Page 14 of Havoc and Humor
By the end of it Sawyer had demolished me, with fifty-four hits to my seventeen. This was exactly what I needed, just fun without the weight of the corporate hierarchy or HR nonsense hanging over us. No reports to worry about, just us.
“Rematch?” he asked.
I grinned. “Absolutely. We have time for one more, but then we should get to karaoke.”
Sawyer wrinkled his nose. “I suppose I should shower before I go.”
“Want to go back to my place?” The words were out before I could stop them. And I found that I didn’t want to.
He licked his lips. “I wasn’t sure if we were talking about that.”
“We can talk about it.”
We were silent for a moment, both of us still wearing our laser tag gear. Around us, people had begun filling the room for the next group to go in.
“I don’t want a repeat,” I said.
Shock rippled across Sawyer’s face, then he looked away. “Of course. Right. We’re… and we can’t… I get it.”
I put a hand on his shoulder. “I want the real thing. Dating. You and me. We just sort of skipped a step. It wasn’t a one-time thing for me.”
“Are you sure?”
I nodded. “So sure. Do you want that?”
He stepped closer and put a hand to my chest. “Yes, Mark. But I’ll be honest, if you thought I was a handful as an employee, you’re about to find out what a handful I can be as a boyfriend.” His eyes went wide. “Not that I... I mean, if we’re just figuring things out, then clearly we aren’t boyfriends yet—”
I shut him up with a kiss.
“Boyfriend. I like the sound of that,” I said.
Chapter 8
Sawyer
I was running later than I wanted to be for work on Monday morning. It wasn’t my fault that I got so little sleep on Friday and also Saturday night that I needed to catch up on Sunday. Also, this whole walking-to-work thing was an adjustment. I didn’t have the timing down right. Still, no one really cared how late I arrived, as long as I did the work I needed to.
I grabbed a coffee on my way up to the floor where I worked, a smile on my face because I would get to see Mark again. We stillhad no idea what we were doing with one another, but I wasn’t going to question it too hard. I was happy. He seemed happy.
We kept our Friday evening light and never brought up what was in our future besides dating. Eventually we’d have to talk about how things would work at the office. Also, since we were dating, which apparently meant taking things at a glacial pace, he dropped me off at my apartment early Saturday morning after a long night of karaoke with just a kiss and promise that we’d talk later. The kiss had been more of a make-out session in the front seat of his car, but still. I had wanted more.
We really needed to figure out this whole work situation, but that would come later, right? If we talked about it, then it would be all the more real.
Cynthia flagged me down before I could pop into Mark’s office to say hi.
“Did you hear?” she said.
I raised a brow. “Hear what?”
“They’re completely reorganizing our whole department.”
“What?” I looked around. Everyone seemed to be whispering amongst one another, as was the norm when something new was happening. Juicy office gossip spread faster than a wildfire on a windy day.
“What do you know? You’re close with Mark. So do you have the scoop?”
“I don’t know what you mean by close,” I said. I fidgeted with my tie, making sure it was straight and not too tight. Was I going to have to lie to my co-workers?
She rolled her eyes. “Please. You two have been flirting with each other for ages. Hey, since he’s leaving the department now, guess you guys will be free to actually date, right? Maybe that’s why they did it.” She grasped my forearm. “Is that why they’re making the move? Are you two finally dating?”
