Page 26 of Love.V2 (Occupational Hazards #2)

“I’ll need you to send me those files so I can review them myself.” What I really wanted to say was, “Why the hell are you making changes on your personal computer and not in the shared drive? Why are you making changes before I see them in the first place?”

I tried to avoid moments like this. It was a harsh reminder of why I often felt like I wasn’t cut out for the tedious politics of corporate leadership.

All I wanted to do was design. Make something impactful.

Recently, I’d thought it would be cool to lead a team to help them design.

But instead, I had to tip-toe around this woman and her increasingly obvious hatred of me .

She gave me a sickly sweet smile, with an edge to it. “Obviously, I’ll send you the files. As soon as my updates are finished. The last two concepts are, frankly, still all over the place…”

I let my eyes drift closed for a few seconds while she droned on, critiquing every aspect of the ideas the team had come up with—that I had come up with. I opened them in time to see her shove some folders on my desk aside to make room for her laptop.

Dylan’s eyebrow arched. To the untrained eye, he was relaxed, leaning back in his chair, sipping from the neon peacock mug. I knew better, though. He glanced at me, an obvious question on his face.

Do you want me to handle this?

Truthfully, I didn’t want to do anything about it. Victoria was annoying, and there was no love lost between us, but I’d have preferred to just duck my head and wait out the storm.

Except that hadn’t been working for me lately, had it? Not for the last few months with this job. Not for the last few years, with my life .

Memories of the last month flashed before my eyes. Firing my mug, laughing with Meery, Dylan’s face so content lying next to me on the pillow. I felt alive for the first time in a long time.

Old Tess would have thanked Victoria for her diligence, accepted her changes, and presented them to the client. But I was trying my hardest to evacuate Old Tess from the building.

“Victoria.” I was still shaky, my hands sweating, but the sharpness of my voice at least halted her sneering monologue.

“ I am the one who directed the concepts on those slides. I will be the one to review and finalize them. In the future, do not tell the team to cut me out of the reviewing process. ”

Her eyes widened in exaggerated disbelief. “I was just trying to make your life easier. Save you some steps.”

“I appreciate the gesture, but this is my job. I’ll take it from here.

” I nearly asked her to send me the files from Noel, but thought better of it.

The look she was giving me made me think she’d either flat-out refuse, or just send me the wrong documents on purpose.

Instead, I stood. “Please get back to work. We have the social media meeting later today, and the new ad campaign for the healthcare app. I need you focused on that. Dylan and I will handle Botto.”

I swung my door open, feeling her cold, venomous stare on my back the whole seven steps it took me.

“Noel,” I called, catching her attention at her cubicle.

“Please send me the latest Botto files you sent Victoria last night. From now on, I’ll be focusing on this account.

We need Victoria’s attention on other projects. ”

A hush fell over the bullpen. Henry and Chassie exchanged a glance as Victoria shoved past me, stomping down the hall.

“Of course! Sorry…Sorry, I should have sent those to you, too…” Noel had an apology written all over her face, eyes darting between me and Victoria, who continued clomping until she turned a corner. On her way to call Eric and complain? Maybe. Probably.

Oh, God. My stomach flipped.

I gave Noel a tight smile. “All good. I just want to make sure I’m as close to this one as possible. Cool?”

“Yes,” Noel breathed. Henry and the others looked sideways at each other as I shut the door. The second it was closed, I nearly crumpled against it, the overheated skin of my forehead resting against the cool, smooth wood .

“I’m reconsidering my no sex at work policy. That was fucking hot.”

Even my laugh sounded strained. My body was tense, trapped in the fight-or-flight response of confronting someone. I shuddered. There was a reason I never did this. It sucked. I felt horrible and scared and off-kilter.

“Well, you know.” My shoulder shrugged, jerky.

“Just trying to impress my new boss.” When I peeked behind me, Dylan was still relaxed in his chair, a small smile playing across his lips even as his eyes dissected every aspect of my face.

He must have known my anxiety was going through the roof right now.

“Oh, don’t worry. I think you’ve made a very lasting impression.” He grinned, playing along with my nonchalance. Bless him. My computer chimed, and I used the walk across my office to take a few breaths. In for four… When I sat, I gulped my coffee.

Spending your formative years with a lot of instability and a decent amount of shady characters hanging around, you learned early not to rock the boat.

I had been around enough fights, drunken arguments, and uncertain times to understand the repercussions of speaking out of turn. It was easier to stay quiet. Survive.

But this wasn’t a life-or-death situation.

