Page 78 of Due Dilligence (Takeover)
Chapter Seventeen
While the first week with Fazil in the office had been bad for Todd’s concentration, it paled in comparison to this week. They barely saw each other in person, but now there were texts and e-mails, especially once they’d left work for the night. Going out in the evening was impossible, given their schedules—they were all working late in an effort to get as much done before the weekend—and nominally Fazil and Eli’s departure.
No news on whether Fazil would be staying. Given the workload, he suspected not, which didn’t help his mood. Neither did the digs from Nathan about Fazil or the procedures.
The friction in development wasn’t anything Fazil hadn’t noticed, though that had quieted down when Erin mentioned how much running some tests on her code had saved her grief from QA. The problems QA now found were more interesting to debug, too.
But by Wednesday, Todd itched to do more than say hello to Fazil at the coffeepot. He’d love to see his smile or hear his laugh, or hold his damn hand. There were some other fantasies thrown in, but at the moment, all he wanted was a ten-minute conversation. He checked the time before picking up his cell phone.
Plans for lunch?
A moment later, the reply came.
Surprisingly no.
Good. Finally.
Thai?
Anything. Want to see you.
That kicked up his pulse.Wantdescribed a great many things he’d like to do with Fazil, if only they had more time.
Meet downstairs at 11:45.
That ought to get them out of the office before coworkers noticed they’d left.
Will be there.
Todd slid his phone back onto his desk. Fifteen more minutes.
The time moved almost too fast. Sinking back into work for those few minutes got him to the front door of the office later than he’d planned, and the elevators were slow.
Behind him, the bathroom door squeaked open. “You’re leaving early,” Nathan said.
He nearly jumped out of his skin. “I like getting to a place before the crowd hits.”
A sharp smile. Too sharp. “Your buddy just went down.”
He stared blankly at Nathan, a sense of dread biting up his spine. Thankfully the elevator dinged and he turned away, but not before he heard Nathan snort and the office door beep open.
He thumbed the ground-floor button. As the elevator doors closed, he caught a glimpse of Nathan holding open the office door, his expression calculated as he met Todd’s gaze.
Shit. Had he parked on the Singularity side of the building? Todd raked his hands through his hair. Everyone knew they’d gone to high school together. This was two friends catching up.
Except they weren’t just two friends. Did Nathan know?
He composed himself before the elevator hit the ground floor. No use panicking over nothing.
When the elevator doors opened, Fazil was standing in the lobby talking to Sandra, of all people, and Todd’s lungs tightened. Fazil nodded at him, and Sandra turned.
“So this is your lunch companion.” No anger in her voice, thank fuck. No surprise, either.
Fazil shrugged. “Old friends, and we missed a lot of years.”
She smiled at that. “Smooths over the work relationship, too, I’m sure.”
Todd stepped forward. “That, and he’s doing the right thing.” Came out more forcefully than he’d intended.
