Page 6 of Fierce-Michael

They walked out of the main office and then down a long hall and around the corner. There were a lot of offices they passed. Many doing customer service.

When they got to Alex’s office, Michael swiped a card at the door and opened it. She hadn’t realized it was locked when Alex wasn’t there.

“Is that normal?” she asked.

“If Alex is in the building, not always. But at night or when she’s out, it’s locked. Most of them are when the offices are closed. This is easier than carrying keys around.”

“I’m going to guess you can open all doors with that?” she asked.

“Yes,” he said. “Travis set it up that way. Me and a few others. I can’t tell you how many people come to work and forget their card.”

Travis McKinney owned a security company, did all the work for Fierce and was married to Ella Fierce.

Kelly snorted. “Not surprising. I don’t understand that. To me it’s like keys to your car. Just always keep them together.”

“I’ve learned not many people think that logically,” he said. “Here is the box that Alex told me about.”

He opened it up and pulled out multiple test items they were trying out with new designs that she’d worked on with some of the digital team here.

“These are fire. I love the water quenchers. This was a risk. Going with the trend and buying this brand and then putting our logo on it. But I think it’s going to be a big seller.”

“The cost upfront is a lot, but the red cups are nice. It catches the eye. I think the white lettering is sharper than the black.”

She took the other one out of the box that he’d had in front of her and looked at the black lettering. “I agree. White stands out much more. There are two hundred and twenty cups, right?” she asked.

“Yes,” he said. “Two hundred and eighteen left to print on.”

“This will be a hit. I’ll run it by Cade, but I’m positive the white is the way to go and then we’ll get the order. Do you know the turnaround time?”

“A week or so,” he said. “Guessing. But they always put a rush on it for you guys.”

“You want to smirk,” she said. “I should have added that to the smile or laugh.”

“I tend to smirk a lot,” he said. “So if you add that then it’s not much of a challenge.”

“Fair point,” she said. “Let’s see what else is in the box.”

He pulled out a few new shirts. One for staff that everyone got a few times a year. Others would be for sale. There were new hats added to the spring line. They tried to do new items for all seasons to keep it fresh, often throwing in a brand name with it.

“I like this coffee mug,” he said. It was red and white swirled ceramic with the black Fierce logo on it.

“These did come out great. I wasn’t sure about the design and worried it’d be too bold.”

“I picture you as the bold type,” he said.

“Are you flirting with me, Michael?” she asked playfully.

Why not, since she’d already thrown out about them going on a date? Might as well let him know she was into him.

“Do boring people know how to flirt?” he asked dryly.

She wasn’t going to take offense to that either. She’d gotten used to his tone. Which led one to ask why she was interested in someone like him when she was normally out for those willing to have as much fun as her.

But here she was at thirty-one and still single so it’s not like her normal choice of men was doing much for her.

The one she had like her was long gone and she’d never been able to find it again. Brian and she had so much fun together at one point. But fun didn’t hold it together. Nothing could have.

Trying to recreate any of that was silly and stupid on her part.