Inspired by Night: - a sexy new age romance (3 page)

Being on my own for so long, there was very little furniture in here other than the sofa for less formal meetings, a table for formal meetings, and a couple of desks. I had added the second desk as soon as I placed the job advert a few weeks ago. A bookcase and filing cabinet stood in the second alcove, along with the Jerk Chicken cupboard to complete the set-up.

The sofa was big, green, and swallowed you up if you sat on it for too long. It was the best sofa in the world. Cosy and warm in winter, I spent as much time as I could on the sofa under a blanket.

‘We are heading to The World’s End after work tonight, Steven – I hope you’ll join us.’ Steph informed him, opening her eyes. Steven glanced across the room to me and I shrugged.

‘Friday night, drinks after work. It’s sort of a thing they do,’ I explained.

‘You really get to know a person when you go out drinking with them, don’t you agree?’ Steph asked casually, ‘It’s a miracle we ever got to know this one of course, bloody hermit.’

‘I’m not a hermit, I’m just slightly anti-social,’ I corrected her. Steph snorted.

‘You go home and play video games. Don’t you get tired of video games?’ she asked, shaking her head.

‘Just checking out the competition,’ I grinned at her and she sighed.

‘Well now if it’s work, maybe you should be playing video games during office hours,’ Steph suggested.

‘That is not a bad idea, especially now I’ve got someone else here to do all the hard work for me,’ I grinned at Steven, who pulled a face at me.

Steph stood up and touched his arm.

‘Come the pub,’ she implored him, ‘we usually head over at 4:30. Try and drag this one along with you, it’s been too long since she went out and getting tipsy would do her some good.’ She leant in closer to him and whispered, ‘Getting laid would do her even better, but that’s just my opinion.’

‘I heard that, Stephanie.’ I folded my arms and turned my face away, pretending to be offended, but she laughed at me.

‘You were meant to. Make sure you take your staff to the pub, don’t be mean and leave him to drink with strangers. It’s your duty as a good boss to get him drunk, especially on his first Friday.’

I sighed and nodded. Why not? It’s been ages since I went to Friday night drinks after work. I realised it would be good to catch up with everyone and get to know Steven a bit better outside the office. Besides which, everyone knows the best times are had when you don’t plan for them. I felt a flutter of excitement deep in my belly and realised I was looking forward to having a night out.

When we entered The World’s End on the corner of Camden High Street the rest of the tenants were already there. They gave a cheer when we arrived and I heard lots of exclamations about how they never see me out. It was nice actually, to feel such a welcome and I wondered briefly why I didn’t come out for a least one drink after work more often. Steph was probably right that it would do me good to socialise more. Ruth was always inviting me out to gigs and for drinks with her friends but I always declined. I just can’t be bothered with the small talk of meeting new people and I find myself longing for my sofa and my PS3 or my DVD box sets. I felt a flush of shame as I realised that all the people sat around the table welcoming me were people I knew. Meeting people at work somehow made it easier to get to know them and I had no excuse for not socialising with them. Steven touched my arm.

‘What are you drinking?’ he asked, leaning in the direction of the bar. I shook my head.

‘No, it’s your first week, let me buy you a drink. What are you having?’ He grinned happily at me and straightened himself up.

‘Pint of lager would be smashing, cheers.’ He made his way towards the table and I watched as Steph waved him over to a spare seat next to her. I smiled to myself. Steph clearly had a crush on Steven. I ordered our drinks and turned my attention back to them while I waited. I could see why Steph would like him; he was easy to be around. He found a common ground quickly and maintained a flow of conversation. It was hard to feel uncomfortable with Steven; there were no awkward silences. He knew when it was right to be quiet and he knew how to fill a conversational void before it became tense.

It occurred to me that despite all the easy conversations, I didn’t know much about him. Well, if Steph was willing to share his attention perhaps tonight I would get to know him better. I carried our drinks over to the table and found a seat opposite Steven and Steph, pushing his drink towards him. He winked at me in gratitude. Winked! I resisted the urge to roll my eyes and tried to smother the flicker of annoyance. If I was younger than him I’d find him patronising. The fact that I’m the elder just made him irritating. I hoped that in time I would get used to his little ways and stop finding it annoying – after all he was a brilliant programmer, an excellent designer, and he was fitting in nicely around my work routine. I just wish he acted his age and treated me like I were mine.

