Chase
I swallow against the lump in my throat. I haven’t seen Heather this stern… like, ever.
“Hey, Heather… you doin’ okay?” I ask softly, slipping into one of the chairs.
Jeremiah stands behind me, awaiting her answer after we both place our food and drinks on the desk.
“I was doing just fine until I got a call this morning at seven this morning. From the investors.” She bites, looking between us both.
Could they be pulling out? We haven’t even met them yet. How could they do that?
“Looks like they changed their flight to Monday. Wanted to get a head start on learning about WingMate before the gala.” She grimaces, looking down.
My eyes widen and I feel Jeremiah stiffen behind me. “But that’s a whole week early,” I say.
“I know.” Heather presses her lips.
“We still have so much to plan and prepare for before they get here,” Jeremiah states not as an excuse, but as a fact. “We need to go over our presentation, finalize budgets, prep marketing–”
“I know, I know.” Heather pinches the bridge of her nose, rounding the desk and sitting down in Jeremiah’s chair like she owns it.
Well, I guess technically she does. “I seriously don’t know what we’re going to do.
” She shakes her head. “I really wanted to impress them but I don’t know how that’s going to happen when we’re severely unprepared,” she says, pushing her hair back behind her shoulders.
My heart falls. This means so much to her. I hate to think it’s all going to be for nothing. She deserves this happy ending.
“No, we can do this.” Jeremiah cuts in, stepping forward. “We’ve got a strong team, we’ll band together. Work over the weekend if we have to,” he says.
I look behind me to see Jeremiah looking confident as ever.
Heather looks from him to me. “Are you sure? There’s a lot to prep for and they’ll be expecting us to roll out the red carpet.”
“Give us the weekend to put everything together and we’ll impress the hell out of them. We can do this.” I watch as he gives Heather a smooth, reassuring smile. The type of smile I’ve seen him do only a handful of times and honestly, I love to see it.
Heather’s shoulders drop as relief clearly washes over her. “Oh Jeremiah, you have no idea how amazing it is to hear you say that. I’m so happy you’re here.” She smiles softly. “I’m happy you’re both here.”
“We’ll make this happen.” I add, nodding, reaching across the desk to take her hand in mine. Heather squeezes my hand back, looking at me like she owes us the world.
“Well, let’s get to work.” Jeremiah claps his hands together.
***
Jeremiah taps his pen on his notebook. “Okay, so Chase you’ll be with me and Heather on the presentation–”
“Finalizing the pitch deck as we speak,” I say typing into my laptop.
“Good. Todd, you’re all set with finalizing the financial reports: cash flow, projections, etcetera–”
“Got it, boss.” Todd nods, scribbling something down in his notebook.
“Amazing. Mia, you’re holding down the press releases and social media content for the gala–”
“Done and done. All prepped and will be ready to go.” Mia nods her head at the far end of the table.
I flash her a quick smile. I love seeing her in this room. This is her big moment and I’m so proud of her. I know she’ll pull through.
“Awesome. Then, finally, the Gala.” Jeremiah drops his pen, eyes dead set on mine, knocking the wind right out of me.
“Chase. You and I will spend this weekend confirming the guest list, venue, promo merch and the event staff.” I give him a small nod before he averts his attention elsewhere.
“Oh, Bailey–” Jeremiah looks at her, who's been standing in the corner the whole time with a notepad and paper.
“I’ll be working on the itinerary for the investors' arrival, transportation and making sure their hotel is all set up.” Bailey finishes, grinning happily.
Jeremiah inhales deeply. “Team, I think we may actually pull this off.” He takes a beat, relaxing back in his seat. “No, scratch that—I know we will pull this off.”
I suck in a breath as I watch him confidently look around. It fills me with a feeling that I don’t think I’ve ever experienced before. I think I’m getting addicted to making him proud of what I’m doing.
His eyes glances at each and every one of us, and softly lands on me. He looks at me like we’re on the same page, thinking the same thought.
“It’ll be great,” I state, softly.
He blinks slowly, one corner of his mouth lifting. “Yeah…it will.”
Jeremiah takes a visible deep swallow and his eyes flutter back to everyone in the room. “Alright, everyone. Let's go for lunch break and then get back to work,” he says, tapping his hand on the desk and standing up from his chair.
We all shuffle, pick up our things and head to the door of the boardroom. As we make our way out of the room, I can’t help but look back to steal another glance at him.
I’m pleasantly surprised to see him already watching me. Arms folded across his chest, his fingers brushing thoughtfully over his bottom lip.
