Third Date (5 page)

“Tell me all about Aiden!” Paige squeals before I even sit down. “Every detail.”

I take a seat at my desk. Kayla’s across from me and Paige is standing next to her, anxiously waiting for what I’m about to say.

“It didn’t work out. With either of them.” I reach back to turn my computer on.

Paige grabs my arm. “What do you mean? Aiden said it went great.”

“He did? That guy just can’t seem to read the signs.” I sigh. “He drove me crazy, Paige. He shot questions at me the whole night. And not just questions about myself. But about everything. Whether I liked my drink. If I liked the atmosphere. If I was hot or cold. I couldn’t take it!”

“He was being nice. I thought you wanted a nice guy.”

“That was over-the-top nice. It was annoying. I wanted to strangle him by the end of the night. And then he asked if he could kiss me.”

“Oooh, bad,” Kayla mumbles.

Paige huffs. “What’s wrong with that? It’s sweet that he asked. He was being polite.”

“Maybe other girls like that, but I don’t. If a guy has to ask, then he hasn’t been paying attention all night. A guy should be able to gauge how the night’s going and based on that, either go for the kiss or don’t. But he should never ask.”

“She’s right, Paige.” Kayla takes a donut from the box. “A guy should just go for it. And if he read your signal’s wrong, you can always get out of the way when you see his lips coming.”

“Exactly.” I take a sip of my latte.

Paige crosses her arms over her chest. “You’re being too hard on him. Sometimes you’re hard to figure out, Morgan. He doesn’t even know you. And he can’t read your mind.”

“I’m just not interested in him, Paige. He’s a really nice guy, but he needs to get some confidence. Not act so needy. And definitely not stare so much at his dates. I swear I thought I had some giant zit on my face the way he kept staring.”

“So you’re not going out with him again? Because he asked me for your number. He wants to go on another date. He had a really good time.”

“I feel bad, but no, I’m not going out with him again. I’m not at all attracted to him. Sorry, Paige.”

“I understand. You’re just not right for each other.” She grabs a donut from the box and takes a seat in the extra chair we keep in the cubicle.

I look at Kayla, who’s waiting for details on my other date.
 

“I don’t even want to talk about Matt. How could you set me up with that jerk? And did you already sleep with him?”

“No, I didn’t sleep with him!” She acts offended. “Do you think I would give you my leftovers without telling you first?” The answer is yes, but I don’t tell her that. “Matt’s a decent guy. He was tired from work on Friday. He said he just needed a few beers to unwind, but you went all crazy and left on him.”

“You want the real story? Well, let’s see. Where do I start? One, he looked like he hadn’t showered or shaved in days. His hair looked like he just got out of bed. He pushed me to the table. That’s right. Pushed me. As in he put his hand on my shoulder and literally shoved me into my seat. And then he got mad because I ordered my burrito without the sauce.”

“That sounds horrible,” Paige smiles, smugly. “That’s why you need a nice guy like Aiden.”
 

My eyes remain on Kayla. “And then you told him about the whole virgin thing? Why would you tell him that?”

Paige gasps. “You told him?”

Kayla shrugs as she licks the sugar from her donut off her fingers. “Do you want this virginity thing taken care of or not? You said you did, so I was doing you a favor.”

“I never said I wanted it taken care of.
You
did.”

“I’m just saying, he would’ve done you after dinner. Problem solved. You wouldn’t even have to talk about it anymore. And then you’d be free to date whoever you want. Deflowered Morgan, ready and waiting.”

“I’m not that desperate,” I say. “There was no way that guy was getting anywhere near me.”

“Sorry to interrupt, but there’s an employee meeting at 9 and it’s almost 9 now.” I look up and see Chase hanging over the cubicle wall. “I heard you guys talking over here and just wanted to remind you. It’s a mandatory meeting. They’re introducing some of the new hires.”

“Do you want a donut?” Paige asks him.

“Sure, thanks.” He comes over to my desk and takes one.

Paige waits until he’s gone, then says, “His butt looks great in those dress pants.” She smiles, seeing if she can get a reaction out of Kayla. “Normally, I like a guy’s butt in jeans but those pants looked really good on him.”

