Love At First Glance (Love at Firsts #1)(18)



“Stop stressing, you’ll be fine, Gorgeous. You handle us lot just fine.” Matt grins at me whilst waving his hand in the direction of the others.

“Well I hope you’re right.” I take a bite of my donut and moan.

“You could turn any gay man straight.” He chuckles and I roll my eyes at him.

“Sure, I could.” I respond and roll my eyes.

“I mean it.” He grins and blows me a kiss. “And to solve your little problem with men. Just pretend you’ve known him for a while. He’s a good guy and really friendly. You two will be fine, I’m one hundred percent sure you’ll have a good time and will get along really well. Don’t worry.” He winks.

“I hope you’re right.”

“I’m always right.” He smirks before turning back to his computer.

I return my attention back to my research whilst eating two more donuts, which I am fully aware I probably shouldn’t have eaten because I won’t be able to eat much tonight, but my hands picked them up without my brain registering. My appetite will already be hindered by my nerves and if I’m already full, he’s going to think I’m self-conscious about eating in front of him. Okay, I might be being a little dramatic but if you were in my shoes you’d feel the same, at least if you have social anxiety, if not, then you are a blessed soul!

I groan and smack my screen when my internet connection suddenly f*cks off to Neverland. Whilst hitting the thing won’t fix it the problem, it releases some of the frustration I feel right now.

“What did the screen do to you, Have?” Matt chuckles.

“Piss off.” I glare at him and sigh.

“Just because you’re shitting your cute little lace thong because of tonight doesn’t mean you can be rude to me.” He raises a perfectly groomed eyebrow at me. I swear he has better eyebrow game than I do. Life's unfair sometimes.

“For once it’s not about tonight. Internet is f*cking up and I was in the middle of something.” I frown.

“Let me see.” He wheels his chair to my desk and rolls me away. He opens a couple of windows, checks a few things and suddenly Internet is back. I don’t know what he did but he’s a life savior. “There you go.” He smiles and wheels himself back to his desk.

“What did you do?”

“Your firewall was blocking the access to a protected server, I just unlocked it.” He shrugs as if it was no big deal. I have no clue what he just did or just said but it worked so I’m all for it.

“Thank you. Saves me smacking the computer a couple more times.” I chuckle.

“Yeah, Mr. Mezrani wouldn’t have been too happy with that.”

“That’s for sure. Thank you again.” I smile.

“Anytime, Gorgeous.” He returns my smile before focusing on his own screen.

I get back to work and finish the research for my interview. Let’s hope I can fake it and make a good impression because I have no clue what I’m doing.

The time for me to leave work and head home to get ready for my date comes all too soon. I’m not at all excited at the prospect of it, in fact I’m dreading it. Why did I let Matt talk me into this again? I walk home and enjoy the crisp fall air. I absolutely love this season. I mean, what’s not to love? It’s all sweaters, hot chocolate, leaves turning all kinds of beautiful shades of orange, Halloween, pumpkin everything, and cozy movie nights. It’s heaven. At least it’s put me in a good mood that will hopefully continue so my evening won’t be as bad as I’m imagining at the moment.

I walk up the stairs to my apartment instead of taking the elevator, deciding a bit of exercise would be good for me considering the three donuts I ate today. Matt tempted me with the last one whilst I was stuck with my research. I couldn’t say no; that would have been rude! I race up the stairs as if I was being chased by zombies and even look behind me for good measure because, well, you never know. I chuckle at my own silliness and open to my door. I’m barely inside when Bernard starts rubbing himself all over my legs which can only mean one of three things: he’s either done something naughty and I’ll find something sprawled all over the floor, he’s hungry or he just missed me. I look around in the living room and so far so good. I take off my shoes and jacket and pick him up. I groan when I kiss his head, he's all sticky and smells like cotton candy. The little shit. I quickly walk into my bathroom and find my bottle of cotton candy shower gel on the floor, completely ruined.

“At least you smell good.” I sigh and shake my head before setting him down on the floor. I guess it’s my own fault for leaving the bathroom door open, he loves lying in the shower for some bizarre reason. I set him down and fill his dry food bowl and water before pouring myself a large glass of wine. I’ll need liquid courage for tonight. I place my phone in the docking station and play some upbeat music before going into my room to pick an outfit for tonight.

It takes me ten minutes just to figure out what to wear and I settle on a dark grey sweater dress with a V-neck. It’s not so deep that it shows a lot of cleavage but is still a bit revealing and making my boobs look bigger than they are. Not sure if it’s a good idea to show so much boob but it’s the only outfit I have that is close to being date appropriate. The rest of my clothes are rather boring and cover my curves. I pick a pair of high-heeled boots and burgundy pantyhose. I lay everything on the bed and go into the bathroom.

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