Falling Into You (Geek to Chic) (15 page)

“Well to me he
isn’t the all mighty CEO, he is just the jerk that made me eat mud when I was
five.”
 
Caroline said faking a glare at
Derek.
 

“C, I only
offered you a mud pie.
 
You were the one
who heard pie and ate it.
 
Somehow Alex
and I still got in trouble from Mama Porter on that one. You were always
getting us in trouble with either whatever nanny we currently had or Alex’s
mom.”
 
Derek countered.
 

Roni was
looking back and forth between them like she was watching a tennis match.
 
“Well, that was my official job as the baby
sister.”
 
Caroline said brightly.

“Whatever.”
 
Derek said, rolling his eye like a snotty
teenager would. “Anyway, I am sure you came to visit for a reason.”
 
Derek wanted to hurry this along so he could,
one, get back to work, and two, get Caroline away from Roni before she spilled
any of his dirty secrets.
 

“I had a break
and thought I would come check to make sure you were still babysitting for me?
Plus, Alex had mentioned you had a new employee I should come meet.”

“So you were
in on the gossip?”

“Nope, not to
the extent I am now.”
 
She smiled
brightly and that is when he realized it was not Caroline sharing secrets with
Roni but the other way around.
 
The blush
on Roni’s face confirmed it.
 

He leaned over
to Roni, close to her ear so that Caroline could not hear.
 
“I hope you kept some details to
yourself.”
 
His voice was low and husky.
 
Her blush grew even redder.
 
He brushed his lips against her ear before
straightening again.
 

Caroline’s eyes
were as wide as saucers before a knowing smile spread across her face.
 
He realized she had never seen him like that
with a woman.
 
In fact other than the
sorority bitch in college, she had never seen him with a woman.
 
No wonder she was so curious.

Roni cleared
her throat.
 
“Caroline said you are
manning up and babysitting for her on Saturday?
 
Here I thought you couldn’t go out with me because you had plans with
another girl and it turns out I was right.”
 
She was laughing again.
 
“I hope
Netty takes it easy on you.”

“Funny, I can
handle the baby no problem.
 
She loves
me!” Both women looked at each other, then him, then burst out laughing
again.
 
Not a good sign for him come
Saturday.

Caroline
simply smiled.
 
Again, not a good sign
for him.
 
“Well, I have done all the
damage I can hear.
 
It was nice to meet
you Roni.
 
Try and keep my brother from
scaring the masses.”

“I will do my
best, but he is pretty scary, I mean, look at that face.”
 
She waved a hand at him and again they both
laughed at him.
 

Derek wasn’t
sure he was enjoying the fact that Caroline and Roni got along so well.
 
He had a feeling he was always going to be a
target when the two of them got together.
 
It also made him smile that the two most important women in his life
seemed to like each other.
   

Roni was still
giggling quietly to herself as she turned back to her work. “Ok, what did my
evil sister tell you that was so funny?”
 
He had to know what was said so he could do damage control.
 

Roni smiled
brightly up at him. “Nothing Mr. Gallaway, whatever would give you the idea
that your dear sweet baby sister would tell me anything that would paint you in
a humorous light?”
 

Derek simply
shook his head.
 
“Fine, keep secrets with
my sister.
 
I am telling you though she
lies.
 
About everything.
 
All the time”
 

Roni became
serious, or tried to.
 
“I see, so you’re
saying your sister was lying about you and Alex getting so drunk at a Frat
party that you decided it was a great idea to walk home two miles, naked?”

Derek laughed
a little at the memory, coughing to cover it.
 
Then put on his CEO face.
 
“Yes,
like I said the poor girl has a serious problem.
 
I really need to find some help for
her.”
 

She tapped her
pointer finger on her chin pretending to think for a moment.
 
“You know Mr. Gallaway, I think you may be
the compulsive liar in the family.
 
And I
think I will call your sister and get her to tell me even more stories about
Super Asshole and yourself.”
 
She kept
her eyes on Derek as she reached for her phone.
 
He laughed and grabbed the phone from her.
 

