Page 47 of Love's a Glitch
“Before you go,” Donna said, popping out of her seat as well, and Luke flinched. I wrapped my hand around his bicep, tracing the curve of it with my thumb in an attempt to prevent tension from creeping in again. “Have you invited Ellie to the company party at the yacht club?”
Without waiting for Luke to answer, she snagged my free hand and sandwiched it between both of hers. “We host it every year, and Luke’s never been a fan, but I’m sure he’d enjoy it more if you came along. It’s on the last Saturday of the month.”
I expected him to tense again, or to sigh at the intrusion and quickly blow off the idea, but he cast me a soft smile instead. “I haven’t invited her yet, although I had considered it. Wait for it, Mom, because I’m about to say something you’ll likely never let me live down…. My mom’s right. I’d enjoy the party much more if you came along.” He winked at me, a hint of teasing creeping into his words. “If you can squeeze me into your busy schedule.”
“As I mentioned earlier, my schedule’s recently opened up. I’d love to join you.”
Too bad we were surrounded by his family, because the way his eyes lit up made it nearly impossible not to kiss him. After experiencing the way his tongue stroked mine, however, I wasn’t sure I could keep it PG-13, much less suitable for our G audience.
Then, as if to serve as another reminder of why there’d be no following through with the thoughts occupying my dirty mind reel, George Lucas jumped off the couch, stumbled into the coffee table, and said, “Shit.”
Then I was the one tugging Luke toward the door, loudly calling out goodbyes, anxious to escape before it dawned on them that I so didn’t belong at their fancy yacht party.
22
Luke
Mondays got a bad rap, and if I hadn’t had sex yesterday, I’d be hating on this Monday as well. Anytime something annoyed me, I’d simply sit back, close my eyes, and rewind to kissing Ellie, stripping her of her clothes, tasting her.
Driving into her again and again and watching her come undone.
If I didn’t stop daydreaming about it, Heather would step into my office to tell me something, see my raging hard-on, and report me to HR.
Do we even have an HR person?Things I should learn but probably wouldn’t bother, as I didn’t plan on sticking around much longer. In about three weeks from now, after we made it through the corporate party, I’d cast out a few lines for jobs and tell my family they should start searching for someone to fill the position.
The chime alerted me to a new email, and I shook my mouse to wake up my computer. Ah. A new email from the web designer at Zero Gravity Designs—that’d be a boner killer. Seeing that first line, addressed to “Charles,” was enough to take me down to a halfski.
Charles,
I’ve been puttingin a lot of time and effort into preparing for Thursday morning’s meeting and am on track to present my designs. As my boss, and possibly even a few of my colleagues, will be in attendance, I hope we’ll be able to put aside our past differences and discover the middle ground you mentioned in one of your previous emails. While it took us some time to find the middle ground, I believe I’ve put together a strong website design, along with the functionality your company requires in this modern day and age.
Please keepan open mind about what would be best for your company and the future of it as I present my designs and scrolling interactions. Even though it took more time, I’ve worked up three options in an attempt to ensure your happiness. One is closer to the neomorphism trend that you prefer, one includes a couple of parallax animations, and the other marries the two of them together. Please allow me to get through all three before providing feedback on what you like or dislike. Then I can demonstrate the whys behind what I’ve done and fully address those items before you make your final decision.
Best,
Eloise Kostas
Web Designer, Zero Gravity Designs, Inc.
After the constantback and forth, I didn’t have it in me to get upset, regardless of her implication that I’d butt in to her presentation instead of letting her finish and the jabs about being “modern” and thinking about the “future.”
I should probably remind her that I did have to present at least a few of the finalized images in two weeks, but I could do that in person. My fingers hovered over the keyboard as I contemplated whether or not to add that no matter how much she insisted otherwise, I knew the company better than she did.
Not great, as again, I wasn’t even sure how to get ahold of human resources, but I’d learned tricks of the trade.
A lightbulb flashed on, glowing with an idea inspired by my little sister Lucy, and the grin that spread across my face definitely fell on the evil side of the fence. Once I’d responded to Lucy’s lengthy text with a simple K, and she’d informed me that was the most annoying text in the world, and that women in particular hated it.
So that’s what I typed. Just a capital “K,” no “see you on Thursday” or “I agree to your terms.” No signature or the bullshit “Best” or “Sincerely,” as though people ever meant those.
The sound of it whooshing off to her email box added another layer of joy. One thing was for sure. I couldn’t wait to get the meeting and this whole website fiasco over and done with.
During my lunch break, I ordered a sandwich and settled on a bench a block from the office. Then I dialed up Ellie, hoping her strict boss would allow her to sneak away for a few minutes.
“Hey,” she said, a heap of warmth suffusing that one tiny word. “Whatcha doin’?”
“Thinking about last night,” I answered honestly.
“Mmm. I’ve been thinking about last night, too. You know how passionate I am about redoingguys.”
