3. Lose Her Cool
3
LOSE HER COOL
T wo weeks later Tori was speed walking into the building with half a dozen things on her mind that she needed to get done before her afternoon meeting with staff.
When an idea popped into her head to talk about, she pulled her phone out to make a note before she forgot it on the way up the stairs.
“Tori.”
She turned to see who called her name hoping the interruption didn’t put her any further behind.
The last person she expected to see was the rude jerk who’d insulted her over a month ago in the bar.
She’d gone to get a drink with Raina the day after the lunch two weeks ago and then again alone after work last week.
Bryon had told her the guy hadn’t been back in and she felt she could just breathe and frequent her favorite spot for some peace again.
Which didn’t explain why the guy was in her office building...and knew her name!
She put her phone in her pocket and waited for him to come closer to her.
“How do you know my name?” This was making her nervous, but she had to remind herself that she was safe in the Fierce building. There was security everywhere and she had an in with being best friends with one of the owner’s “family members.”
“I asked,” he said.
“Asked who?” she asked.
“Listen,” he said. “I just wanted to?—”
His phone went off and he pulled it out of his pocket mid-sentence. She didn’t know what he was going to say to her but then was too busy looking at his phone and ignoring her.
He stopped her, for God’s sake!
She crossed her arms. “Are you a doctor?”
“What?” he asked, lifting his head to look at her. He was frowning, but it still didn’t take away from the clear blue eyes on his handsome face. What a waste on someone with no manners.
“I asked if you were a doctor.”
“No,” he said and went back to his phone quickly before putting it away.
“Is it an emergency?”
“Huh?” he asked.
“If you’re not a doctor and it’s not an emergency, then it’s rude to be talking to someone and stop mid-sentence to look at your phone.”
“So you’re schooling me on manners now?” he asked.
“Yes,” she said, her straight back making another appearance. “I was taught manners and professionalism. Not sure if you were.” Though he was dressed as if he worked in an office environment, she just didn’t know where.
She hoped not here, but then she still didn’t know how he knew her name or where to find her.
She prayed to hell he wasn’t stalking her.
She still didn’t even know what he was trying to say to her when he called her name.
He stared at her and then just laughed and shook his head. “You know, I was coming over to say I was sorry and then you started to act like a bitch again. Not sure what I was thinking.”
Her jaw dropped and she watched him walk to the elevator and hit the button to go up. She hoped he wasn’t going to her floor, so she raced to the stairs and went up them quickly to see if that was the case.
Nope, the elevator was still going up, which meant he was on the floor with Fierce Engineering since they took up the third and fourth levels.
She marched into her office, right past everyone saying hi to her with her just lifting her hand in a wave.
She left some frowns in her wake, but she wouldn’t be concerned over her slight rudeness just now.
She’d never been around anyone that made her lose her cool as much as this man did.
The minute she was in her office, she closed her door, pulled her cell phone out and called Raina.
“Please pick up. Please pick up.”
“Hi, Tori. What’s going on?”
“I just ran into that jerk again,” she exclaimed, then took a deep breath to calm herself.
“Which jerk is that?” Raina asked.
“The one who insulted me at the bar over a month ago.”
“Where did you run into him?” Tori asked.
“In the lobby. He knew my name. He called my name. He started to talk to me and then stopped to look at his phone mid-sentence.”
“You hate that,” Raina said. “I guess I do too. It’s like society has turned into this place where it’s okay to put a device first for no reason.”
“That’s right. I nicely asked him if he was a doctor.”
Raina laughed. “Is he?”
“No, but he looked up as if I was some clown in church breaking out in song for asking him that. Then I asked if it was an emergency and he didn’t know why I did that.”
“I bet you explained it was rude to do what he was,” Raina said.
She heard the humor in her friend’s voice. “You know, if I hadn’t had a run-in with him in the past, I wouldn’t have. I would have impatiently waited for him to finish and maybe made a somewhat joke about it to get my point across.”
“But he rubs you the wrong way,” Raina said.
“Like sandpaper on a paper cut,” she said.