“You and my
sister are going to be trouble together, I can already tell.
 
Now Ms. Atlas, if you can follow me into my
office, I have some business to discuss with you.” She followed him dutifully
into his office.
 

He held the
door for her watching her hips sway.
 
He
couldn’t take it anymore.
 
He closed the
door and grabbed her arm spinning her around, and crushed his lips to hers.
 
Her mouth opened for his tongue and her hands
were in his hair pulling him closer.
 
They both moaned.
 
Pulling each
other closer.
 
She even went as far as to
wrap her leg around his hip.
 
He pulled
his lips from hers.
 
“Christ Roni, I want
you so bad.”
 
For emphasis he pushed his
erection into her core.
 

“I don’t want
you Derek.”
 
His eyes grew at that statement,
panic almost strangling him.
 
“I NEED
you!”
 
She pulled him back to her mouth,
her hips working overtime rubbing against him.
 
He moaned his response.
 

He slid his
hands up her sides cupping her breast.
 
He wanted to taste her, every inch of her.
 
They stood their dry humping, kissing and
fondling each other as though they were high school kids.
 
He had forgotten they were even in his office
until there was a knock on his door.
 
They flew apart, straightening their clothes as fast as they could.
Before they could make themselves look presentable, Alex walked in.
 
He was starting to agree with the nickname
Super Asshole.
 

“Hey, I have a
question about these numbers…” Alex looked up from his papers and started
laughing.
 
“A little afternoon delight?
Or should I say midmorning delight?”
 
He
wiggled his eyebrows for emphasis.
 
Yep,
Super Asshole fit him to the T.
 

“Alex. I was
just um... leaving.”
 
Roni basically ran
out his office.
 
Embarrassment written
all of her beautiful face.
 

Once she shut
the door.
 
Alex burst out laughing.
 
“Dude, I never thought I would catch you
fucking around with your assistant in your office.”

Derek sat at
his desk, adjusting himself as he did.
 
“You asshole, have terrible timing.”
 

“Learn to lock
a door.” Alex smiled back.

Thursday had
been a long day. Derek had been in meetings most of the day and she had been
working with Alex on the estimates.
 
Derek’s attitude had gone from pleasant in the morning to downright
bitchy.
 
She was about to offer him a
Midol at one point.
 

Roni took a
quick glance at her watch, 7:00 pm.
 
Derek was still teaching her one of the programs she needed to know for
her job.
 
Derek had been beyond
frustrated with her less than stellar computer skills.
 
Numbers were the only thing that she was good
at.
 
These specialized tracking programs
that Derek had designed for his team to track project time and expenses was so
confusing to her she was about to scream bloody murder.
 
“Roni, this isn’t that hard.
 
Here, let me show you again.
 
The program does the calculations for you
once you input the correct parameters.” Derek spoke in a harsh manner.

She threw up
her hands in frustration.
 
“Derek, this
program might be easy for you and your program monkeys to use because you
designed the stupid thing! For the rest of us mere mortals, it is beyond
complicated. Why do I need to have the stupid computer do it the calculations
for me?
 
I can do them all in my head in
a matter of minutes.
 
See look!”
 
She pushed a piece of paper into his
face.
 
With all the programmer’s names,
time and project numbers broken into categories.
 
Next to the identifying information were the
calculation he was needing.
 

Derek grabbed
the paper and threw it on her desk.
 
“Roni, every computer program in this company has been created by me to
ensure they can all talk to one another.
 
This project time management tool you are working on, creates the basic
calculations that are then used by our billing and payroll programs.
 
Not to mention myself, Alex and the legal
department.”
 
He dramatically grabbed the
piece of paper she had done all the calculation on, waving it around. “How are
all those departments going to share one piece of paper?”

“Ever heard of
a copier?”
 
She mumbled, not looking at
him.
 

Derek’s eyes
got big before he let out a quick laugh.
 
He rubbed his hands through his hair in an irritated manner.
 
His curly hair now stood almost straight out
in every direction.
 
“Smart ass.”
 