Well, I’ll be damned.
“Hey, you. You’re coming with me.” Mia tugs at my arm, snapping me out of my blissful gaze.
She pulls me toward the break room, though calling it that is a bit of a stretch.
It’s more like a corner of the floor with a few plants, tables, chairs, a big microwave, a refrigerator, and a vending machine.
Tall windows line the space. I love looking out at all the buildings and people below.
“You don’t want to go out for lunch today?” I ask as she punches in a code to the vending machine.
She grabs her bacon and cheddar ranch wrap from the slot below and makes her way to the table. I grab a free orange from the fruit bowl and follow her to the table.
“No, I want you to sit here and tell me what all this eye fucking is about between you and Boss Man over there,” she says tilting her chin.
I look over to the direction she’s hinting at and see Jeremiah talking to Heather by the boardroom.
She looks remarkably relieved after this morning.
He has that effect on her which is nice.
He’s leaned up against the doorway, strong arms crossed in front of his chest, with his rigid jawline that could cut glass—
“There!” Mia basically shrieks pointing at me like she caught me stealing or something.
“Hey, now. I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I huff out a laugh, seating myself in one of the empty chairs.
Something pokes at me through my pocket and I smile to myself.
It’s a Ferrero Rocher wrapper from this morning's breakfast with Jeremiah… and Heather. She kind of crashed our breakfast date—er, meeting—but that’s alright.
I still got to see his lips bite around that sweet chocolate—
“Earth to Rutherford.” Mia snaps her fingers in front of my face, sitting beside me.
“Jesus, Mia. What do you want from me?” I laugh, shooing her off.
“I want you to be honest with me. You two clearly have something going on.” She crosses her arms, sitting back in her chair.
“Shhh, don’t say that so loud,” I say in a hushed voice, looking around.
“We definitely do not. Just because I may possibly be feeling… certain… things…” I shut my eyes, taking in a deep breath.
“It doesn’t mean he feels the same way. I mean, he made it very clear that he wants nothing to do with me outside of work. ”
Her brow arches. “Oh yeah? And who’d you walk in with this morning?”
I go to say something but come up short. Fuck…
She leans in closer to me. “And who wants to spend all weekend with you?”
My shoulders drop. “But, that’s different. That’s for work,” I counter.
“Hey, Chase.” Jeremiah’s smooth deep voice washes over me, nearly knocking me out of my seat.
“Oh shit, h–hey,” I stammer, trying to regain my bearings. Looks like he’s just arriving now, but I hope to God he didn’t hear any of our conversation.
I can feel Mia holding back a laugh, beside me.
Not noticing her reaction, thank God, Jeremiah continues, “I was thinking about it and you should come to my place this weekend.”
I gulp. “Your place?”
“Yeah. I mean, it’ll be quiet and no roommates will be there. You know, so we’ll be able to focus.”
“Focus,” I repeat quietly.
His lip twitches. “Yeah.”
“Sounds perfect.”
He nods firmly. “Good. I’ll see you tomorrow then.”
“Okay.”
“Okay,” he says, eyelashes batting slowly. His eyes drift over to Mia. “And how’re you doing, Mia?” He smiles, clasping his hands behind his back.
Mia sits up in her seat and flashes him a big smile. “Oh, just peachy.”
“Good. I’m excited for you. This is a big project that you’re taking on and I know you’re going to do great.” He winks.
And they say I’ve got the charm.
“Thank you. I’m excited to show you what I can do.” She beams, sitting up tall in her seat.
“Yeah.” His eyes look back to mine and I can feel my breath hitch. “I’m looking forward to it,” he says under his breath. Almost like it was to me, reminding me of the conversation we had when he first got to the office.
I’m looking forward to showing you what I can do.
“I’ll see you all back in the boardroom after break.” He gives us a curt nod. We return the gesture and wave him off as he continues along his path.
I finally exhale. “Holy shit.”
“Holy shit is right. Jeez, you’d think you’ve never flirted before. That was horrible.” Mia laughs, teasingly.
“I hate you.” I chuckle, burying my fingers in my hair.
“Beep. Bop. I want. To suck. Your dick. Beep bop,” she says, mimicking a robot.
I groan, running my hand down my face. I sure hope I didn’t sound like that.
“I’m in trouble, aren’t I?” My voice coming out muffled from behind my palms. She doesn’t answer right away, so I peek at her through my fingers. She’s smirking like she can see right through me. She always can and it’s annoying.
“Yeah, I’d say so. Just keep me posted on how this weekend goes, R2-D2.” She winks.