Page 34 of Anything But Convenient

“Takeshi!” he yelled, jumping from his seat to stand.

I could tell he wanted to hug me, though I wasn’t much for physical touch. At least I wasn’t outside of my team and my husband.

Archie chuckled at the way Jared seemed to fidget. I nodded to the young man, who then raced around the desk to wrap his arms around me and Archie. It was a strange thing to hug someone I’d known for so long but had never been really close with.

Even so, it was nice to know he was excited enough to show it. I patted his back, then pulled away.

“Sorry about that. It’s just been weird not having you around again. Made me think about…” He winced, letting his voice trail off.

Neither of us had to elaborate on what he meant.

His mind had gone back to when I couldn’t be here because I was fighting for my life in a hospital. And then I was trying to rebuild things by recovering down the hall.

Archie spoke up, his voice encouraging as he said, “It’s good to see you again, Jared. We’ve got to get this guy into a meeting. Maybe we could do lunch later, you and me. I know you’ve got all the good gossip.”

Jared beamed at that. I had no doubt he’d heard so many juicy details while camped out at his desk.

“I do have some secrets I might be inclined to share. But only if there’s cake at lunch.”

“Of course! What's lunch without a bit of a sweet treat?” my husband replied, his hand to his cheek as if scandalized by the thought of not having such things.

I shook my head at the two, then tugged on Archie’s hand still wrapped in mine. He waved to Jared, who agreed to meet him at noon, then followed me down the hall.

When we reached the main office, the rest of the team was there waiting. They had varying degrees of expression — some worried and others eager.

“Welcome back,” Ronan said with a smirk. He knew how uncomfortable I’d be if the whole group descended on me. “Why don’t you head to your desk and get Archie situated? We’re going to have a team meeting in fifteen to go over things.”

With that, the others moved out of the way to let us through. My desk was positioned off to one side, the cubicle giving me an area with more than enough space for the work I did.

Before getting injured, I was the observer of the group. Ronan and Godric were the muscle, Memphis the brains, Cohenthe distractor, and Orion the charmer. As an observer, I’d mediate conversations to ensure they didn’t go down a dark path. We often called what I did communications, though it wasn’t in me to talk something to death. Orion could do plenty of that all on his own.

My form of communication was in watching the nonverbal cues people gave. I’d listen to the words they’d repeat and the inflection they used to know exactly what they weren’t saying.

It had been a beneficial asset to the team on more than one occasion. I hoped I could still do it now, despite not being able to speak.

Archie took in the bare bones of my desk with a frown. “You need more stuff. This is so drab.”

I raised a brow at him. He grinned back at me, then sat in my chair and spun around.

“Can’t believe you work at a desk that looks like it’s being modeled in a Staples store. Even Ikea had better decor than you right now.”

My body shook from a laugh I failed to hold in. My husband smiled brightly, clearly happy to have gotten that reaction from me.

I leaned down, pecking his lips quickly before turning to take in the rest of the room. With how high the cubicle went, I knew no one saw the kiss, yet I still felt like I was sneaking around in school or some shit.

Not that I needed to. Archie was my husband.

Yet I knew the team didn’t expect us to be anything more than partners in an agreement Tank designed. They probably assumed we’d be friends at most.

I couldn’t blame them. I didn’t have much in the way of romantic entanglements like some of the others did. Climbing into bed with someone wasn’t something I needed to relieve stress.

The others were lingering around Memphis’s desk talking about something. It could have been about anything, though I suspected it was about me and my husband showing up hand in hand.

I was surprised to find Tank wasn’t around anywhere. I’d been curious to keep an eye on him after overhearing that conversation in the hall. The man was keeping secrets from his team. If the others knew, they’d have already spilled by now.

Tank being in a committed relationship was front page news for us. He was a fuckboy through and through. For him to be in love meant the person mattered. It also meant they understood his business and what all he did, so we likely knew them already.

I pushed away thoughts of my boss’s love life as I focused on the man seated beside me. Archie was running his hands over the desk and keyboard like he was studying a fine piece of artwork. He was so tactile it made me grin.

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