Tuesday Staff Meetings - 4. I'll Hold You to it

As I walked into the building from the parking garage, it really began to sink in. Liam’s teasing hadn’t all been for fun, it was his way of building up to asking me out. Lux had somehow gotten me to promise him five dates in a month. My morning routine felt a bit off. I arrived so early that there was hardly anyone walking around. I had the elevator to myself, which was a rarity. As the elevator shaft rose to the fourth floor, I completely spaced out.

When the elevator doors opened, I was actually startled. Pretending that I hadn’t just nearly had a heart attack, I made my way over to my office. Kathryn was already there.

She let out a gasp at just the glance of me. “What happened?”

Feeling startled once again, I clutched my briefcase to my chest. “Wh-what do you mean?” I feigned ignorance. Did she already know? Wasn’t she in cahoots with Liam the entire time?

“Is it the family? Did someone die?” She questioned.

Her words caused a frown to form on my face. “I look like someone died?” I countered.

At that moment, door that led to the stairs beside the elevators swung open and out walked a ridiculously cheerful Liam Lux.

“Good morning, everyone!” He all but sung despite the fact that there were only a handful of people on their floor. “It’s almost the weekend, keep those spirits up!”

I let out a groan and covered my face with a hand and begged the universe to grant me patience and poise. Why had it ever occurred to me to text him in the first place? Why did I have to appease my curiosity? And, damn it, why did I agree to any of this?

“Morning, Kat,” Liam greeted as he approached. “Morning Seth.”

“Well, aren’t you upbeat so early in the morning?” Kathryn commented. “Looking forward to the weekend?”

When those honey-hued eyes glanced my way, I felt my treacherous heart skip a beat. What the hell? No, stop doing that, heart.

“More than anything else,” He replied.

I sent him a questioning glance. Was he going to tell her everything? But, my fears were laid to rest when he simply grinned and waved.

“I’ll catch you two later.” Liam said as he walked towards his own office.

I let out the breath of air I didn’t even realize I was holding. When I looked over at Kathryn, I was surprised to see a pout on her face. “What’s wrong?” I wondered aloud.

“It’s just that I was really rooting for the two of you to end up together…” She began.

I nearly dropped my briefcase.

“But, it sounds like he got himself a hot date.” Kathryn concluded.

“Yeah, well, good for him.” I muttered as I rushed over to my office before she could see me blush.

Once at my desk, I covered my face with both my hands and took a deep breath. For the time being, Liam didn’t out us about our dating situation. Did he want to keep our dating private, or did he merely want to allow me the choice of whether to tell others or not?

For me, it was a mercy. I had a personal list of ‘Dreads.’ For instance, I dreaded the very thought of embarrassing myself. I blushed easily, and everywhere, which would bring about more amusement from others but would only make me want to hide away. As much as I embarrassed myself on a daily basis, I still dreaded it. I have also always been one of those people...the kind that dreads bringing anyone into their home if it’s not spotless and downright sanitary.

I couldn’t even sleep if I knew that there were dishes still in the sink. The thought of the dishes sitting there, undone, would just bounce around in my mind until it drove me crazy. The only exception was if I fell ill. Having no energy to do anything always won out. Falling ill was most definitely on my list of ‘Dreads,’ along with hiccoughs. Yes, hiccoughs. That’d be a story for another day.

After I had logged in and checked my work e-mails for updates and tasks, I nearly jumped two feet off my chair at the sound of my phone vibrating. I always made sure to set my phone to vibrate before leaving the house so that it wouldn’t ring during work hours. I quickly unlocked the screen to find a new message from ‘Shameless.’

Shameless 9:30AM

< So, am I picking you up tomorrow for our date or are you coming over to pick me up at my place?

I thought we were just going to meet up there? >

< I have a lot more planned than just lunch. I figured driving two cars everywhere could get annoying after a while.

Darn, and here I thought after lunch I’d be scot free. If that’s the case, then you should pick me up. Don’t make me regret this decision. >

<As much as I’d like to keep you the entire day, I promise to have you back by 8PM. Wouldn’t want you to miss your bedtime book time. ; )

That sounds terrible when you say it. And I’m not sure I want to spend an entire 8 hours with you. >

< I don’t bite, not unless you want me to. I even have all my shots.

