The Guy Who Became My Grumpy Boss (Curvy Girl Crew #7)

Chapter 13

-Jessica-

Entering the Danger Zone on a Tuesday morning required piping hot coffee with one creamer and a pinch of cinnamon.

Not this lukewarm cup of disaster I held in my hand.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to go back to my favorite coffee shop to rectify the matter, because Danger Zone had sent the information about the retreat to everyone in the company—which we’d typed up the night before during our snack break—and my inbox was already filled with panicked emails.

Maybe Brandi at the coffee shop would hook me up with a new cup. I was about to text her but hadn’t even reached the elevator before I was accosted.

“Jessica!” a woman named Gina said as she ran to catch me in the lobby.

Gina worked in another department, but we both loved the same coffee joint and had bonded over action movies. I should tell her about The Catastrophe Course.

I joined the small mob waiting for the next elevator and smiled when Gina caught up. She wore her light blue pant suit like a supermodel, complete with a perfect smoky eyeshadow and killer lipstick. Unlike Marissa, she didn’t flaunt her beauty but, instead, owned it without being a jerk.

“Is your coffee cold too?” she asked.

“Lukewarm,” I affirmed. “I’ll take care of us.”

Jessica: Help. Coffee is cold. I didn’t take the test sip.

I added a sad gif.

Brandi: Crap. Stupid machine. I’ll send more over for you. Gina?

Jessica: And Gina. Thanks. How was camping?

I usually spent a few minutes chatting with Brandi, but she’d been in the back when I’d arrived.

Brandi: Good! I’ll send pics later.

More work emails had arrived, but I decided to ignore them until I got to my desk. Danger Zone had informed me that he was ready for the questions and had a system we were going to use to answer them.

Another elevator came, and we shuffled forward like obedient zombies.

Then Gina gasped and turned to me. “The retreat has been canceled?”

Several other people from our office jumped into the fray.

“I just saw that.”

“What happened?”

All of that information was in the email Danger Zone had sent, but I knew people would want to hear it with their ears. “All I know is that the place we booked had a safety issue and is shut down for the foreseeable future, so management decided to modify the retreat. We’re all hanging out next Monday for an activity, then everyone gets to take next Friday off.”

Our discussion had drawn the attention of a few other people.

A tall woman with an impressive afro from the candle company spoke. “Weren’t you going to the same place we did?”

“Yup,” I said.

The woman shook her head, sending her halo of dark hair twisting. “Consider yourselves lucky. We had three people end up in the hospital due to injuries on the ropes course and seven others because of severe food poisoning.”

“Seriously?” Gina asked.

Another man affirmed the woman’s allegations, and suddenly the whole group was talking about it.

I kept quiet, listening. A part of me felt a little smug that I’d brought this up and Marissa had either lied about calling the place or had been lied to, but I was trying not to let it go to my head.

Speaking of Marissa, after several emails back and forth I’d told her she had to contact Danger Zone herself and not continue to make me the middleman.

“So we’re going mini golfing?” Gina asked me.

“Sort of.” I explained that we’d all been put on teams and that each team would build a mini golf hole using only non-perishable food items that they bought with money provided by the company along with other supplies Danger Zone and I had made a list of the night before. Afterward, all the food would go to an organization that made sure that underprivileged kids received at least one good meal a day.

Danger Zone had somehow acquired several personal stories from kids that the organization had benefited. I’d totally teared up on the train here reading them.

Again, all of this had been in the email that they’d supposedly read, but I did my best to explain it and make it sound fun.

“And when we’re finished, we’re donating the food?” Gina asked.

“That’s the plan.”

Gina, who hadn’t exactly looked excited about the activity, pursed her lips. “That might be okay.”

“It should be a good time, and it’s for a good cause,” I said.

The elevator finally came, and we squished in like sardines. Unlike a normal ride up to the fifteenth floor when most people remained silent while listening to their Bluetooth headphones, our trip was filled with talk of the candle company’s retreat as well as ours.

Most people were happy with the day off, and at least half seemed somewhat excited about the activity.

“Why not just donate the food and give us another day off?” one man asked.

Gina scoffed. “And pass up the chance to torture us?”

Everyone laughed at Gina’s comment.

Knowing that this had been Danger Zone’s first suggestion made me grin. He wasn’t the only one who was averse to forced bonding.

The occupancy of the elevator slowly dwindled, and by the time we got to the fifteenth floor, there were only five of us left. Everyone went their separate ways, all talking about the retreat, when my text message chime sounded.

When I pulled out my phone and saw Brooke’s name, I scowled.

Brooke: How did things go last night?

I’d been furious when she’d suddenly canceled on me, and I was loath to tell her that things went better than I could have ever dreamed, so I decided to keep it simple.

Jessica: I won.

Brooke: Good for you, but how did it go with DZ?

Jessica: Fine.

There was no way I was going to recount what had happened between Danger Zone and me. To be honest, I wasn’t entirely sure what had happened, other than that we weren’t in the same place we had been eighteen hours ago.

Danger Zone was more complicated than I’d anticipated, but I found myself wanting to know more about him. The man hadn’t been kidding when he’d said he needed to experience mini golf before he could play for the retreat. He’d not only watched my every move but also everything and everyone around us. It was like he was soaking in the whole experience so he could process it and then figure out how to implement what he’d learned.

