"Don't freak her out, Tavon," Zach said. He sat down at the desk diagonally from mine. "I'm sure she's not marrying a guy like you."
"Yeah because I'm not whipped. I wouldn't send a girl flowers on her first day of work. It's kinda desperate."
"I think it's romantic." Sierra gave me a small smile. "I wish a guy would send me flowers."
"Then you probably shouldn't date Tavon," I said.
Sierra and Zach both laughed.
I ran my thumb across my engagement ring. I wanted to think James had given me flowers to be sweet. But I think Tavon's first thought was more accurate. James wanted to make sure no one flirted with me. He didn't have anything to worry about. I don't know why he didn't realize that. Or maybe he was just trying to embarrass me because I was giving him a hard time about the PDA thing.
"So, who's the lucky guy?" Tavon asked.
Before I had a chance to answer, Andy came back over and said it was time to head down to the meeting. Anderson. That was going to take some time to get used to.
I didn't want to lie to anyone, but I was glad I didn't have to tell them yet. I wanted to make friends with my coworkers and it was going to be hard once they knew I was engaged to the boss. There was no reason why I should be treated differently just because of my relationship with James.
***
Zach leaned on the armrest and whispered in my ear. "So what happened to your eye?"
I immediately removed my arm from the armrest and nodded to the person standing up in front of the large conference room. It was the head of the human resources department and he was talking about all sorts of rules and regulations. "Pay attention," I whispered back. Pay attention? Zach was going to think it was something crazy if I avoided the question. "I mean nothing," I whispered again. "I'm clumsy. I hit my face on a doorknob when I bent over to get something the other day."
"Really? It kind of looks like someone hit you."
"Well, no one did. And what would you even know about that?"
"What, you think I haven't been in my fair share of fights?" He looked back up at the director of human resources.
Just because he had a tattoo and a buzz cut didn't make him a tough guy. He was a marketing intern probably from some prestigious school. I rolled my eyes and tried to listen to the sexual harassment policy. I knew my bruise was still visible despite what James said. I lightly touched my cheek but immediately dropped my hand when I could feel Zach's eyes on me again.
"Oh my God, there he is," Sierra whispered from the other side of me.
I looked over to where she was pointing. James had just walked into the room. As soon as I made eye contact with him he smiled.
"He's so dreamy," Sierra whispered.
Yes, he is. "I'm pretty sure he's engaged," I said instead. I had become just as territorial as him. Other girls thought he was dreamy, but he was mine.
"Of course a guy like him is engaged. Do you think we'll get to meet him?"
I didn't have to answer, because the human resources guy had just introduced James and all the interns had started clapping. There were about four interns for every department in Hunter Tech, which meant there were about 50 of us.
James walked up to the podium and raised his hand to silence everyone. "Welcome to Hunter Technologies," James said. It was strange seeing him up there. It felt like I was back in school listening to one of his lectures. He was completely in his element and I felt a pang of guilt. We hadn't talked about it much since moving here, but I wondered if he missed it.
"Even his voice is sexy," Sierra said.
I wasn't sure how much I liked her anymore. I silently laughed at myself. Surely Sierra wouldn't be saying those things if she knew I was engaged to him. I just needed to ignore her until I finally told them. It wasn't like I hadn't experienced the way other women were around him. He had this magnetism that no one seemed to be immune to. Everyone loved him. If only his parents would open their eyes. I realized I was so in my own head that I was missing his speech.
"Each one of you is going to become a vital part of that. But since each department is part of the whole, I think it's important for us all to work together. We're extremely goal oriented here. And right now our goal is growth. So when working on your individual assignments, make sure to keep the main goal in mind. I know that together we can grow this company to be larger than Blive Tech International.
"And if you have any ideas, don't hesitate to share them. I see so much potential in each and every one of you and I'm not putting a cap on anything. Work between departments. Don't let the colors of the walls fool you, you're allowed to enter a color that your desk isn't in."
Everyone laughed.
"Putting what you learned in school into action is one of the most rewarding feelings. The department heads are meant to foster that experience, so go to them with any questions and insights. I think we have a great new team here and I think we can all learn from each other. And trust me, working in the real world is a lot more than just application of principles. You still have so much to learn. Your education doesn't stop once you throw your cap in the air. Welcome to the real world, class of 2018."
Everyone started clapping. James and I didn't talk about his work very much. He had helped me study so often that his work had taken a spot on the backburner recently. I knew about his current projects in principle, but I didn't really know what he did on a daily basis. I had never thought about myself as being self centered, but I had been recently. I wanted to do something nice for him. To show him how much I appreciated everything he'd done for me.
"You okay, Fight Club?" Zach asked. He was standing up, looking down at me. I hadn't realized that everyone was leaving the room.
"Yeah." I quickly stood up. "And don't call me that. I wasn't in a fight."
"Mhm."
I really hoped that nickname didn't stick. I looked over my shoulder to see James talking to some of the interns in the front row. It was only a few hours until lunch, but it felt like I hadn't gotten to talk to him in forever. Or taste him. What? He wasn't an addict. I was.
Chapter 12
Monday
I was sitting in James' favorite pizza place, Totonno's Pizzeria, which had become my favorite pizza in the city. It wasn't just that the pizza was amazing, the people were so nice.
"Hi, dear. Where's James today?" Marie, the little old woman who owned the place sat down across from me with a huge smile.
"He's meeting me here any minute."
"I'll go put your usual order in. I just wanted to come over and see how your first day was going."
I smiled. I was glad I was on Marie's good side, because she had seemed suspicious of me the first few times I had come here. That side of her was scary intimidating, but now she was as nice as could be. It was so sweet how much she seemed to care about James. "It's good. Kind of overwhelming."
"You'll be used to it in no time."
"I know. And the other interns seem nice enough." They had invited me to eat with them in the break room, but I had told them I already had plans. Which resulted in Tavon teasing me about my overbearing boyfriend. If only he knew. Maybe tomorrow I should eat lunch with them, though. I wanted to be one of them. But right now all I wanted was a kiss from James and to tell him how much I loved him.