I wasn’t a six-year-old girl hiding beneath the grungy tables at my dad’s bar, or hunkering under the covers trying to block out the yelling and smashing outside my bedroom door.

I was a grown woman, in a leadership role, in a controlled corporate environment.

My body hadn’t gotten that message. Anxiety spiked again as I skimmed over Noel’s email.

Way more “sorry” and exclamation marks than I was used to.

I winced. I’d have to check in with her later and reiterate that I wasn’t mad she’d sent the files without including me… but that she shouldn’t do it again.

“You don’t think I was too harsh?” I whispered, opening the files and dragging them up on the big screen in my office to review.

“Not at all. I would have gone a bit harder on her, actually.”

“You think?” Oh, those font colors were looking much better. I breathed through my nose as I clicked through them. Big in, big out. My heart rate was slowing. Dylan’s hand rested on my wrist.

“Victoria’s a bully, Tess. I don’t have room on my teams for people like her.”

I squirmed under his gaze and his touch. “She’s been with the company almost since the beginning. She was the third hire.”

“Third hire, yeah I know,” Dylan spoke at the same time I did, shaking his head. “I’ve heard that once or twice. Doesn’t change the fact that she’s toxic. Sooner or later, people like that can tear an organization apart. You want me to handle it next time?”

Yes . Six-year-old Tess was still cowering in a corner of my brain, nodding frantically at the thought of having a savior.

Dylan was good for that, I knew. It would bring an enormous sense of relief if I asked him to take care of it.

Everyone thought he was just a consultant from our parent company, but Victoria knew he was a big deal. She’d listen to him.

But even as I considered it, I knew I couldn’t take him up on his offer.

Since he wasn’t CEO yet, I wasn’t sure about the power dynamics.

What if he overstepped, and it made Eric think twice about him leading Jinx?

Aside from that, how would I feel, knowing that I’d failed yet another test at this new job ?

I was supposed to stretch myself. The whole reason I’d taken this role was to get out of my comfort zone. Without Dylan.

“No,” I said with a sigh. He was still scrutinizing me, analyzing everything from the way I sat to the tone in my voice. I straightened in my chair. “I appreciate the offer, but this is my job. I need to be the one to handle this.”

“You sure? I don’t ask because I don’t think you can do it.” Dylan leaned forward, pressing his hands onto my desk. “You’re so strong, Tess, but conflict isn’t your favorite thing in the world.”

That was being generous. I’d do just about anything to avoid a fight, or even the possibility of making someone uncomfortable. Anything, like work for months with a woman who humiliated me at every opportunity, and not speak up once.

Anything, like end a twelve-year relationship, only leaving a note in my wake as an explanation.

The thought made me wince again. It had felt like the right move at the time. I had been so mad, so sad. So done. It had felt like putting a period on a sentence that was already finished.

Now, though…how had I thought we were done? I could still feel the sizzling kiss we’d shared just a few minutes ago. We weren’t done. We were so far from done, it felt like the beginning.

“I know. But that was old Tess. I’m…trying to be braver. Better.”

“Better?”

I nodded, blowing out a breath. Starting pottery, putting myself out there with my friends, giving my relationship with Dylan another shot…all individual lessons that built into one big one I was discovering more and more every day .

“Just because something is hard doesn’t mean it’s not worth doing.”

Dylan hummed, staring at me for a long time. There was a question hanging between us, that history we couldn’t quite overcome.

Yes, you beautiful boy, I’m talking about you.

A soft smile flitted across his mouth. After another moment, he seemed to come to some conclusion, nodding. “Alright then, New Tess. Let’s see what we’re working with.”

As we moved through the slides, discussing the concepts or making small notes and final tweaks, my pulse returned to a normal pace. My hands stopped shaking. My palm didn’t leave a sweaty puddle on my mouse.

I knew eventually everything with Victoria would come to a head.

In a few months, Dylan’s trial run at Jinx would be up, and we’d have to decide what we were doing here, and if we wanted to keep going.

In a few days, we’d be in front of Botto, pitching the biggest deal of my life.

Then after…probably doing something else in that hotel room Dylan had mentioned.

If I thought about any of that too long, all my calm would evaporate into thin air.

I wasn’t sure what I was going to do about Victoria.

I had no clue whether my warm, fuzzy (increasingly hot) feelings for Dylan would stick around, or if we’d both slide back into that cold, distant place we’d lived in together for so long.

All I knew was that right now, I had my coffee, my Dylan, and a solid presentation that would hopefully knock the socks off an international robotics enterprise and secure my job at the best company I’d ever worked for.

Old Tess could have never.