Kayla doesn’t take the bait, but we both saw her staring at Chase as he walked away. “Why are you checking out his ass? Are you thinking of cheating on Michael?”
 

“No! Of course not. But I can still look.”

“Do you think he heard us talking?” I get up to make sure he’s gone. “Oh my God! What if he heard the whole virgin thing?”

“He didn’t hear anything,” Kayla assures me. “And even if he did, he wouldn’t tell anyone.”

I put my computer in sleep mode. “We should go.”

We walk down to the lobby area, which is already packed with people. A podium is set up at the far wall, near the entrance doors, and the CEO is testing his microphone with the help of Janice Petersen, the head of human resources. A group of people I don’t recognize are lined up next to her.
 

The CEO taps the microphone and a loud thumping noise reverberates around the lobby. “Good morning, everyone. I hope you all had a nice weekend and are ready for another productive week.”
 

Kayla rolls her eyes at me. She hates these employee meetings. Actually Paige and I do, too, but we’re better at hiding it.
 

The CEO continues. “This is an exciting time here at Nature’s Way. In the past year, we’ve doubled the number of distributors carrying our products and consumer demand for organics continues to grow. To capitalize on this increased demand, we’ll soon be making more than our traditional ready-to-eat cereals. In the coming year, we’ll be working on plans to expand our product line to hot cereals as well as cereal bars.”

Kayla jabs my arm. “In the coming year? You know how much work that’s going to be? We’ll be in the lab 24/7!”

“He said they’re working on plans, not launching the actual products next year. Now stop talking. I can’t hear.”

“We’re expanding our operations faster than we anticipated,” the CEO says. “And because of that, we’re adding additional people to our team. In the next few weeks and months, you’ll start seeing a lot of new faces around. But even as we grow, I still want to maintain our small company environment where people actually know the names and faces of their coworkers. So throughout the year, we’ll be hosting several events to welcome the new employees and give all of you a chance to get to know them better. We’re also starting a new employee mentoring program. I’m going to let Janice explain that. Janice?”

He hands her the microphone.
 

Kayla jabs me again. “Mentoring program? Now we have to babysit the new employees?”

“Hello, everyone,” Janice says. “I’m so excited to announce this new program. The goal of this program is to help our new employees get to know the company by way of you, our
current
employees. Rather than just giving them a company handbook, we want
you
to be their handbook, helping them with everything from filling out their expense reports to applying for continuing ed.”

“Shouldn’t their manager be doing that?” Kayla asks, annoyed.

“In addition, many of our new employees are not from this area,” Janice says, “so we encourage you to show them around. Take them to lunch. Help them learn about all the great things our city has to offer.” She pauses to smile at the group of people standing next to her, who I’m guessing are the new employees. “Since this is a new program, we’ll be asking for feedback, so please share any suggestions along the way.”

“How many of us are going to be mentors?” a guy up front asks.

“It sure as hell isn’t gonna be me,” Kayla mutters. “I’ve got enough on my plate. And besides, I’ve got my own way of welcoming new employees. At least the male ones.” She nudges me.

“Yeah, I’m sure HR would love to hear about that.”
 

Janice is still talking, but with Kayla’s interruption I’ve missed most of what she said. I try to listen again.

“ . . . randomly assigned these first new hires to the following employees. As I call your name, please come up front and I’ll introduce you to your mentee. The rest of you are free to go. But please take a moment to welcome our new friends as you see them around the building.”

“I’m leaving,” Kayla says. “I’ve got a million things to do.”

“Me, too,” Paige says.
 

We start to head back, weaving our way through the crowd.
 

“Morgan Lippincott.”

I freeze. “Did she just say my name?”
 

Paige and Kayla stop and turn around. Kayla is laughing too hard to answer.
 

“Yes.” Paige points to the front of the room. “Get up there.”

“But I’ve only been here a year. I can’t be a mentor! Why would they pick me?”

“It’s a random drawing,” Paige says. “Now go. We’ll see you back in the lab.”

As everyone files out of the room, I make my way toward the podium area, where about fifteen of my fellow employees are clustered together. They look about as thrilled as I am about this new HR program.
 