…this is not the type of conversation we should be having during work hours. >

< Wait, biting actually does it for you?

(I felt an uncontrollable blush coming on)

How the hell did you reach that conclusion? >

< Ok…then it’s probably nibbling, judging by your reaction.

…consider yourself lucky if I don’t murder you before the day is over. >

< I’m so right. I should have asked you to text me a long time ago, you’re a hoot!

(I let out a snort at this. Either the fool believed it was an idle threat or he was a glutton for punishment.)

And you seem to have a death wish. >

< I’ll tell you what, if at any time during our date you feel like you can’t spend another minute in my presence, I will drive you straight back home.

Good to know. I’ll hold you to it. >

< You’ll hold me to it? I’d rather you just hold me. ; )

*irritated sigh* What do you know? Time to get back to work. >

:::

As I set the phone aside, I was relieved that Liam didn’t add a response and left it at that. Guess he didn’t want to press his luck. I got back into my usual work routine, the hours passing by at a steady rate, when I was forwarded a staff e-mail about staff profiles and contact updates. I opened and uploaded the file to my current contacts to update the information.

I don’t know what possessed me to scroll down the column about birthdays, but when I got to Liam Lux, my eyes opened wide. His birthday was Friday! This Friday. All of a sudden, it all made sense…why Liam was bolder than usual and more aggravatingly insistent. He considered this whole dating thing as a birthday gift to himself.

I dropped my head against the back of my computer chair and frowned up at the ceiling. To be honest, I had planned several scenarios that would allow me to cut out of the blasted date early enough to relax at home watching a marathon of one of my favorite shows. But, birthdays were a big thing in my family. I was raised to honor birthdays, in one way or another, for those around me.

Damn.

:::

The rest of the work day went on as normal. Liam did stop on his way out to wish Kathryn a good weekend, but mentioned nothing about me, which proved that he wanted to keep things quiet. A big group was waiting for the elevator. I felt a light tug at my elbow and looked over to see that Liam was holding the door to the stairs open for me, motioning with his head in an invitation to join him. I briefly glanced at the elevator doors one last time before ultimately walking over to the auburn-haired man.

“I’d have joined you for lunch, but my team decided to go eat somewhere together.” Liam explained as we walked down the steps together.

“Yes, as you stated in your text. That’s funny, I don’t remember asking you to join me at all.” I pointed out.

“Ouch, that one almost hurt,” He stated a he clutched a hand to his chest dramatically. “Besides, I was going to ask you to join me.”

“Excuse me,” stated one of our co-workers as he brushed past us with longer strides.

Liam reacted quickly, grabbing hold of my waist and tugging my body closer to his to allow the man enough room.

I could all but hear my own heartbeat thudding loudly. It was absolutely ridiculous. However, when I glanced up at Liam’s face, his honey-hued eyes were already looking right at me. The gaze was unflinching and serious. The heat and determination I saw behind those eyes startled me.

“Well, th-there’s always Monday, if you’re so adamant about it.” I said the words without even thinking. But, at that moment, my entire being was warning me to put as much distance between myself and Liam as possible. I started walking a little faster down the next set of stairs and waited for him at the bottom, not wanting to seem like the complete and utter coward that I was.

Liam caught up to me in mere seconds. “Monday?” He repeated as he took one of my hands. “I’ll hold you to it.”

I didn’t know whether to complain about the hand holding or to huff about the fact that he threw my own words back at me. I didn’t react fast enough and ended up being tugged along down the rest of the stairs. As soon as we exited into the parking garage, I tugged my hand back.

Either it didn’t discourage the other man, or he thought that I didn’t want us to be seen holding hands. But, he walked me all the way to my car.

“The Kia Forte in phantom grey. I should have known.” He mused out loud.

“There’s no way you would have known.” I scoffed as I pulled the keys out of my pocket

“It makes the blue of your eyes stand out when you’re next to it.” He added with a shrug. “It’s like the grey of the car subdues the grey in them.”

“Seeing as how I can’t look at myself, I wouldn’t know.” I responded. I was actually impressed that Liam caught the grey in my eyes in the first place. But, I sure as hell wasn’t about to tell him that.

“Don’t forget to text me your address when you get home.” He called out as I closed the door.

I merely waved good-bye and pulled out of the parking spot.