Of course I’d noticed that he struggled interacting with people, but I’d had no idea that he had to go to such extreme measures to feel comfortable in each situation.

I reached my desk and was about to put my phone down when it chimed again.

Brooke: How fine?

Two people from the retreat committee were on their way to my desk, and Danger Zone would arrive in less than five minutes.

Jessica: Can’t talk now, just got to work, which is a disaster zone this morning.

Brooke: I want details!

I snuck in one more message.

Jessica: If you wanted details, you should have come.

I added a winking face so she would know I wasn’t mad, or in this case, not too mad, then turned my attention to the duo who had just reached my desk.

“Jessica, what’s going on?” Patrice asked when she’d stopped. She resided in the Marissa camp of body type and attitude and wore a short skirt with a long jacket.

The man, a nice guy named Dan, met my gaze and gave me a “help me” look.

I refused to let myself release a great sigh this early in the morning and, instead, gave the two people who had been in charge of food a smile. “I’m glad you guys are here, but you’re early.”

Patrice waved my comment away. “We need to know what’s going on.”

I channeled my inner “do not lash out at them” mantra and kept my lips plastered in a smile. “You should have received an email with instructions.” I made a show of looking at the clock on the wall. “We have a committee meeting in an hour.”

“We need information before that,” Patrice said.

Dan now gave me an apologetic look.

I usually noticed Danger Zone’s approach, but this time he snuck up on me, and when his low, dangerous voice sounded in my ear, I almost jumped out of my red heels.

“You’ll get everything you need at the meeting.”

Was that his breath I could feel on my neck? How had Danger Zone gotten that close without me hearing him?

To my utter surprise, a firm hand landed on my shoulder, and Danger Zone steered me toward his office. “Until then, Jessica and I have a lot of work to do.”

The look of total shock on Patrice’s face could have been bottled and sold for a profit.

The expression of bewilderment on Dan’s face matched my own.

That and I think I’d lost a few seconds of my life when Danger Zone had touched me.

“We’ll see you in an hour,” Danger Zone said with finality.

A big thanks had to go to muscle memory, because I’d somehow grabbed my work tablet before I’d been hauled away from my desk.

Danger Zone guided me through the door and shut it behind us.

We rarely had private meetings. Part of that was because we were a man and a woman and that was something the company frowned on. Another part was that Danger Zone preferred emails.

I was glad he always kept the blinds in the window open.

“I didn’t think they’d get here that quickly.” Danger Zone let me go and moved around to his seat.

The loss of his touch was almost as jarring as the initial contact, and it left me feeling lightheaded. “People are quick when they’re in panic mode,” I managed to say in a steady voice.

Danger Zone grunted. He usually took a few minutes in here by himself before he let anyone else enter. It surprised me that he would drag me into his solitude time.

The heavy sigh he breathed told me he wasn’t exactly happy to have me here.

“I can give you a minute,” I offered.

His eyes met mine, and while he didn’t smile, his expression softened. “No, we need to get started.”

“With?” I asked.

“Minimizing the panic.”

“Too late,” I joked.

He grunted again.

Danger Zone always had a course of action. “What’s the plan?” I asked.

He took a moment to set up his laptop, so I scrolled through the emails I’d received.

A majority of people were asking if this was a joke and if they could have both days off. Others didn’t bother to open the attachment, which was a flyer with every scrap of the information they needed. And it was all in the body of the email as well.

Why were people so lazy with reading these days? Maybe we should have made a video about it and sent that out.

An incoming message lit up, and I clicked the email from Danger Zone open.

“I anticipated most of the questions we’ve gotten so far, and since we both know that asking people to read what we already sent them is a futile effort at best, I have standard responses we can send out quickly and efficiently.”

As promised, I now had the answers to most people’s questions. As I scrolled through, I noticed he’d addressed almost every inquiry I’d received to this point. “This is thorough.”

“I tried to cover all of the bases.”

“That means it won’t take nearly as long to calm the masses.” I smiled at him. “Thanks.”

“You’re not doing it alone.” His eyes darted to the bottom corner of his screen. “I have thirty minutes in which I can help.”

In the year I’d worked for him, I’d noticed the more he took on in the mornings the grumpier he got in the afternoon. “Are you sure? I can do it, and you have meetings to prep for.”

“I’m prepared for my schedule today.” He spoke with a certainty that I couldn’t argue with.

“Okay then, I’ll separate these out into different subjects, and we can split them up.” I figured that would be the easiest way to proceed.

“If we don’t catch up before the meeting, I’ll ask Catherine to help us,” Danger Zone said.

Tyrell’s assistant was an older woman with a sharp wit and a nimble mind, but I wasn’t sure she could handle this many stupid people at once. I vowed to get as much accomplished as possible.

The two of us worked in silence for a few minutes, and while I felt the weight of the task before us, I also felt that, together, we could do this.

After I sorted the issues and sent everything pertaining to the location to Danger Zone, I rose to go back to my desk.

“You’re leaving?” he asked.

“It’s easier to work where I have two monitors,” I said.

Danger Zone straightened and shifted in his chair. His red tie was askew, and I noticed that the color matched my shoes. “I’d like to thank you again for accompanying me last night.”

I was wondering if he was going to bring up mini golf. “It was fun.”

His lips twitched but didn’t break into a smile. “I’m not sure fun is the right description.”

I figured that would be it, but he looked into my eyes and said one more thing. “But it was certainly enjoyable.”