Falling Into You (Geek to Chic) (16 page)

Friday morning
had arrived.
 
Not that Fridays meant
anything to Derek.
 
He worked no matter
what day of the week it was.
 
At this
point Derek had slept little and ate even less this week.
 
Since Sunday he had worked almost a hundred
hours. Only taking breaks to sleep a few hours and spend a little time with
Roni.
 

Derek had once
again been at the office all night working though the algorithms his team had
written.
 
Making tweaks and corrections
as needed.
 
He was exhausted.
 
Stressed out.
 
And downright irritated at the world in general. Usually at this point
he would isolate himself even further from the world.
 
Not having the energy to spare to be a
socially decent human being.
 
However, he
wanted to see Roni.

Inside work,
his brilliant idea of having her work for him was not going so well.
 
Roni had not taken to the job as he had hoped
she would.
 
Relying more on paper and pen
to take notes than the computer or tablet since she was not able to run them
with the same efficiency Jemma had.
 
If
he gave her something involving numbers she flew through the assignment,
anything else would take her time to figure out.
 
Time he didn’t have at the moment.
 

Roni walked
into his office, pen and paper in hand.
 
He wanted to scream at her to grab the iPad and use the programs the
damn thing came with.
 
Instead, he took a
few deep breaths, calming himself as she sat down.
 

“Good morning
Derek.”
 
Her voice was already on the
defensive.

 
Just
Great!
He thought.
 

“Morning,
Roni. How was drinks with Izzy last night?”
 
Derek was trying to diffuse the situation.
 
He knew he had pushed her this week and she
was not happy with him.
 

“Drinks were
good.
 
We just went to the brewery.
Nothing exciting. I wish you would have been able to join us. Although, Izzy’s
wish that since you weren’t there meant no Alex was quickly squashed. ” She
smiled at him, melting some of the tension away from his shoulders.
 

He laughed
softly. “I bet she was disappointed to have him rain on her parade.
 
Are you still planning on girl’s night tonight?”

“Not
sure.
 
Gracey is sick with the flu, and
our other friend Emma had to go out of town on business.
 
That just leaves Izzy and me.”
 
She shrugged her shoulders.
 
“Maybe we can grab dinner so that you can
take a break.”
 
She worried her bottom
lip, looking at her hands.
 
“That way I
know you have had something to eat and have at least taken a break.
 
I know you need to work a lot of hours with
what you do, but I worry about the price your body is paying.”

He had to
smile at that, even if it did annoy him a little. “I’m fine, really.
 
I’m used to these crazy long hours.
 
I like it, in fact. But I would like to take
you to dinner.”
 
He smiled at her to show
her he was really ok.

“Ok, well
let’s get to work so that later I can make sure you eat and relax for a
bit.
 
I finished the estimates for the
next project. I changed some of the formulas to recalculate the costs and
profit margins closer to this year’s market. They should be in your email box.
 
I think I emailed them correctly.
 
What would you like me to handle next?”

He was really
impressed.
 
She couldn’t run a simple
note taking or task list application, but somehow she had done Alex’s estimates
in half the time it usually took Jemma. He was out of his element when it came
to costing and estimates.
 
That is why
Jemma prepared the reports and Alex reviewed them. “Send them to Alex for
review.
 
I will look at them as well, but
he knows the market value and wages more than I do.
 
First, I need to meet with my team to discuss
the upcoming client demo.
 
Please
schedule a conference room for noon, and send the meeting notice to the team.
Also, since this will be a long meeting, please have some food brought in.
 
I believe Jemma keeps a list of caterers and
restaurants in her contacts. Pick one order enough food for ten people.”
 
He paused, reluctantly, so she could catch up
taking the notes.
 
He wasn’t used to
having to pause, or even give these basic orders.
 
He needed Jemma back.
 
Roni was doing her best, but her best in this
position was lacking.
 
Derek knew he was
being a demanding asshole, but that is how he ended up being the CEO of a
security powerhouse.

“Please also
complete the remaining points on Jemma’s task list.
 
I believe Collin and his partners want to
tour the facility next week.
 
Call his
assistant to set up the details.”
 
He was
proud of himself for his tone being even and without any edge to it.
 
In reality his entire body felt on edge.
 

Then he
noticed she was closely studying him. Her eyes had narrowed and she was leaning
in to get a closer look at him. “You worked all night!
 
I can tell by the darkening circles under
your eyes.
 
Did you sleep at all
Derek?”
 
Her voice was laced with concern
and admonishment.
 

He sighed and
ran his hands through his hair.
 
“Yes, I
worked all night.
 
I’m fine though.
 
I do this all the time.
 
We have a deadline and I plan to meet that
deadline.”
 
His tone was harsher than he
intended.
 

Her eyes
narrowed.
 
“No one can work the hours you
work and eat the crap you do and not end up in the hospital suffering from
exhaustion.”
 
Her facial expression
softened. “Derek, you need to rest.
 
You
have an entire team to help.”
 
Roni
gestured toward the door.
 
Her tone
softened as she continued. “Let them do their jobs. Not everything that goes on
in this company has to be reviewed by you.
 
The estimate is the perfect example.
 
If Alex is the finance guy, hence his title as CFO, then let him review
the estimates and payroll and anything else non code related.”
 

