Page 21 of Bound By Words

“Pfft. Like your father-in-law will do anything other than scold his golden boy,” I laughed as he leaned in and playfully kicked the corner of my chair. He knew I was right, though; he’d been the star in our group of new hires, quickly rising to the top and securing a promotion. A few people in the office joked it was because he was dating Charley, but her dad hadn’t known they were involved with each other until after he’d been promoted. “Don’t worry. I’ll keep your balls jiggling…I mean juggling. Deacon won’t notice you’re gone.”

“Don’t even start me on that,” he rolled his eyes. “He made me change assistants again.”

Ugh. Deacon was one paranoid motherfucker. He was a great boss, but after his secretary tried to file a sexual harassment lawsuit against him because he wouldn’t promote her without any real professional qualifications, he was cautious about any interoffice flirting of any sort. It was an unspoken rule that HR had to know you intended to date a co-worker—NEVER a subordinate or superior—before you even smiled at the person for the first time. It’d cut down on the interoffice fucking that sometimes happened, but it was still awkward if Deacon caught you casually talking to another co-worker.

We often socialized outside of the office—like the bar outing last night—and I knew there were people slyly hooking up, but it wasn’t like the on-call room in Grey’s Anatomy in the copy room anymore. He’d also installed cameras in the hallways outside the executive offices, which was slightly creepy. But in his defense, a little caution was understandable when a twenty-year-old gold digger threatens your livelihood.

“What was wrong with Gianna?” She was the least likely person I’d see to go after Thomas. She was quite open that she liked to lick tacos on the weekend, so he wasn’t even on her radar. He was cute, but no lesbian would jump ship to get in his pants suddenly.

“He said that she was too friendly.”

“What?” I frowned as I tilted my head to the side. “What in the actual fuck is that nonsense? I thought you liked working with her?”

“I did,” he shrugged. “She was great. Organized, friendly with my clients, and didn’t take shit from the programmers, but you know how he is. He reassigned her to Coleen.”

Holding in the snort was hard, but I somehow managed to do it. Coleen was pan, so that was bound to be an interesting match-up because I knew she liked dark-haired snarky individuals, which Gianna was both. Now, there might be an office romance brewing.

“So much for trying to prevent something inappropriate,” I laughed as he grinned at me.

“I know, right?” he laughed as he leaned toward me. “Charley said the same damn thing.”

“Is there anything I can do for you guys?” I knew he was nervous about being out of the office for the next several weeks, and there were a few assholes—cough, Trent—who were unhappy I was taking the helm for our division while he was gone, but we had it handled. Thomas had given me a full debrief on all our outstanding clientele, and he’d even made me a long-ass list covering all the possible project parts I’d need to check in on.

“Nah,” he shook his head. “She’s in full-on nesting mode. This baby will come home to the cleanest house imaginable and shit all over the white stuff she insisted we needed in the nursery.”

“Ew, gross, Tom.”

“Oh, come on,” he laughed. “I’ve been around my nieces. Babies are gross. If there is one thing I’ve learned from my sister, don’t put white on children under ten. It’s just a hot mess waiting to happen.”

“Noted,” I shook my head at him. “Not that I’ll probably ever need that information. Maybe I can pass it along to Chase someday.”

“Kell, stop,” he sighed. “Some lucky guy is going to come to sweep you off your feet, and you’ll settle in the burbs near your parents and have a dozen smart-mouthed little clones of yourself.”

“Not likely.” Ever. “But sure…I’ll get right on that.”

“How are the newlyweds?” he asked as he leaned forward to whisper. “Any advance copies of their new book on hand?”

“Quit using me to get to my brother,” I laughed as I pushed on his shoulder. “Just because your wife gets off to their dirty books doesn’t mean you can use me to feed her addiction.”

He cracked up laughing, his foot pushing my chair out, my hand gripping the desk right next to his to keep myself from tipping backward. “Careful there, big boy.”

“Hey, Kelly. Did you take the file that…oh…” A masculine voice trailed off as Tom and I sprung apart.

KELLY

Chicago

My eyes widened at Trent standing in the office doorway. He was one of the assholes unhappy with my position being higher up on the food chain than his. He also didn’t like that I turned him down on multiple occasions because he creeped me the fuck out, like his unsubtle advances at the bar last night.

“Hi, Trent,” I frowned as he looked between Thomas and me, his eyes narrowing on our hands next to each other on the desk. “What can I do for you?”

“Oh, uh. If you guys are busy, I can come back later.”

“No, man,” Thomas told him as he stood from my desk and tapped the folder he’d given me. “Just making sure Kelly has everything she needs when I’m out. Don’t give her too much of a hard time when she’s your boss for a few weeks.”

I could tell by the way his lips twisted at Thomas’ words that Trent was not thrilled with me being in charge—as if his very vocal protests in our last staff meeting weren’t already enough.

“Yeah. I’ll make sure to take it easy on her.” His tone was hard, probably unlike the thing in his pants could get if office gossip was anything to go by.

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