‘Not often we see you down the pub, Olly. To what do we owe the pleasure?’ Dave asked, nudging me. Dave was the only person, besides Steph, that I saw on a daily basis. He was a good guy, lots of fun to be around, supportive of all his tenants, offered us all great advice. He had been particularly helpful to me in the early days when I was puzzling over the legal status of my business. I’d read so many websites talking about Companies House, directors, partnerships, and shareholders, I’d had no idea what I was doing. Dave was lying on the sofa in Reception when I arrived one morning and called me over, so I’d sat down on the sofa opposite him with a big sigh.

‘That is a big sigh. What’s up, Olivia Jones?’ I’d told him where I was up to in getting my business off the ground which, given that I still didn’t know what my legal status was, wasn’t very far off the ground at all. He asked me three questions: Do you own this business? Have you put up the money to get it started? Where will the profits go? To which I’d replied, ‘Yes, it’s all mine, and the profits go to me to live off.’ He’d shrugged and said, ‘Seems to me you’re a sole trader.’

This was a relief because from everything I had read online I didn’t need to do anything to register as a sole trader. I could register as a limited company and be the sole director and member, but that seemed like a lot of obligatory annual paperwork for no reason. So I opened a bank account as a sole trader and got on with the important job of designing a mobile game app to introduce Inspired Programming to the world.

I grinned up at Dave, glad that he was in the pub.

‘Well you know, now that I’m an employer I thought I should bring my new member of staff to the pub and introduce him to everyone properly.’

Dave smiled and nodded, and regarded me with a look of pride and winked. Dave is allowed to wink at me because he is ten years older than me and has been my mentor for several years.

‘Staff, eh? Look at you!’ He nudged me again and as I straightened up he threw his arm across my shoulders in a congratulatory hug. I rolled my eyes, embarrassed at the attention.

‘So, Steven, how’s your first week been? I hear your boss is a real bitch?’ Dave grinned at me and then leant forward to focus his attention on Steven.

‘Oh I wouldn’t say she was a bitch, a tyrant at times maybe, but she’s OK.’

I narrowed my eyes at him in mock warning and he laughed, ‘I’ve had a good week, I don’t think I could have asked for a better first job. I think I will learn so much more from Olly than I would have learned elsewhere, much more hands on, she’s already entrusted me with a big project.’ He smiled at me appreciatively. Steph giggled.

‘Hands on? You should tell her to keep her hands to herself!’

I raised my eyebrows at the veiled warning from Steph. As if she had anything to worry about from me – aside from the fact I’m his boss and considerably older than him, she was beautiful, funny, and easy to be around. I wouldn’t have been surprised if the Monday morning gossip was that Steph and Steven ended the evening together.

Steven and Dave continued talking, about how the centre had come about and what they both wanted from the future. I decided to take a breather and made my way to the quiz machine in the corner. Steph followed me and stood watching, waiting for me to make conversation. I concentrated on the game. It was childish of me but I’d moved over here to have a much-needed moment and Steph was well aware that I required regular alone time. I glanced round at her and followed her gaze back to our table, more specifically Steven.

‘He seems nice?’ she said, looking up at me. ‘You must love having him around the office.’ I sensed this was a question rather than a statement so I shrugged again.

‘It’s nice to share the work load and have someone around who understands what I’m saying.’

‘Is he single?’

‘I have no idea. I don’t actually know anything about his personal life,’ I shrugged.

‘What have you been talking about all week?’ She asked unable to conceal her surprise.

‘Work mostly. I’m not paying him to be my friend, I’m paying him to do the work I don’t have time to do.’ I grinned at her then, and shrugged, ‘I was hoping to get to know him a little better tonight but I haven’t had a chance to speak to him since we arrived.’

Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

‘I think he’s cute,’ she admitted.

‘No, really? Oh wow, I had no idea,’ I said, my voice heavy with sarcasm. She blushed again.

‘Am I that obvious?’

