Page 6 of Melted by a Man

But I still wanted to.

Everyone was laughing outside of my office, while behind the closed door I wore my earbuds and turned up my music, determined to drown out their ruckus. I was in the middle of processing new teams of software engineers and sales reps, drowning in onboarding paperwork. It was all done digitally, but it was paperwork all the same. I wanted to focus.

But I couldn’t, becausehestood just outside my office, barely visible through the glass next to my door, throwing his head back to laugh at something his cousin had said to him with a smirk.

How did he fit in so well, so fast?

I had worked here for almost three years now, and I was just barely starting to form friendships.

Sure, I used to argue that work wasn’t where I should bother to form friendships. If I wanted friendly companionship, I could be more social outside of this nine-to-five.

Unfortunately, I was very antisocial. The only real friend I had was my ex, so when I finally left him, I had no one.

I was an introvert, but I was also capable of becoming so, so lonely.

I didn’t want to be lonely anymore, and I was finally starting to consider myself friends with other women in the office.

But Leo Turner was already friends with everyone.

He made it look so effortless.

I shouldn’t have been surprised, though. I knew him. I knew him before anyone else did. Before he even interviewed at Sun Steer Technologies.

Suddenly, he turned his head and his clear blue eyes landed on me. He caught me staring at him through my office window.

He grinned.

I frowned and pointed to my earbuds with a raised eyebrow.

Leo’s lips formed an ‘oh’ and suddenly he was walking back towards his own office, Mary and the others following him as they all continued the conversation elsewhere.

My phone rang, buzzing on the top of my desk. I paused my music to answer the call, allowing Brandon Moore’s voice to fill my ears.

“Are you busy?” The CEO of Sun Steer Technologies asked.

“Not terribly,” I replied, glancing at the work on my desktop.I guess I could use a break.

“Are you in your office?” He asked.

“Yup,” after my reply, the call disconnected. I pulled out my earbuds and secured them in their case when a knock sounded and my office door opened.

I used to think Brandon was pretty cute.

In a basic white man sort of way.

He had dark blonde hair that brightened in the summertime, blue eyes a couple of shades darker than Leo’s, and a sturdy build slowly becoming more defined since he started joining our former CTO at the gym every morning.

There were rumblings from Sun Steer employees that Brandon had an arrogant personality, which I understood to a degree, but I thought that Brandon and I were more similar than not.

We had different modes.

He and I fell into work mode very easily, which could be off-putting to those who liked to shoot the shit on the job.

Brandon smiled shyly as he stepped into my office, and behind him, another new hire followed.

Sun Steer’s new Chief Financial Officer, Nicole Young, was beautiful.

She had short black hair that was half an inch above her shoulders, sometimes she wore her hair wavy, and other times she ironed it straight. She wore straight-cut jeans more often than not unless she had important meetings scheduled. Nicole also had a sleeve of random patchwork tattoos all over her arm, and it felt like every day she wore a short-sleeved blouse to work, I discovered a new one.

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