He finally replied. “Look, I know this is
complicated and if this could wait until Jemma returned I wouldn’t be putting
you through this.
 
However, I need this
report.
 
Alex needs this report.
 
So please focus.
 
Let’s go through it one more time.”
 

She couldn’t
help the defeated sigh that escaped her lips.
 
“Fine, let’s do it again.”
 

Derek showed
her the program three more times before she finally understood the
process.
 
He had taken off his suit
jacket and loosened his tie, both obvious signs of his frustration level. It
also was an indication of how little sleep he had gotten this week.
 
“See, it is not so complicated.
 
Now please run those reports for Alex.
 
Send me a copy as well.”
 
He started to walk back to his office.
 

She jumped up
from her chair and stalked after him.
 
Closing his office door behind her.
 
“Derek how many hours have you worked this week?”
 

He blew out a
frustrated breath and ran his hands down his handsome tired face.
 
“Why are you asking?
 
Is this because I was forcing you to use a
computer program you don’t like?”

“No, it has
nothing to do with that.
 
It has to do
with how short you are being with everyone.
 
And more importantly, it has to do with the large circles under your
eyes.”
 
She shook her head and walked
over to him.
 
Grabbing his face in her
hands, “I am just worried about you, ok?
 
I am sorry about not being able to catch on to the computer program you
designed.
 
I didn’t mean to add to your
stress.”
 
She kissed him softly.
 
“How about we get out of here?
 
Go, get something to eat, and maybe watch a
little crappy reality TV?
 
You need some
rest.
 
A little down time. Tomorrow we
will pick back up and I promise we will be more productive.”
 
She hoped he would see the reasoning behind
her statement.
 

His hands
covered hers on his face.
 
He took them
from his face and took a step back.
 
He
shook his head. “You don’t get it Roni.
 
I don’t have time to rest.
 
After
the deadline, I will sleep, ok?
 
But
dinner does sound nice.
 
Why don’t we go
grab a bite to eat before you head home for the night?”

She stepped
closer to him, placing her hands on his chest.
 
“I have a better plan.
 
We grab
take out go back to my place watch TV in bed while we eat.
 
You can even stay the night.
 
That way I will know you slept.”

This time he
pulled her closer instead of pushing her away. “Although I would love to spend
all night in bed with you, I have to finish a piece of coding tonight.”
 
He rubbed his hands up and down her
back.
 

She wanted to
stomp her feet and throw a temper tantrum.
 
Instead, she took a deep breath. “Ok, I get it.”
 
Her voice came out soft and sad. She took
another deep breath. This time she breathed in his scent and pulled out of his
embrace.
 
“Go work.
 
I’ll order you some food before I leave.”
 
She gave him a half smile.
 

“Roni, we can
go to dinner.
 
I have enough time for
that.
 
Had I not lost a few hours
teaching you the program I may have been able to go do more, now I need to make
up for that time.”
 

Roni went from
being sad about not being able to spend time with him, too pissed off the
second he finished his statement. “So it’s my fault we can’t spend time
together tonight because I was, what too dumb to understand your program?”
 

He shook his
head. “That’s not what I said. You did just fine with the program, what I meant
was I should have had someone else show you.”

“Fine. I’m not
sure how you meant the previous statement, but I will let it go. I’m going
home. You know I am only trying to get you to rest because I care.” She took
another step away from him.
 

“So no
dinner?”
 
He said with a smirk.

“Like I said I
will order in for you before I leave.
 
Good night Derek.” Roni was so worried about him, but what claim did she
have on him to demand he take better care of himself.
 
“By the way I will be late tomorrow. I have
to go get the stitches taken out of my hand.”
 

“Do you want
me to take you?”
 
He asked as he tried to
close the gap between them.
 

She smiled, a
small polite smile that did not reach her eyes.
 
“No Derek you have work and I am a big girl who has done this before.”

“Roni.”
 
He looked like he wanted to say something,
but decided against it. “Good night.”
 
He
said nothing more.
 

She walked out
of his office, feeling his eyes on her back.
 