‘Only to me, love.’ I put my arm round her shoulder. ‘I promise I will see what I can find out for you, OK?’ She nodded, smiling as we made our way back to the table. Dave was at the bar and Steven was chatting to Tracey, a singer who ran a chain of community choirs. I felt Steph bristle next to me and I sighed as I noticed Tracey looking up at Steven through her eyelashes, smiling and playing with her hair. I groaned inwardly, realising my office was going to be like Clapham Junction, with all his admirers finding excuses to stop by. Steph sat down next to Tracey to join their conversation and Dave returned, distributing drinks around the table. He smiled as he pushed a pint my way and sat between Steph and me to listen to what Tracey was saying, still directing her words at Steven, pretending no one else was there. Steven looked up at me and grinned. He touched Tracey on the arm and said he’d catch up with her later and then he came to sit beside me on the double seat at the end of the table. He leant back and turned his head to face me.

‘Hi, didn’t I arrive with you?’ he asked, frowning. I nodded, smiling. ‘I thought I recognised you.’ He indicated the rest of the table. ‘These guys are cool – not as cool as you of course, but pretty cool.’

I laughed out loud.

‘You don’t have to sweet talk me you know. You got the job already and I have nothing more to offer you.’

‘What? No! I mean it.’ He grew serious. ‘Honestly, I was expecting my first job to be taking notes for some guy in a suit. You are actually letting me loose on your projects, and trust me, I can deliver, I promise you, but I never imagined I’d be given the chance to prove myself so soon. That’s cool, you’re very cool.’ He smiled shyly then smiled his wide, goofy smile. ‘And let’s not forget …’ he began, and I shook my head.

‘I created Jerk Chicken?’

He nodded, grinning. I looked at him closely while we chatted. He really was an attractive man, and close up he didn’t look that young. He had a maturity about him; perhaps he had been around older people a lot and had a more grown-up outlook. I remembered my promise to Steph and was just about to ask him when I heard him groan as he looked towards the door. I followed his gaze and saw an attractive blonde girl weaving her way through the crowd which had grown considerably since we had arrived. I was about to ask who she was when I felt his breath on my ear. I froze.

‘Olly I need you to promise me something,’ he said quietly. I nodded. ‘If it looks likely that I’m going to leave with that girl, please,
please
stop me.’

I looked at him out of the corner of my eye and he returned my look with pleading eyes before continuing. ‘I sort of knew her at uni. I worked behind the bar so pretty much everyone knew me. We bumped into each other a few weeks ago and I haven’t been able to get rid of her since. She seems to know where I am all the time. I don’t know how she does it but every time I go out she turns up, she somehow insists on sharing a cab and then before I know it I’m back at her place.’

‘Tell her you’re not interested.’

‘I have, so many times.’ He squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head. ‘Just watch, she’ll find me and I will be rude to her but she won’t give up, she’s as thick skinned as they come.’

‘Well surely if you’re not interested it should be easy to not go home with her,’ I pointed out, confusion evident on my face.

He chuckled at my apparent innocence.

‘If only that were true, Olly. She will wait ‘til I’m drunk, she will ask to share my taxi and make me feel sorry for her. I will be adamant that I’m going home but then …’ he stopped and looked at me, his face full of shame, ‘she’ll put her hand down my pants and there’s just no way I’m not going home with her. She says she knows I don’t want her but she knows how to get me anyway.’ He put his head in his hands and sighed. ‘I hate it, I hate myself for it, and I just want to get away from her.’ He looked back up at me, ‘Please, promise me, no matter what I say, don’t let me leave with her.’

‘I will try my best,’ I promised. He took hold of my hand and kissed it.

‘Thank you.’

I heard her before I saw her again; it was a perfectly rehearsed gasp.

‘Steven? Oh my God, what are you doing here?’ She was smiling as she tried to squeeze past me and force herself into a non-existent space between us. She ignored me, despite half sitting on my knee, as she smiled up at him.

‘Go away, Melissa,’ he said irritably. I watched with interest as both Steph and Tracey became aware of Melissa. Steph took in the blonde hair, the tight top, and the cleavage and glanced down miserably at her work clothes. Tracey tried to set her delicate features to hide the distaste she felt and anyone who didn’t know her would be fooled, but I could see through her frozen smile. I looked at the back of Melissa’s head and listened to her pointless chatter.