Chapter 19 Elizabeth
ELIZABETH
@pancakesareelite:
Do you flirt with all the girls you play games with?
@theanswerisno:
I don’t flirt with any of the girls I play games with
@pancakesareelite:
Wait, what? You’re always complimenting me.
@theanswerisno:
I’m always telling the truth
@theanswerisno:
Oh. I see how that could be flirtatious
@pancakesareelite:
No backsies
As soon as I was sure my car door was shut, I checked my phone. Nothing from my mom. I wished I could talk to her right now.
Instead, I called my grandmother.
“Lily, love,” she said upon answering, her voice coming through my stereo.
“Gran, I think my long-time internet crush might actually be my boss,” I rambled out in one long breath.
“The boy you play games with? Well, what are the odds of that?”
“Probably just above zero. And now that I’ve said it out loud, I hear how ridiculous it sounds.”
She burst out laughing, and I could picture the twinkle of mischief in her eyes. “Don’t doubt your gut that easily, my darling. Nothing is impossible.”
“No. It isn’t. I mean… Yes, it could be. No. I…” My hands curled around the steering wheel at the mere thought of Link and Lincoln.
“What’s the problem?” she asked. “I think it would be wonderful. You keep telling me how handsome your boss is.”
“W-when did I say that?” My stammer rendered me guilty of her accusation. “That’s beside the point. Didn’t you hear me? He’s my boss, Gran. My boss. I report to him.”
“Makes for some interesting dynamics in the bedroom.”
“Elizabeth Gray!” I yelled her full name like my mother used to yell mine when I was in trouble. Laughter burst out of me as I made it onto the highway.
“Hold on, hold on. Let me make a cup of tea.” The bed groaned in the background. “I want the whole story, but most importantly, I want to know this: Do you want it to be him?”
I opened my mouth, and the answer bottled up in my throat.
Before I could say anything, panic prickled my chest. “I… I don’t think I should actually talk about him or either of them.
I just needed to tell someone, and unfortunately for you, I tell you everything because Mom doesn’t answer my texts or calls.
Now I’ve said it, and I never have to think about it again because it could ruin everything. ”
“How?”
The panic grew, spreading with each spoken word. “If it isn’t him, then I’d have embarrassed myself in front of my gorgeous and incredible boss. If it is him, there’s a chance Link doesn’t like the real-life version of me. What if I’m not his type?”
“You’re everyone’s type. You’re a Gray woman.”
I slowed down the car, but my heart continued racing.
“On the slim chance that he is interested in me, we can’t do anything about it anyway.
During orientation, Simucon gave us a forty-five-minute lecture on forbidden relationships in the workplace, and a manager evaluating an intern is going to be a problem. ”
“Didn’t you say this evaluation was anonymous?”
“Only the final test. Mr. Carden still has to give continuous feedback on my progress. And if I get the job, he’ll be my boss. Permanently.”
“I used to call your grandpa Mr. Gray.” A teaspoon clinked against the inside of a cup. “Those rules didn’t exist in my day. If they had, you wouldn’t exist either.”
“Gran, I just…” I kept my eyes fixed on the road, but images of Mr. Carden and his rare full smile flashed in my memory. I wanted to picture Link, but there was no face to his username. Link was a feeling, and that feeling meant everything to me. “I’m trying to sort through the mess in my mind.”
I could hear her take a sip of her tea. “Why don’t you start at the beginning and tell me everything.”
For the next couple hours, I did.
By Monday morning, I wanted nothing more than to confirm whether Link and Lincoln were one and the same.
I couldn’t live with the uncertainty. My grandmother wanted me to confront him and get it over with, but I didn’t have the guts.
Not yet. I needed more information. I couldn’t make this decision based on an unconfirmed sighting of @wheretheresawilliam at the conference.
A lot of men are tall with dark hair and dark eyes.
And maybe a lot of them would wear Pokémon shirts.
These were the thoughts that kept me up almost all weekend, and instead of getting proper rest, I rushed to work as early as the bus would take me.
The lights were already on at the office. No surprise. The early engineer catches the… I don’t know, what were engineers obsessed with? They were working all the time.
I zoomed through to my office, doing my best to keep my mind clear.
Think about intersection design. Do not think of Lincoln Carden. Do not think of Link.
Only intersection design. Every other thought was too dangerous.
But the second I opened the door, I was in peril.
Total body shutdown.
I forgot what an intersection looked like or the reason it existed. Right now, I couldn’t spell the word road if you asked me to.
