Page 9 of If I See You Again

Malcolm

“ M r. Fisher, can you meet me in my office, please?”

I scrambled out of my chair and into the hall. It wasn’t all that often that Mr. Thomas needed me for anything, and the last time he did, I ended up with my most troublesome client. Was David a problem? I liked him, but that wasn’t the main issue. The real problem was that I liked him too much.

My hands shook, and sweat built on my back as I took step after step down the hall. It was like walking to the guillotine. Had he somehow found out that David and I had been less than professional, and now I was going to pay the consequences?

Mr. Thomas was just sitting at his desk as I approached his open door.

He waved me to the open seat, and I sank into it, wringing my hands together, running through all the different scenarios as to why he could have called me in there.

I was an exceptional employee. If you looked in the dictionary next to ‘ exemplary employee ,’ you’d find my picture.

Exemplary employees don’t sleep with their clients, Malcolm.

“Mr. Fisher, how are things coming along with the Garrison account?”

I nodded, my heart pounding a little harder in my chest.

“Great. Fine? I sent him a few ideas, and he looked them over. He called to discuss a few things, and we’re going to rework a couple of the slogan ideas—”

“So you’re telling me that no one has completed anything yet?”

Shit. If I hadn’t been sweating before, I was now. The way my boss steepled his hands and stared me down said he wasn’t happy with my answer.

“Nothing yet. No.”

Silence filled the room, and my anxiety spiked further. Mr. Thomas swiveled back and forth in his chair as he watched me closely. My arms and legs tingled the longer we sat there. Would he say anything else?

“This account is a huge deal. You’re aware of that?”

Numb. I couldn’t feel anything as I nodded. My boss had never doubted my abilities, but maybe I didn’t understand just how important this all was.

“I understand, sir. I’m taking it as seriously as possible. If I need to—”

Mr. Thomas held up a hand to stop me. “Try not to stress, Mr. Fisher. I have received word that Mr. Garrison has expedited his move to Chicago. That was what caused me to worry. If I need to find another person or someone to assist you, please let me know.

My tongue was too thick to let me speak. David had sped up his move? Why hadn’t he told me? I nodded as I stood from the chair and made my way out of the office and back down the hall.

The second my office door closed behind me, I sank to the ground, taking deep and shaky breaths.

I’d never felt so scared for my job before.

What was it about David Garrison that had me so twisted up that I couldn’t perform like I normally did?

I knew those slogans were trash, but I’d sent them anyway.

My hands shook as I pulled my phone from my pocket. There weren’t any missed calls or messages. Why hadn’t David told me he was coming sooner rather than later?

Me: So when exactly are you moving to Chicago?

There was a delay, so I set my device down on the ground, closed my eyes, and took a few more deep breaths to calm my still erratically beating heart. The second I heard the vibration, I picked it back up and unlocked the screen to read his response.

David: I see you were told the news then?

Me: I would have preferred it to come from you…

The dots bounced and bounced, causing that itching feeling to return to my arms and legs. I couldn’t sit on the floor anymore, and as I shifted to stand, my phone went off again.

David: What do you mean? It’s a good thing.

I wanted to tell him about getting called into Mr. Thomas’s office.

How my boss’s announcement about David moving here had me question my abilities for this job.

It was so freaking stupid, because I was sure that wasn’t the reason David moved things up.

His flirtatious messages persisted. He wasn’t only coming for work.

I knew that. The problem was reminding him that we needed to remain professional. Nothing else could happen between us.

My phone rang, causing me to jump. I rushed to answer it because I hated making people wait. Fucking people pleaser. Why was I like that?

“Hello?” God, why was I so out of breath?

“Malcolm?”

A shiver raced down my spine at the sound of his voice, and I hated how much my body liked his soothing timbre.

“Yes. Hi, David.” Would it be weird if I slapped myself in the face? I was being ridiculous with how I was handling myself. It was like I was a giddy teenage boy talking to his crush.

“Is everything all right?”

God, the laugh I let out was borderline hysterical. My eyes slammed closed, and I wanted to crawl into a hole and die. “It’s fine. Everything’s fine. Totally fine. Why do you ask?”

There was a long pause followed by, “You just said ‘ fine ’ three times in a row.”

Okay, so he’d caught me. I didn’t know how to keep my cool in a tense situation.

He should have figured that out when we met.

I’d sat there and practically spilled my guts about getting stood up.

That was my default. When under pressure, I spew.

Not the contents of my stomach, but words.

And you couldn’t stop them. They just flowed.

I rambled incessantly until someone told me to shut the hell up.

“Yeah, I get that. Okay, listen. My boss thinks something is up because you sped up your timeline on things. So what’s the motivation here?

Am I fucking something up? I can work harder, I promise.

I’m not normally this much of a mess. What I sent you isn’t my best work, and I’ll admit to that, but you keep distracting me—”

“Malcolm.” There was laughter in his tone, and I scowled at the empty space of my office. “Would you calm down for a minute?”

“Calm down? You want me to calm down?”

“Fair point. I didn’t mean to cause problems. The truth is, I wanted to see you. There was nothing nefarious behind my plans. I promise.”

I instantly deflated, although my guard should have stayed up. This wasn’t keeping things professional. He’d all but admitted that.

“That’s a terrible excuse to move…”

His smooth chuckle filled the line, and it sent vibrations through my body that had my dick plumping up. No. Bad boy. Don’t do that.

“Trust me. There’s more than one reason to move. I want to see your pretty face, and maybe if I was closer, it would help you with those ideas. There’s no one else that I want on this project. Just you.”

I wanted to snort. Laugh. Maybe he should have told Mr. Thomas, because he was ready to hand the account off to someone else at the first sign of trouble.

Maybe that said more about my boss than it did about me.

Then again, my previous work should have spoken volumes.

I’d never had a disappointed client. Just how big of a deal was David?

I’d never heard of him before he’d walked into the office.