He thought for a second and pressed his lips together. I also noticed that his eyes drifted over me. “It was interesting. How was yours?”
“Fabulous.”
His forehead scrunched. He knew I was being sarcastic.
We both stood silent for a moment.
“Well, okay. Have a good day.” I walked off, criticizing myself for sounding so stupid. I was supposed to sound professional, not like an awkward ex-girlfriend.
“I’d like to meet with you later today to discuss the digital ad software. Let me know what your schedule looks like,” he called out after me.
I took a deep breath, and before I turned around, I reminded myself to treat him like I would any colleague, even though he wasalready getting on my nerves. “I’ll send you a copy of my schedule, and you can let me know what works best for you.”
“Thank you, Ms. Bryant.”
I had already begun to turn around, but I stopped dead in my tracks and turned back toward him. “Did you just call me, Ms. Bryant?”
“Yes.” He stood tall and proud. “I feel it’s important to maintain professional boundaries with my employees within the office.”
I wanted to say what a pompous twit he was, but I kept it together. “I see, Mr. Greyson.”
He opened his mouth like he was going to respond, but he thought the better of it and turned and went back to the conference room.
I headed straight to my office and shut the door harder than I intended to. I sat at my desk and stewed. What was all this bull about professional boundaries? If he thought he was treating me like just another employee, he had another thing coming. Boss said this was a partnership, and Boss had treated me like a partner. Seriously, Ms. Bryant? What an idiot!
As soon as my laptop booted up, I immediately began to fill my schedule for the day. I smiled to myself. Looks like I wouldn’t have much time for that meeting with Mr. Greyson after all. I almost laughed, thinking about his formality. It shouldn’t have surprised me, but seriously, this wasn’t the 1950s, and I wasn’t some little girl who took orders. With more than a little glee, I emailed him my packed schedule. With a wicked smile on my face, I went to work catching up on all the emails I had missed on Friday.
Halfway through me playing catch up, Delfia came in and gave me a big hug. “You don’t know how afraid I was you weren’t coming back.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t call you back and made you worry. I needed to . . . sort some things out.”
She waved away my apology. “All is forgiven, just tell me what’s up with you and the new boss?”
I knew I needed to proceed with caution. I had no desire for the whole office to know that Mr. Greyson and I once dated. Or worse, that I had been more than smitten with him. I loved Delfia, but she was the queen of office gossip.
“What do you mean?” I asked innocently, or as innocently as you can get when you’re lying.
She playfully smacked my arm. “Oh, honey. There’s definitely a history between the two of you.”
I tried to answer honestly without telling the whole truth. “He was my calculus tutor my freshman year in college.” That was the truth.
She tapped her finger against her lip. “Why do I get the feeling those were private lessons?”
“Delfia!”
“Fine, you don’t have to tell me, but I have a feeling it’s going to get really interesting around here.”
I didn’t even bother with a rebuttal. I let her walk out, laughing to herself. She was right, though, things were going to get really interesting. In fact, “interesting” only took a few minutes. Mr. Professional Boundaries decided to grace my office doorway with his presence, and here I thought I wouldn’t see him all day.
“Can I help you, Mr. Greyson?” I tried to keep the derision out of my voice, but my nineteen-year-old self begged for it to come out. I mean, for heaven’s sake, this man used to wrap me up in his arms and kiss me until I saw stars, and then he would whisper in my ear, “Kelli, I’m crazy about you.” Now here he was expecting me to call him, “Mr. Greyson.”
He raised his brow at me. “Do you have a problem with calling me Mr. Greyson?”
I saluted him. “No sir.” So much for being professional. I looked at the time. That had lasted all of about forty-five minutes.
“Kel—”
I smirked at him.
