Lost and Found (Growing Pains #1)(2)

“Okay. Sorry!” Krista whisper-yelled at his retreating backside. His door closed with an audible click.

Note to self in prepare-for-work-day routine: Knock first before opening bathroom door.

Start of the day: take two!

Two hours later she was being led out of the elevator on the twelfth floor of her new employment; a small-scale advertising company reaching for large accounts to step up to the next level. Mr. Montgomery, her portly boss with a 1970’s mustache, walked straight towards a three-foot opening in a wall of cube. Turned out, cubes had been pulled apart to create a strange tunnel-type path through the middle.

Weird.

“I had to petition for years to get this floor arranged with that gap,” Mr. Montgomery threw a thumb behind him as they emerged out the other side. “They used to have the backs of the cubes up against each other. I finally got through. Time is money! We shouldn’t have to walk all the way around.”

She disguised her grimace with a head nod.

Her new home lay across a busy thoroughfare in a darkened section of building with three other empty cubes. A glass window peeped out from behind a plant at the end of the small aisle against the wall—Mr. Montgomery’s office—making the back of her work area against the hallway beyond.

“Okay,” Mr. Montgomery gave an analytical glance around the area, looking over her desk. “The rest of our department is on the other side of my office, but as soon as Rachel leaves, you can move over if you want. It’s all ours—we just can’t hire anyone new until a big account comes through. Anyway, I’ll let you settle in. We’ll have a tour later on.”

Krista smiled at him, “Great!”

After another look, apparently just to make sure the cube planned to stay put, he nodded once, and then kind of shuffled away toward his office at the end of the hall. She stared after him for a moment, kind of at a loss. On one hand, what the hell just happened? How weird was that guy?

On the other hand, he’d been nearly that weird in the interview, and that was supposed to be his best behavior. Huh.

Shrugging, she thought, “Well, he’s Research, so that makes sense. Wait, does that make me weird…”

Yes, but would people notice?

A few hours into her day, Krista finished scrubbing her whole office and still hadn’t heard from her boss. To pass the time, she decided she’d find the amenities.

As she exited the break room, which was right down the hall, water in hand, she found the break room, grabbed a glass of water, and turned back when she caught the most delicious of scents. It smelled like a crisp, ocean breeze mixed with the most divine, mouth-watering cologne money could buy. She wanted to bottle it up and use it as an air freshener in her room.

Shrugging the thought away, Krista entered a copy alcove right across the way stuffed with office delights and whirling machines. The big commercial printer was active, and there was a hutch with note pads, staples, sticky notes, and—“Yay! Pens!”

Krista took a couple out of the box, found a pen holder, and happily turned to go pick a place on her desk where she could house her new treasures. As she stepped forward, eyes on her prize, she nearly bumped into a large expanse of chest. Backing up quickly while trying to contain the water within her cup, she looked up with an apology.

“Saaawww—”

Shock caused a sudden hatching of butterflies to explode out of her mouth, mangling the rest of the word. The smell from earlier wrapped around her head, suffocating her brain.

“What have we here?” said a silky voice with deep, masculine overtones. The man’s muscled body dominated her space.

Krista met green eyes so intense they looked Photoshopped. “I got some pens…”

Her hand stupidly raised her penholder to communicate via show-n-tell. She probably looked like a puppet in the hands of a drunk.

A devilish grin lit up his face, frazzling every coherent thought except for one: You’re acting like a pre-teen that just saw her favorite boy band! Get it together!

“I—uh…” She looked around pseudo-calmly for a prop. Settling on a piece of paper in the printer, she smashed her pens to her chest and grabbed it.

“Just needed the fax. I mean printer. Printed piece. Of paper. No big deal.” She shrugged like an idiot.

This is not getting it together!

Rallying, she said, “See?” She waved the somewhat crumpled white flag in his face.

As his smile grew in amusement, she gave up. Taking the coward’s way out, she dodged around him with the agility of a boxer, and blasted out into the hallway, splashing some poor woman passing by. She heard a deep syllable, but had no clue what shape it took.

So, yes, then. People would absolutely notice she was just as weird as her boss. Question answered.

Back at her desk, glass a quarter full, she sat down with darting eyes. She sincerely hoped that man did not work on her floor. Also that she would never see him again. Also that she was able to get a picture snapped off because holy Lord he—

“Krista.”

“AHH!”

Mr. Montgomery stood near the wall, opposite her doorway. The rest of the water was on her desk.

“Yes, it is nice and quiet in this department. I had the cubes positioned this way so as to block the noise from the rest of the company. They don’t seem to understand that we think in research, and don’t need the constant distraction of noise.”