“This is my
company Roni.
 
I
will
review everything and anything I damn well feel the need to
review.”
 
That little voice in his head
was telling him he had said the wrong thing in the wrong tone. He knew he had
verbally vomited his exhaustion induced irritation all over Roni.
 

“You’re
right.
 
This is your company, you have
the right to review anything you want.
 
I
was only trying to help point out that you
do
in fact
employ many other capable people who can lift some of the burden.”
Roni stood.
 
“I will let you know what conference
room you are in and remind you fifteen minutes before the meeting.
 
Is there anything else that needs to be set
up prior to the meeting?”
 
She asked with
no emotion in her voice.
 
Derek knew that
when women spoke in that soft, compliant tone that all hell was about to break
loose.
 

“No, the
conference rooms are all wired with projectors and smart boards.
 
Please be prepared to sit in on the meeting
to take notes. Preferably on the laptop.”
 
He looked pointedly at her pen and paper. The voice in his head that had
told him he had said the wrong thing earlier, was now screaming at him to shut
the fuck up!

He watched as
she took in a deep breath.
 
“Of course.”
Once those two words were out of her mouth, she was out the door.
 

Derek knew
this was not a good sign of how the rest of his day would go.

***

Roni barely
restrained the urge to slam his office door as she exited.
 
He was not a pleasant person when he was
tired.
 
Not that anyone was.
 
However, most people were not in charge of a
staff that was on the edge as well.
 
In
the week that Roni had been here she had noticed that most of the staff stayed
clear of Derek.
 
Choosing to IM or email
him rather than engage him in person.
 

Roni walked
past her desk, deciding a cup of coffee and a time out would be a good
idea.
 
She decided to forego the free
stuff in the break room for a cup at the overpriced coffee cart in the
lobby.
 
She made her way to the elevator,
mumbling to herself under her breath about what a jackass Derek was being.
 

“He is always an
ass when he pushes himself too hard, don’t take it personally, honey.”
 
Mrs. Frostberry said from behind her.
 

She turned to
look at the older woman, seeing the concern plainly written on her face. “I
know I shouldn’t take it to heart.
 
He is
just Mr. Hyde and Dr. Jekyll.
 
Outside of
work he is the kindest man I have ever met.
 
Inside of work he is…. well an…”

“Asshole?
 
Is that the word you were looking for?” Mrs.
Frostberry said looking amused suddenly.
 

Roni’s face
flushed with embarrassment, knowing how she saw Derek as her son.
 
“Well, yes, I just don’t understand why he
feels he has to be that way.”

“He feels like
no one could ever respect him or closer to the truth like him for who he
is.
 
So he keeps everyone at a distance.
You’re the first person he has let close since that girl in college.” She said
the words ‘that girl’ with such distaste.
 
Roni had no idea what she was talking about.
 
She did, however, get the impression that
Derek had been hurt, badly, with a girl in his past.
 
Whatever the nameless girl had done to him,
obviously had an impact on him beyond just his dating life.
 

The elevator
doors opened.
 
“Mrs.
 
Frostberry would you like to come grab a
quick cup of coffee with me?” Roni asked, hoping to get more information about
the mystery college bitch.
 

She shook her
head.
 
“Now I need to get to a meeting,
but thank you.”

“Can you,
bring you back something then?”
 

“Yes, I will
take a large coffee with room for cream. Thank you Roni.”
 
She looked as though no one had ever offered to
get her coffee before.
 

“And what
about Super... I mean Alex?
 
Would he
like coffee?” Roni was glad she had been able to stop herself before she
referred to Mrs. Frostberry’s boss, and other adopted son, as Super Asshole.
 

Mrs.
 
Frostberry smiled as though she knew what
Roni had almost called Alex.
 
“Yes, I am
sure he would love a decent coffee as well.” With that she was on her way down
the hall.
 

Roni continued
on her journey to calm down and now grab a few cups of coffee.
 
The petty snotty girl in her wanted to get
only three cups of coffee, instead of adding one more for Derek.
 
Fortunately, that voice was a quiet voice
compared to the kind, sweet girl who was screaming for her to get the tired
overworked man a cup of damn coffee.
 

She went to
the coffee cart, taking the bills out of her pocket to pay.
 
Roni looked out the window as she waited for
her turn in line.
 
From behind her, she
heard two vaguely familiar voices.
 

“Did you see
the agenda for the meeting today?” Male voice one asked.

“Yes, the man
is insane if he thinks we can get through all of that work in that short of
time.” Male voice two replied.
  

“No, he’s not
insane, he just forgets that we non-cyborgs need to do such things as eat and
sleep.” Male voice one quipped in return.
 

“My wife is
going to leave me if I don’t start getting home before midnight.
 
I think a small part of her thinks I am
cheating.”
 
Male voice number two
commented.
 

Roni not being
able to completely place the voices in her head, casually turned to put a face
to the voice.
 
Once she did it hit her
full blast that they were talking about Derek.
 
The voices were none other than two of his top programmers, Jim and
Craig. They looked even worse than Derek did.
 
And Craig’s wife thought he was cheating?
 
Not good, she had to get Derek to back
off.
 
All of these guys needed some
rest.