Epilogue
Three weeks later
As I gaze up at the tall building, I’m thrown back to the very first time I saw it, to the day everything changed.
Getting a job at Kelex brought both the best and the worst moments of my life.
But regardless of all the shit I had to claw my way out of, I will never, ever, regret meeting the man standing by my side.
Flooded with nostalgic feelings, I peer up at him, looking all dapper in his dark blue jeans, gray T-shirt, and charcoal jacket.
This time, I’m wearing a cream satin shirt and black pegged pants.
No way I’m starting the same job underdressed twice.
I’ll be back to my normal self as early as tomorrow.
“Are you ready to go in?” he asks, looking down at me and pressing an encouraging hand on my lower back. I nod, but before he turns his attention away from me, I extend my neck up to demand a kiss. He indulges, and with his hand still behind me, we enter the familiar building.
I’ve never had a second first day of work.
It’s … stressful, but not as much as that very first time.
I know exactly what to expect, and I have friends up there, whom I’m eager to work with again.
As for my boss … I’ll have to renegotiate the terms of our half-engagement and demand that in his office, we’re also fiancés.
The hall is busy, like always at this hour, and I take Lex’s hand in mine, hoping the intense activity isn’t too hard on him.
He’s been in sensory paradise for months, and having to readapt to the smelly, noisy, and crowded world has been a little harsh on him.
We wait among the suited-up folks for the elevator, and when it arrives, we enter it with the flow.
It seems some things never change, and the eager mob hasn’t learned about manners during our time away. Lex and I are pushed like cattle into the small space, and he ends up forced between me and the stainless steel panel in the back.
The situation is oh so familiar, and a soft laugh rolls out of me as I glance up.
There’s keen amusement in his eyes when they meet mine, an incredulous, crooked smile bending his perfect mouth.
While it throws me back to the first time this happened, all I can think of are the differences between then and now.
This body I’m plastered against, which felt foreign and inappropriate back then, has become one I know better than my own.
This man, who seemed like an unattainable demigod, is all mine.
The dashing face that dazed me comes with a complex personality that I didn’t suspect when I first saw it.
And the sexual tension that oppressed me then is still there, but it’s a familiar feeling, one I love.
And contrary to when I wanted nothing more than to have enough room to set some distance between us, I don’t want to move from my spot. There’s no other place I’d rather be.
Nothing is the same, and yet here we are. Stuck together in that damned elevator, on our way up to the Kelex floors.
We’ve come full circle.
And Jesus fucking Christ, what a circle it was …
“Hey,” I say, flirty. “Do you work here?”
The corner of his lips twitches with amusement. “I do. You?”
“Yeah, first day at Kelex. Or like, second first day.”
“That’s interesting. I work at Kelex too. In fact, I own half of it.”
I can’t stay serious, not when he looks at me like this. So, I’m smiling broadly when I say, “We might see a lot of one another, then.”
“I sure hope so.”
What felt like such a long torture back then ends too quickly, and Lex and I exit the elevator at the administrative and management level of Kelex.
From here, I can see construction workers at the end of the hallway.
I know Kevin bought the floor above, an extension to accommodate Kelex’s insane growth.
I never realized they were redoing some parts here, too.
We walk up to Kevin’s office and go in after knocking. He welcomes us with open arms, as warm and friendly as ever.
“I’m so happy that you guys are back,” he says once we’re released.
We’ve seen quite a lot of him and Shelly since we began going out in the world again.
We’ve had two dinners with them, and they came to our place to meet my brother and Kate, too.
When he offered us our old jobs back, it didn’t take long for us to accept.
We needed to return to some sense of normalcy after everything we went through, and going back to work was the perfect opportunity to do just that.
“Running this ship without you hasn’t been the same, my friend,” Kev continues, resting an arm on Lex’s shoulder.
“You seem to be doing alright.”
“Oh, we are. And it’s all thanks to Andrea’s app.”
That I also knew. My silly little app, which was meant to help my brother bond with women instead of fucking them and moving on, has turned into a goldmine for Kelex.
Last I heard, they—we are working with eleven foreign countries to add their sign language to our catalogue, and in negotiation with seven more.
