Think Outside the Boss by Olivia Hayle

Author:Olivia Hayle [Hayle, Olivia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-06-06T16:00:00+00:00

15

Freddie

I know my weaknesses well, know where I fracture and break. Sharing them with Tristan had never been my plan. But in the span of one evening, I’d given him all of it. My panic attacks, my fear of heights, even my fear of dating, the way I clung to him more than I needed to for the simple pleasure of holding him close. He’d seen it all.

What we are now doesn’t exist, a word that can’t be found in the dictionary. Two people who met as strangers. Who enjoyed one another as strangers, but who have gotten to know one another as friends.

Two people who live very different lives and have to abide by workplace rules.

And yet, yesterday had happened. I’d given him all of my fragility, and he’d held it in the palm of his hand until I was strong enough to take it back.

There’s no way I can forget that. No way I want to forget that.

I rest my head in my hands, turning away from the painful thoughts and the numbers on my screen. We’d been wise in stopping yesterday, in establishing rules and boundaries. I’m only two months into a one-year internship. He’s a single dad with a company to run.

The world would only see one thing.

But why, then, does it feel like we made a mistake?

“Frederica.”

I look up. “Yes?”

“I need you for a client meeting. We’re meeting with Nicour in—” Eleanor glances at her watch—“less than thirty minutes, and Clive couldn’t make it. I just love it when he cancels last minute.”

I reach for my binder, my handbag, following her out of the office. Toby gives me a thumbs-up and a mouthed good luck. Not a single part of me thinks he might be the mole. My gaze drifts over the back of Quentin, but for all his mutterings and bad moods, I don’t think it’s him either.

“Frederica?”

“Coming.” I hurry after Eleanor to Strategy’s conference room. In the spirit of saving time as well as miles to travel, this is a digital meeting. Exciteur has an entire camera setup just for this sort of thing.

When they work, that is.

Eleanor grows increasingly stressed as the technician struggles with the electronics.

“They’re waiting for us,” she hisses.

“Any second now…” he murmurs.

I open my laptop and prepare for taking notes, drawing up all the info I have on Nicour. The door to the conference room opens. I don’t look up, focused as I am on the numbers on the screen.

“Mr. Conway?” Eleanor asks. “I wasn’t aware you were joining this meeting.”

“Filling in for Clive,” he says. A chair is pulled out next to me, a familiar cologne scenting the air. Something knots in my stomach.

I look over, but Tristan’s gaze is focused on Eleanor and the techie. Cool, casual power on his face. Here he’s a man made for boardrooms and thousand-dollar watches, no trace of the handsome stranger from the Gilded Room or the caring man in my elevator yesterday.

I turn my focus back on Eleanor.

“There we go,” the technician says, stepping back.

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