me.
My phone pinged. It had to be Sawyer letting me know he’d be late. I’d tell him it was fine. Everything was so awkward now. We had crossed that line, and there was no going back. He would probably try to persuade me otherwise, but this made my decision to transfer departments so much easier.
Sawyer’s job was safe. I would make sure of that. And I would move someplace else, leaving all of the joy in my life behind.
That was rather dramatic, but at the moment, it felt accurate.
I picked up my phone, expecting to find some excuse about being late. Instead, there was a string of text messages, one right after another.
I forgot what day it was.
I swear, Mark, if I had realized what day it was, I would have canceled.
Shit. I’m trying to get there as fast as I can to intercept them. Please forgive me.
Intercept who? What? What day was it?
I flipped open my laptop. How pathetic was it that I was sitting here for two hours and never even opened my laptop to begin actual work? Instead, I had been letting my thoughts of Sawyer run through my mind the entire morning, sulking over what I could never have.
I checked my calendar and there was nothing out of the ordinary. Then I pulled up Sawyer’s, and bright red, an all-day event: Sawyer’s two-year anniversary.
I groaned and put my head in my hands. Two years Sawyer had been working for me.
For most of my employees, we didn’t celebrate this kind of thing.
But a year ago, Sawyer had acted all put out that I hadn’t remembered that it had been a year since we started working together.
He made a whole deal of it and promised that on year two, he would celebrate his own anniversary.
Obviously, he had something up his sleeve, and I would just have to endure.
“Oh, thank God they’re not here yet.” Sawyer burst into my office, his tie askew, his shirt untucked.
“Where did you get a suit?” I hadn’t expected that to be the first question out of my mouth when I saw him this morning. Really, I would have liked to just laze in bed all day with him and wake him up with a “good morning, beautiful,” but I supposed “Where did you get a suit” would work.
“I had one in my locker at the gym. Thank fuck.”
“Who are you worried about being here?”
He ran his hands through his hair which was usually nicely styled, and today he looked more like a young college kid rather than my trusted employee. I didn’t hate the look. “I might have scheduled a telegram.”
“A what now?”
“You know, those performers that can come and they’ll sing to you? They do costumes and other random stuff.”
I groaned.
“We can probably stop them before they get up here…”
But no. There would be no stopping this celebration.
The office was full of people now. It was just 8:30, and we had already gotten a few looks—but it wasn’t odd for Sawyer to be in my office this early.
We worked together frequently. No one knew what had occurred last night. Except for me. I’d never forget it.
A string of people entered, holding bouquets of fake flowers. One of them sat a speaker down.
I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the train wreck in front of me. Two men dressed in identical jester-style spandex suits began their routine. The music played while one of the men climbed on the other’s shoulders.
“Hear ye, good sir! We’ve come to set right the wrong done to our dear friend and kindest soul in the world, Sir Sawyer.”
I blinked. Surely this was a dream.
Others in the office had gathered around. Meanwhile Sawyer covered his face with his hands, either crying or laughing, I couldn’t tell.
Then the two jesters began their song.
“You forgot his hire date and that’s okay!” They clapped.
“You forgot his hire date and that’s okay!” Two claps.
“You forgot his hire date, but it’s okay, the gifts can wait. You forgot his hire date, now let’s have cake!”
The man who carried the stereo in, now held a massive sheet cake, and he held it out to me with a wide smile on his face. Around me, the office burst into applause.
Sawyer managed to put his hands down and he gave everyone a dramatic bow.
“Sorry,” he mouthed to me.
I couldn’t be mad. I expected something like this from Sawyer. He knew how to get work done, but he also knew how to have fun. It was people like him that kept this office running smoothly.
“Well, I guess we’re getting cake two days in a row. Congratulations on two years, Sawyer.” I peered over to look at the cake and burst out laughing. “Thanks for not firing me… yet.”
He sure knew how to keep things interesting.
Sawyer took the cake and ushered the entertainers out of the office.
They left the assortment of bouquets around my office.
It was going to be very fragrant today. Thankfully, the flowers were some of my favorites, dahlias and zinnias in various shades of pinks and peaches.
Was that a coincidence or did Sawyer know my favorite flowers?
“I am so sorry about that, Mark. I totally forgot it was today. I would have canceled because… well, because… I mean…”
I laughed. I couldn’t help it. I’d never seen Sawyer speechless.
“It’s fine. Although if we continue to have cake every day, my waistline is going to protest.”
Sawyer licked his lips and looked me up and down. He seemed to do it subconsciously. “You look fine.”
Suddenly the temperature went up thirty degrees. I opened my mouth to say something, but my phone rang. It wasn’t a call, just my alarm letting me know I was due at the board meeting in less than five minutes. I needed to get moving.
“I’ll let you get to work. I’ll, umm…” Sawyer backed out of my office, and as soon as he was clear of the door, he spun around and sprinted to his desk.
Right. Okay. So. We managed to talk. Not about anything important, and it was awkward as hell, but we did it.
Now we just had to get through the rest of the day.