The algorithm and AI I designed are also being used for regular translation apps and are being turned into an educational tool.
Yes, Kevin did well while we were away, but knowing I was still a part of it is amazing.
“I have an early meeting,” Kevin excuses himself. “Can you two come back in half an hour? I’ll show you around the new floor.”
“Sure,” we say in unison. “We’ll go say hi to the nerds,” I say.
“Perfect. See you in a blink.”
As we pass Lex’s old office, an impulse takes over me, and I grab his wrist to drag him to the door. I open it carefully, make sure it isn’t occupied, and pull him into the room we shared for a while.
Nothing changed, which makes sense since Kev never gave it to someone else, convinced Lex would come back one day. It’s my understanding that four people are now in charge of Lex’s old functions, which means he’ll have better working hours than he did before. More time for me in our home.
Wordlessly, I walk to the chair that was mine for about a month and sit on it. Lex sends me an amused glance and goes to his own chair to roll it back before taking a seat as well. It’s odd to be in this position, so similar to the past.
“Is it weird if I’m kind of happy you’re my boss again?” I ask, excited.
“You like when I boss you around, freckles, so no, it’s not weird.”
I look around, taking it all in. “Does it feel like it was a lifetime ago for you, too?”
He nods, scanning the room as well. “It all feels so … inconsequential,” he says. “This meant everything to me back then, this office, this company, this job … But now I’ve realized how there are other things so much more important than any of this.”
“What we do here is still pretty nice.”
“It is, yes.”
We exchange a long, deep stare, and I stand up to come around the desk. “Maybe this time, we’ll get to act on that fantasy you had of me.”
A flame dances in his gray eyes, and the same heat echoes in me. “Which one?”
“The one where you bend me over your desk and fuck me.”
His irises darken, and I know him so well that I leap out of his reach before he even tries to catch me.
“Alright, let’s go to the Troll’s Lair,” I say, heading for the door.
I just reach it when he catches up with me. I let out a surprised squeal, which turns into an uncontrollable giggle as he presses me between his large body and the panel. “Will you ever tire of driving me mad?”
Between the baritone pitch and the hardness of his dominant body against my back and ass, heat spikes in me. “I don’t think so, no. That’s like … my favorite pastime.”
“You impossible little tease. Should I give you a spanking every time you make me hard and don’t take care of it?”
“Oh, God …” I whimper. “I’ll never be able to sit again.”
He chuckles before giving me the sweetest, most tender kiss on the cheek. Then he moves back, releasing me from his caging hold. “Let’s go see the team,” he decides.
On our way out, I stop by the R&D room to say hi to Tamika.
I’ve seen her too, these past three weeks.
Oli moved into my old apartment with her, and I had a debt to repay.
As much as I hate carrying boxes and climbing up and down stairs, I showed up like a good friend and helped with the move.
Admittedly, I brought a pair of muscular arms for extra help, so it went smoothly.
Still, Tammy and I exchange a long and tight hug. “I’m so happy we’re gonna be colleagues again,” she signs with the biggest smile on her face.
“Me too. I missed you so much.”
We kept in touch throughout my adventures, but texts and calls are not the same as live interaction. Since I couldn’t tell her what was really going on, I didn’t call as much as I should have. That much is true for almost everyone. But I’m back, so things are about to change and return to normal.
We talk for a few minutes as Lex waits by the door patiently. She insists I must come to the next girls’ night next Saturday, and I immediately agree. After promising one another we’ll sit together for lunch, I return to Lex, and we make our way downstairs.
Every few seconds, someone from our days here stops us. It takes us a while to get to the Lair, and by the time we do, we don’t have much left of the half hour Kevin gave us.
This changed, too. They reworked the space and made it bigger.
Five more people work here, including two women.
Good, I won’t be the only vagina in town anymore.
Seeing how Kelex blossomed during our leave warms my heart, but tears it a little, too.
We’ve missed so much, and we’ll never get that time back.
Thankfully, we’ll be here to see the company keep growing.
Mason is the first one to lift his head and see us, and his eyes become huge as he does. “Ah! My babies!” he shouts, overly excited.