Because my boss, Mr. Carden… Mr. Lincoln Carden, stood before me. Wet. Shirtless. With a fresh black shirt dangling in his hand.
A curse escaped his full lips as he spun around, eyes wide. I turned around too. But it was too late. I’d seen the way his pants hung low on his hips, the way the defined muscles on his chest were still shiny with water droplets. I’d seen his Adonis belt.
My entire body clenched with desire.
He stammered behind me. I could picture his panicked eyes and how flustered this would make him. “I was, um, I went for a run and…” He swallowed, his voice shaking.
Before he could freak out, I put him out of his misery. “Mr. Carden,” I said, thinking of something that would make him laugh or smile like he did yesterday, “at least we don’t have a stopping sight distance problem because that sight stopped me immediately.”
The chuckle coming from behind me was foreign and wonderful, and it flowed right through my body and settled in my chest. “Elizabeth,” he said, his voice low and still wobbly.
I giggled. My cheeks were hot. Even my fingertips were buzzing with a need to touch him. Right now, I would trade anything to trace my finger along the center of his chest, all the way down…
No, Lily.
“I didn’t think anyone would be here this early,” he eventually managed. “I dropped the shirt I had with me downstairs onto the floor, and it got wet and dirty and…” I heard him flop into his chair.
“Permission to turn around and look at you, sir?”
“Elizabeth,” he grumbled.
I spun around, pursing my lips to stop the smile from spreading.
He was buttoned up, and his face rested in his hands. “Unfortunately, I had to come up for the spare.”
Unfortunate? Maybe, I don’t know.
My only defense against this man was unfiltered humor, and before I could stop myself, my mouth spewed words I had no time to retract. “I mean, if I were you, I’d look for reasons to walk around shirtless, but sure, your dropped shirt story works too.”
“Get to work, menace.” His deep brown skin was tinged red.
“Yes, sir.” As soon as I said it, my cheeks filled with heat. I’d seen that phrase being used far too often in relation to a certain subgenre of romance.
As much fun as it was teasing him, I couldn’t focus. I curled into my chair, grateful for the divider between us. I stared at my computer screen and tried shaking off the image of my boss half naked. Glistening.
I needed to know what he’d feel like underneath my hands. An unruly blend of panic and want coursed through my veins.
“I’m off to site.” Mr. Carden hopped up from his chair. He had no site meetings scheduled for today.
“Mr. Carden,” I said.
He froze at the doorway but didn’t look at me.
I fidgeted with the clicker on my pen. “Your presentation was incredible and inspiring, and I would really like to know more about your research. I’m sorry I left so quickly… I, um, I had to go…”
He shrugged, gnawing on his bottom lip. “Yeah, um, thanks, and no problem. I figured you’d probably have, like, family to see or something.”
I nodded, even though it wasn’t true.
“Okay, bye,” he said, more awkwardly than usual, reminding me of our first couple weeks working together.
I longed for the familiarity in his tone at the conference, the knowing looks, the rare smile. But, with him gone, I could think a little clearer. If I wasn’t going to get any answers out of him, perhaps I could get them out of someone else.
I’m ashamed to admit that, during my many coffee breaks, I snooped and asked anyone who would listen a few casual questions about Mr. Carden. I needed to know if there was any chance he was Link because it was all I could think about… well, that and his deliciously defined chest.
“He’s a brilliant engineer.”
I already knew that. I wanted to know more, but there weren’t many ways to ask questions without seeming suspicious, or worse, interested in my boss.
“He’s rather strange.”
Kinda picked up on that too. But I liked it.
“He’s a bit of an asshole.”
That I refused to accept and took a moment to set them straight. Janine wouldn’t be leaving this kitchen until she accepted that Lincoln Carden was a delight.
I trudged back to my desk somewhat despondent and wired only to find Mr. Anders and Cedric standing there.
Mr. Anders drummed his fingers impatiently on the textbook they landed on. “Gordon-Bettencourt,” he said, “I need you to work with Cedric on the Stringent interchange. He needs input from Roads. He’s basically designed everything else already.”
An interchange. I hadn’t done an interchange yet.
“Unless you’re incapable?” His voice lifted with one of his brows, and it triggered the pettiest, most self-destructive part of me. Beside him, Cedric’s smug face glowed.
“I can do it.”
Crap, crap, crap. I can’t do it. Why did I say that?
“Good. He needs the drawings by tomorrow morning.”
Okay, now I definitely regretted it.