She stopped at her desk and to order him dinner before grabbing her
purse and heading out.
 

***

The Chinese food
Roni had ordered for him was just what he needed.
 
The day with Roni did not go well.
 
So much for reigning in his CEO asshole
side.
 
He didn’t want to admit to her
exactly how tired he was.
 
It touched him
to know she was trying to care for him.
 
He needed someone to remind him to sleep and eat.
 
Someone to look out for him when he wasn’t
able to look after himself.
 
Derek had
always been focused on work, on computers. Therefore the rest of the world fell
away from Derek.
 
He never remembered to
go to meetings, order dinner or even replenish his precious Dr. Pepper. He was
convinced he would die of lack of oxygen if it wasn’t for his lungs
automatically breathing for him.
 

Although, it
annoyed him that Roni pushed him to do those basic human functions like eating
and resting, a small part of him loved that she cared enough to do so.
 
Maybe after this project he would back off
work a little, take a vacation.
 
He
laughed at the thought. He didn’t do vacations.
 
Not once since they had started the company had he gone out of town on
anything other than business.

A vacation
with Roni though, sounded really nice.
 
They could rent a house on a private beach.
 
He would be able to watch her in a bikini, or
better yet naked, playing in the water.
 
Derek sighed and shook his head.
 
The part of the vision he left out was himself.
 
He would most likely be locked away in the
house, unable to leave work behind.
 
With
the vision now complete, and downright depressing, Derek leaned his head back
on his chair.
 
Frustrated at himself for
becoming so close off.
 
He reached for
his phone needing a lifeline.

“Hello?” The
sweet voice on the other end said.

“Roni.
 
I… I…”He didn’t really know why he called
her.
 
“Hi.”

“Thought you
were working, did you get done?
 
Do you
want to come over for a bit?”
 
Her voice
was so hopeful, he hated he had to tell her no again.
 

“No. I mean I
can’t.
 
I’m not done with work yet.”
 
Derek was bumbling with his words, he knew he
needed to say something halfway intelligent.
 
“I am taking a break and wanted to call you.
 
See how your evening was going.”
 
He heard movement and what sounded like
shouting behind her.
 
“Where are you?”
 
The question came out a lot more annoyed than
he meant it to.
 

She
huffed.
 
“Well, since you had to work
yourself closer to your grave tonight, I decided to head out with Izzy.
 
We came back to 5280 and ran into Alex and
Collin.
 
The yelling you hear is of
course Alex and Izzy playing a friendly game of pool.
 
Although I am pretty sure one of them is
going to end up in the emergency room tonight, courtesy of the other one.”
 
The tension had left her voice halfway
through her account of her evening thus far.
 

“So you’re
with Alex and Collin?”
 
He had no idea
why the question held so much animosity.
 
Maybe it was jealousy.
 
He was
jealous that Alex and Collin were spending time with Roni and he was stuck at
the office.
 

“Yes, we
are.
 
Do you have a problem with
that?”
 
The tension was back in her
voice.

“Nope” He
decided it was best if he kept his answers short and sweet.
 

“Good,
although if Alex is able to have some down time I think you should too.
 
Why don’t you close up shop and head over
here?”
 
Her voice was both angry and kind
at the same time.
 
How was that even
possible?

“Alex can have
down time because he isn’t in charge of actually delivering the product.
 
He makes the deals, I make the product.” He
was doing what he could to keep his anger under control.
 

Roni sighed on
the other end of the phone.
 
“Derek, I…
I…” Roni started, then stopped, the sounds of the bar the only ones coming
through the phone.
 
Letting out another
sigh Roni began again.
 
“I know you need
to work hard.
 
But you also need to let
yourself live a little.”
 

“I will start
living in a couple of weeks when this contract has been fulfilled.”
 
Derek stated incredulously.
 

Roni sighed
again. “Fine, Derek.
 
Just promise me you
will sleep tonight?”

“Fine.” He was
back to one word answers.
 

“Good night
Derek.”
 
She hung up before he could even
respond.