Page 119 of Implode

I pull his hand up to my lips and kiss his palm. We are just a block away from HH, and the nerves of going in to talk with my employees who have been keeping the company afloat while I handled some of the wedding responsibilities is getting to me. We are a start-up that requires devotion and long hours. Now I have some drama surfacing over someone potentially using me to get to Nic. If the cofounders are taking huge chunks of time off from work, what message does that send to our employees?

“Can I walk you to your office?” Nic asks quietly as he parks his car on the street outside of the building.

“Sure.” I open the car door to get out and see several workers making their way in through the main lobby, most likely from their lunch break.

“Hey man,” a voice calls from down the sidewalk.

We turn to find a sandy-brown-haired man walking toward us, his strides long and steady.

“This must be Claire,” the man says, holding out his hand to shake mine. “I’m Nic’s best friend, role model, person he looks up to, and—”

“This is Asher,” Nic says, cutting him off with a smirk. “My modest best friend.”

Asher chuckles and gives Nic a once-over.

“Nice to finally meet you,” I say with a smile.

Nic and Asher smack hands and do a half-hug-pat-on-the-back thing. I rock on my feet as I watch the men give each other looks that convey some message that I can’t interpret. I’m assuming they want to catch up but also don’t want to have my head filled with all of the drama that seems to be erupting like a volcano around us.

Asher looks toward the entrance to the building. “I wasn’t expecting so much hustle and bustle. Seems pretty hyper today.”

He’s right. There are a lot of extra people entering HH today.

“That’s because I have maintenance workers checking over the electrical work in the building.”

Nic glances at the entrance as employees enter. I know he loves working here and is much happier than he’s ever been being with his brother. Surely things will go back to normal soon.

Turning to me, he gives me a side squeeze. “Baby, I will walk you to your office like I promised.”

“I’ll be fine, really. You guys catch up.”

Nic looks around and then raises his phone to his ear. “Do you mind escorting Claire?”

As if on cue, a tall man exits a parked car I didn’t even notice was occupied. Pulling the sunglasses from his eyes, he makes eye contact with me. Sheesh, he’s intense. Then he shakes hands with Asher, as if their acquaintance goes beyond the surface.

“Baby, this is my associate, Tyler.” Turning to the man I’ve never seen before, he gives him a direct look. “Do you mind walking Claire to her office? She can show you where it’s located.”

“So, you’re my shadow?”

Tyler tips his head down. “But only because I’m scared of not following his orders.” He nudges Nic with his elbow lightly. “He can be pretty hostile when it comes to you.”

“Don’t I know it,” I say with a weak laugh, as Asher makes some snide comment. I am trying not to get freaked out, but with this many men surrounding me, I’m worried that this whole crisis is bigger than all of us. Nic might have trust issues, but so do I.

“I’ll see you in a bit,” Nic says, pulling me to him gently as I try to walk away. He moves his hands up to my face, and my eyes widen with uncertainty with what his next move is going to be. When I’m about to ask him, he swoops down and places a gentle kiss on my lips in front of his best friend and employee. It’s too hot for the streets of Portland, but the tingling sensation coursing through my body doesn’t seem to care. There is no doubt in my mind about whether or not this development will spread like wildfire amongst the entire staff. I am sure it has already started in the break rooms. People sure love their gossip. “You are mine. And the world deserves to know it.” He kisses away my hesitation, making me lean into him and open up more.

“All yours,” I say softly, blushing over his attention. He makes me melt inside, and if we weren’t in the middle of a dumpster fire, I would try to coerce him into having office sex again—this time with me doing all the initiation.

“I’ll walk in with you both as to not cause confusion at the security checkpoints,” Nic offers. “Ready to go in?”

I nod, feeling the pangs of nervous energy taking hold. I follow with my entourage as Nic gets us through security and onto an empty elevator. Tyler doesn’t make small talk with me, and I am thankful for the silence. There’s an aura of authority surrounding him. No wonder Nic hired him. They probably both geek out over passcodes and fingerprint scanners and such.

Stepping into Plus None causes my body to relax. I am in my element, and just being here helps my mind focus on what needs to be done.

“I will be outside waiting for you. If you need anything, come get me.”

I wave a hand behind me. There’s too much fussing over me happening this morning, and it’ll be good to separate myself from it—if just for an hour.

Sitting down at my desk, I put a flash drive into the machine and start copying over my work to the storage device and then log out. I call an emergency meeting in the conference room and start delegating workers to handle a revised timeline, the manufacturing components, and basically choose a temporary second-in-command based on the few weeks of work I have seen from the crew. It is a lot of thinking on my feet, and after I put closure on the meeting, I feel mentally exhausted and ready for a nap.

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