Scrolling through endless posts about how amazing Ridley Angus was and how much everyone loved him was not good for my crush.Especially not now that I’d met the man in person and seen he was genuinely a decent guy.
In fact, it was possible he was actually better-looking in the flesh.
Stop thinking about how hot Ridley Angus is.
I glanced up involuntarily at Mr.Harvey, who was staring down at the contracts with an impassive look on his face.Carved from stone as always.This job was like torture.Was I always just going to be surrounded by the hottest men in the universe, while remaining frustratingly single?
It really didn’t help my self-confidence that I’d just gone and spilled everything about my last relationship to my super-hot boss.
On my second day in the job.
What had I beenthinking?
Mostly, I knew, I hadn’t been thinking at all – because when Mr.Harvey asked me something, a deep feeling of panic welled up inside me.I didn’t know if it was because I wanted to impress my new boss and do well at my job, because I was terrified of being caught filming, or… just because he was, well, so damn hot.
Or maybe that icy blue stare and his unchanging expression inspired the same kind of fear in everyone who worked for him.
“Anything?”Mr.Harvey asked, making me snap to attention once again.
“Not yet, sir,” I told him.Instantly, I cringed at the use of ‘sir’.Was it appropriate to use it when replying to him like that, or did I just sound like a tremendous suck-up?I’d noticed Ace was extremely informal around him, but I also had the feeling that he was probably the only person in the building who could get away with it.“I’ve seen a lot of posts from fans of rival teams, but it’s mostly just trash-talking.Nothing that would really stand out as something to be concerned over.”
“I need to take that call,” he said.I noticed he seemed oddly hesitant for a moment – staying in his seat, his hands hovering just slightly above where they had been resting as if he wasn’t sure whether to get up or not.“Just keep searching until Ace is back.”
I checked the clock.He was right.It was about time for his call with the Coleman Group.I realized he was still waiting for a response and nodded smartly.“I’ll keep going,” I told him.“Do you think it might be a good idea to call IT and ask them to search for any threatening or unhappy emails on the server that mention Ridley?”
Mr.Harvey nodded once.“See to it.”Then he stood and swept out of the room, leaving me staring at the place where he had been standing the moment before the doors closed.
Oliver Harvey seriously had some kind of presence that filled a whole room.
Oliver… it was a nice name.I rolled it around in my head.Olly.It was… sweet.Thinking about attaching that sweet name to a man like him…
I shuddered involuntarily.There was only one scenario in which I could imagine getting close enough to the ice man to call him a nickname like that.It did not involve appropriate workplace behavior.
I had been alone in the suddenly cold and empty office, trying hard to concentrate and not let my skin crawl in the unfamiliar space, for maybe two minutes before Ace barged back in.
“Oh,” he said.“Where’s the boss?”
“Stepped out to take a call,” I said.I figured it was a good idea not to reveal exactly who with.As for what it was about, I didn’t even have the information in the first place.“Did you get anything on the security cameras?”
Ace sighed and slipped a printout across the surface of my desk.I grabbed it and stared at it eagerly – and then my face fell.
“Yep,” Ace laughed humorlessly.“That’s about as good as we’re going to get.”
The figure that had been captured dropping off the envelope clearly knew that they were going to be on camera.Their whole body was shrouded in mystery: they wore an oversized hoodie that revealed nothing about their curves or lack thereof, and the hood was pulled up around their head to hide any glimpse of hair.As a final touch, a cap with a wide peak was pulled down low over their face, hiding any hint of an identity.
“There’s no other shots that show anything?”I asked, trying to keep the disappointment out of my voice.After all, the envelope being hand-delivered had been my find.I wanted it to be the thing that solved this whole mystery.“I mean, we can see they’re tall, but is there nothing else that might give us a clue?Not even a glimpse of chin?”
“Nothing,” Ace sighed.“Whoever this was, it’s like they knew where our cameras are located.They only strayed in sight of this one and always kept it either directly above or directly behind them, so there were no side angles.I can’t even tell if it’s a man or a woman.”
“Fuck,” I muttered, then glanced up in alarm.I’d forgotten I was in a workplace.“Sorry.”
Ace burst out laughing.“Don’t act like a fucking saint on my behalf,” he grinned.“Swear as much as you fucking like.”
I couldn’t help but laugh back, but it soon devolved into a groan.“This is really bad, isn’t it?”I asked.“I know I haven’t exactly been here long, but it doesn’t feel like this is a normal Tuesday.”
Ace slumped back into his chair at the coffee table.“It’s not.This is bad.I don’t know who’s trying to do this, but someone is trying to sabotage us.They put us into a position where, if we hadn’t caught this in time, we could have majorly pissed off two different sponsorsandgotten into hot water in the public eye.Ridley is our biggest star.They had to know that causing a scandal for him would not only cost us a lot of time and money but also put off other upcoming athletes from signing with us.”
Something sparked in my brain.“So, you think the firm is being targeted, not Ridley?”I was first-name-checking Ridley Angus.This was wild.Two days ago, I couldn’t have imagined even being in the samebuildingas him.
