Page 16 of Due Dilligence (Takeover)
He was startled by Fazil’s laughter. It was joyful and almost too loud. “Oh, fuck no. Only if it causes me to screw up my work. Sam’s the last person who’d yell at me. That’s why he’s in Pittsburgh.”
Todd tried to remember what he’d read about Sam Anderson. He knew Sam was a superstar—that’s why his team was here to fix Singularity—but why had he stayed in Pittsburgh? “I always thought it was because of the whole start-up boom there. And the universities.”
“Well, there’s some of that,” Fazil said. “But no. He fell for one of his employees. Hard enough to come out of the closetandstay in the city.”
“So no rule about dating.”
“Nope. Just one about not fucking up the job too much because you’re dating. Or fucking.”
That... was interesting. “Must be a fascinating place to work.”
“Well, it makes things eventful.”
They pulled back into the Singularity parking lot, and Fazil slipped his hand free of Todd’s. “But I bet you guys have rules about dating. And fucking.”
They did, and Todd squirmed as guilt tickled the back of his mind. “Though, technically, you’re not a coworker.”
His smile was wicked. “Just the enemy.”
Oh, goddamned Nathan. “You’re not my enemy.” He pulled into a spot, parked, and killed the ignition.
Fazil opened the door. “You might feel differently once I’ve finished looking over everything.”
Todd climbed out and grabbed the leftovers. “You’re here to help. Even if it hurts a bit.”
They walked into the building and took the elevator up. On the way to his cube, he threw the leftovers into the fridge. “Yeah.” Fazil ran a hand through his hair. “You’ve done a good job on the procedures you have.”
Todd was heartened by that, except the dangling end of that sentence flipped his stomach. “But...”
Fazil’s smile was tight. “But there’s still a lot of work left.” He paused when another Singularity employee walked by and eyed them. Once the woman was out of earshot, he spoke, his voice softer. “It’s probably going to hurt everyone’s pride. And change things.”
Oh.“As long as it gets us moving in the right direction.” Todd glanced down the hall. “I’d better get back to it.”
“Me too,” Fazil said.
They headed to Todd’s cube, and Fazil grabbed his laptop. “Catch you later.”
Then he was gone. Todd sank into his desk chair, the taste of pecans, honey, and Fazil still on his lips. That hard body against his was delectable, as was the promise of the weekend to come.
But Nathan was right—if they knew, everyone would see it as Todd sleeping with their enemy. Especially if the warning Fazil had uttered was true.
Todd docked his laptop and got back to work. Regardless of everything, bugs didn’t fix themselves.