Janice comes up to me. “Morgan? You’re one of the food scientists, right?”
 

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Your mentee is a young man from Omaha. He’s working in the legal department.” She leads me over to the new employees who are still lined up next to the podium.
 

We stop in front of a guy in a suit. He’s tall and I have to look up to see his face. And wow. He’s hot. Handsome. Sophisticated. Chocolate brown eyes. Perfectly-shaped lips. Strong jawline. Dark hair that’s a little wavy and styled in a way that reminds me of those male models in cologne ads.
 

I suddenly can’t move my feet. Or breathe. Or speak.

This is the man of my dreams. The one I’ve imagined in my head whenever I tried to picture what the perfect man would look like. The one I saw myself marrying.

He’s right here, standing before me in the lobby of the Nature’s Way Cereal company.
 

 
Janice nudges me forward. “Morgan, this is Grant. Grant, this is Morgan. She’s one of our food scientists.”

“Hi, Morgan.” He extends his hand, and I force my gaze off his deep brown eyes, which I realize I was staring at for way too long.

I glance down and check out his dark gray suit, noticing how well it fits him. Usually guys his age wear ill-fitting suits that hang too far off their shoulders or are too wide around the waist. But this guy’s suit is tailored to fit him perfectly. And a hot man in a nice suit is a total turn on for me.

I hear Janice next to me. “Morgan? Are you going to say hello?”
 

“Yes. Sorry. Hi, nice to meet you.” I shake his hand, impressed by his firm handshake.

“Nice to meet you, too.” His voice is smooth and low.

“I’ll let you two get to know each other.” Janice leaves and I try to pry my eyes off Grant but I can’t seem to do it.
 

“So tell me about yourself.” It’s a boring, generic question, but it buys me time to collect myself and act normal again.
 

“Well, let’s see. I graduated from law school last May and just finished an internship in corporate law. I’m originally from Omaha.” He continues to talk but I’m not really listening. I’m just watching his lips move as he says each word. Eventually he stops and smiles. “I guess Janice already told you all this. You look kind of bored.”

“No. Not at all. I’m not bored.” I notice the people around us have all left, leaving just Janice, who’s at the podium putting the microphone away. “I just have a lot on my mind. Work is really busy right now.”
 

“Janice said you work in the food science lab. I’d love to hear more about what you do. Could I go check out the lab? Or if you’re too busy we can—”

“I’m not too busy. It’s on this floor, right down the hall.” I lead the way, walking in front of him and hoping he’s not checking out my butt. I’m wearing my flat-butt skirt today that is not at all sexy. Why didn’t I wear my new black skirt? It’s tighter and gives my butt some shape.

I glance back to find Grant looking out the window, not the least bit interested in my butt. Maybe he has a girlfriend. Or maybe he’s just so turned off by the way my butt looks in this shapeless skirt that he had to look away.

“Well, here it is.” I take him into the lab.
 

Kayla removes her safety glasses and races over to him. “Hi, I’m Kayla.” She makes sure to push back her lab coat so he can check out her boobs. “And you are?”

He smiles and extends his hand. “Grant. I just started working here in the legal department.”

She moves closer to him. “Welcome to the company, Grant. I’d be happy to show you around later.”

“I think that’s Morgan’s job,” he says glancing at me. “She’s my official mentor.”

“Yes. I’ll show him around.” I give Kayla a look to back off.
 

“Hi, I’m Paige.” She comes over and shakes his hand. “Are you new to the area?”

“Yes. I’m from Omaha but I’ve been to Minneapolis many times.”

“So what do you have planned for him, Morgan?” Kayla’s tone is full of double meaning. I hope Grant doesn’t notice.
 

“I don’t know.” I turn to Grant. “How about lunch today?”
 

“I would, but I’m actually having lunch with my new boss. Maybe later this week?”

“Yes. Absolutely.”

“Okay, well, I should get back upstairs. Nice meeting all of you. I’ll see you later, Morgan.”

He leaves, and I can finally breathe. I collapse into the chair next to Kayla. “That’s him.”

Paige comes over. “Who? What are you talking about?”
 

“That’s my future husband,” I say, dreamily. “He just doesn’t know it yet.”