“Then what happened?” Raina asked.
“I hear you wanting to laugh,” she said.
“I do,” Raina said. “But I know you’re worked up and that isn’t like you at all, so this guy is getting under your skin.”
“Yeah. And if that wasn’t bad enough, I don’t know how he knows my name. I even asked him, but he didn’t answer. Then he got on the elevator and went up. Which means he’s in Fierce Engineering right now.”
“That’s why you’re calling,” Raina said. “Start describing him to me. I’m going to walk around and see if I can figure out who it is.”
“Dark hair,” she said. “Bright blue eyes. I mean so clear you might think it’s this beautiful lake you can see your reflection in.”
“Geez, Tori, why don’t you give me a better description?”
“Don’t be cute. His eyes stand out more than anything. He’s gorgeous which he probably knows and that is why he acts like a dick.”
“You don’t swear very often,” Raina said.
“I don’t, which should tell you he works me up.”
“You don’t say,” Raina said sarcastically. “What’s he wearing? I just went by the conference rooms on my floor and they were all open with no one in them. I’m going to do a sweep of the third floor and check out there.”
“A silver oxford shirt with navy stripes in it. He had nice jeans on and brown sneaker-type shoes.”
“You got a really good look at him,” Raina said, laughing.
There was silence for about ten seconds. “Are you still there, Raina?”
“Yeah,” Raina said. “I pretty much ran back to my office. I know who you’re talking about.”
“Who?” she asked. “You didn’t make it to the third floor. Not in that short of time.”
“I didn’t need to,” Raina said. “I walked by an office and saw him.”
“Who is it?” she asked urgently. “Do you know? I mean can you find out if it’s a client?”
“It’s not a client,” Raina said. “It’s a new engineer here.”
She groaned. “You’re kidding me? He’s in this building. I don’t understand how he got my name unless he saw me another time and asked someone else?”
“I’m sure he asked Ryder,” Raina said softly.
It was the tone of voice. “And why is that?”
“It’s Hyde.”
“Hyde,” she said. “The new engineer that was hired a couple of months ago. The guy that was best friends with Ryder in high school and they went to college together?”
She’d heard Hyde was a lot like Ryder back then.
Bryon was right.
Hyde was a fuckboy.
Grrrr.
This just made things worse.
Or maybe not.
She had no relationship with the guy.
Though it would make it hard since she wasn’t going to give up seeing her best friend two floors above her.
“Yeah,” Raina said. “The same one. I have to say, it doesn’t sound like him though.”
“What does that mean?” she asked, sitting up straighter in her chair where she’d flopped down moments ago.
“I work with him,” Raina said. “He’s nice. He’s funny. He’s never rude and is actually polite. More than most guys can be. He has a habit of being on his phone a lot so that part is true.”
“I know what I saw. I know what he said to me. I don’t know why he would seek me out.”
“What exactly did he say to you?”
“Not much,” she said. “He said he wanted to talk and then stopped to look at his phone.”
“Which doesn’t tell you much,” Raina said.
“No,” she said. “Then he said he was going to apologize but I started to act like a bitch.”
“At least you know who he is, but I’m ticked off he said that to you. That’s just wrong.”
“It is. Doesn’t help it any when I go see you next either,” she said.
“Knowing you, you’ll want to clear the air,” Raina said. “You never liked conflict.”
“I don’t,” she said. “Which makes it even harder to believe I all but told him off a second time. But I don’t think I should apologize. He called me a bitch.”
“True. I have to admit I find it odd. Kind of funny on top of it,” Raina said.
“Sure,” she said. “I’m a laugh a minute for you right now.”
Raina laughed. “I’m sorry. Do you want me to go talk to him?”
“No,” she said. “Don’t get in the middle.”
“It’s hard not to,” Raina said. “He must have seen you here and asked someone. He could have seen you in the office with me and asked Ryder. That’s my guess. Ryder would have told him who I was to you. Just because he hasn’t said anything to me before, doesn’t mean he won’t now.”
“Let me know if he does,” she said. “I’ll handle it though.”
“You always do,” Raina said.