The man grinned from the doorway, and Ivan looked like an Ivan.He was six-foot-one, had light blonde hair, green eyes, worked out regularly, and while we were the same age, he claimed that his Russian heritage was what made him seem older than he actually was.Now, while I wasn’t so sure about that, he did look older when standing next to his wife, but that was probably because she was a dainty little thing that he swallowed up whenever she was near him.
Walking further into my office, he said, “You look like shit.”
“Thanks,” I smirked.
“You need a day off, Koen,” he said, and it wasn’t anything that he didn’t say to me at least once a week.“A full day off, no phone, no anything.”
I shot him a look from my desk.“You know just as well as I do that days off aren’t a real thing in my world.”
“Then you need to get laid,” he stated, his idea of a compromise.
“I don’t disagree,” I replied dryly.
“Well, Casey will be-”
“No,” I said, cutting him off.“I don’t care how highly Netti thinks of her, I’m not going there.”
“Dude, why not?”he asked as he dropped in one of the chairs positioned in front of my desk.“She’s hot, has her own money, and isn’t savinganythingfor marriage.”
“She doesn’t like animals,” I announced unreasonably.“People can say what they want, but for me, not liking animals is a red flag, and I don’t need any extra drama in my life.”
“You’re not marrying her, Koen,” he drawled out.“It’s just some good times, nothing more.”
I shook my head.“Not happening,” I repeated.“I see her as the type to agree to a one-night stand, then slash your car tires when you don’t return her calls.Yeah, no thanks.”
Ivan laughed.“I think that’s most women.”
I eyed him.“That’s why prostitution is a billion-dollar-a-year enterprise.Sex without the complications is a lot more enticing than sex with a stage-five clinger.”
“Well, even if Casey isn’t on the menu, I’m sure there’ll be other women at the bar tonight,” he said in support of my sex life.“I’m sure you can meet one or two.”
“I haven’t had a threesome since college,” I remarked absently.“And the idea of trying to satisfy two women at once sounds exhausting enough to give me a headache from just thinking about it.”
Ivan shook his head sadly.“If you’re like this at twenty-seven, I can only imagine how tragic your life is going to be at forty.”
That made me grin.“I’ll be yelling at kids to get off my lawn at that age.”
“You’re definitely not going to be the cool dad,” he agreed.
“You say that as if I have time to get married and have kids,” I snorted, half-ass serious.
“Like I said, you need a full day off.”
I let out a deep breath.“And I’m not disagreeing with you.We just both know that it’s not going to happen.At least, not right now.Maybe after the start of the new fiscal year, but that’s just me trying to placate you.”
“Well, since a day of relaxation is off the table, just know that you won’t hurt my feelings if you meet someone tonight, then decide to leave early with her,” he said, and that’s why we were friends.Even though he liked to joke a lot, Ivan was always serious when it counted.
“Duly noted.”
“Okay, I need to get back to work,” he said as he stood from the chair.“If I want to get out of here at a decent hour, then I better start tidying up my shit.”
“If you need anything from me, let me know,” I offered.
“I need you to take a damn day off,” he retorted.
“If you need anythingelsefrom me, let me know,” I amended.
Ivan just smirked at me as he left my office, and even though he meant well, making sure that WT succeeded was about more than just my family living comfortably.Thousands of people depended on this company to feed their families, so if we ever went under, lack of sleep would be the least of my worries.After all, who could sleep if they sent thousands of people to the unemployment line?
