Falling Into You (Geek to Chic) (5 page)

“No, she
doesn’t believe anything should be printed.
 
Jemma is hypersensitive about security and believes paper would lead to
a breach somehow.
 
She takes all of her
notes on either the laptop or her iPad. She never seems to leave her desk
without the damn tablet. Let me take a look I am sure I can guide you in the
right direction.”
 
She scooted her chair
back so he could reach her keyboard.
 
He
hit a few keys and poof up came her email, Derek’s schedule and a very detailed
list of tasks.
 
She had some big shoes to
fill it seemed.
 
Derek’s assistant was
the most organized assistant in the world.

“Ok, now shows
me how you did that.
 
Any other programs
I need to be able to run, or better yet any I should not touch?
 
I would hate to accidently take down the
entire company’s computer system.”
 
She
smirked.

“Tell me your
clumsiness is limited to personal injury and not computer demolition?” Alex
asked looking horrified.
 

“She did
manage to latte bomb my laptop this morning, so maybe we should limit her to
paper and pen.” Derek said, strolling out of his office hands in his pockets,
smiling and shaking his head.
 

“She neglected
to mention that part of your morning. Although she did mention she attempted to
neuter you via hot tea.” The two of them were laughing hysterically now.
 
Roni crossed her arms and tried to scowl at
them.
 

“Careful boys,
I may have another ‘accident’ any minute now.” Roni warned.

They both held
their hands out in surrender. “Did you manage to find the items you needed?”

“Thanks to
Alex yes.
 
Seriously, what is all this
crap on the computer? I think I like the idea of going to pen and paper.”

“Don’t worry
half the stuff on that computer you will never need.
 
Plus, you are only filling in so I won’t
expect you to do any of the extra stuff that Jemma squeezes into her schedule
somehow.
 
I do believe that I promised
you lunch though…” Roni’s phone rang interrupting Derek.
 
He nodded for her to answer and turned his
attention to Alex.

“Izzy what’s
up?” Roni noticed the second she said Izzy’s name, Alex straightened and turned
to her.
 
“No, I’m fine.
 
Sorry I should have sent a text.
 
I actually got a job today and started right
away. It is a temp job, but it has its benefits.”
 
She smiled at Derek.
 
“Sure, that sounds great.
 
I will see you then.”
 
She ended her call and looked up to see both
men staring at her.
 
“Izzy had a half day
at work and was wondering where I was.
 
She’s like a mother hen at times, always worrying.”

“Did you guys
make plans?
 
We can do lunch another time
if you need.”
 
Derek looked defeated as
he asked the questions.
 

“No, no we can
do lunch now.
 
She wanted to celebrate my
getting a job by going out to dinner or drinks tonight.”

“Better idea,
we all go out tonight to celebrate your new job and the fact you have not
killed off my boy yet.” Alex interjected.
 
Derek glared at him.
 

Roni just
started laughing, “Yeah, not sure that is a good idea.
 
I would hate to see her bruise the other side
of your face or your ego again.”

“I’ll take my
chances.
 
Derek, I’ll text you later to
find out the details of where we’re going.”
 
With that Alex was gone.

“Does he
always assume people are going to do what he wants?”

“Yes, always
has, always will.
 
Might not be so
bad.
 
I personally would like to see him get
slapped again.
 
It really should happen
more often.”
 
Derek laughed. “Come on,
let’s get lunch and decide how we are going to keep our friends from killing
each other tonight.”
 

With that, she
turned off the computer, grabbed her bag and they were off.
 
Today just kept getting more and more
interesting.
 

***

“You have to
be kidding me?
 
Why?
 
Why would you do this to me?
 
I have been your friend for ten years! Ten
years, Roni!”
 
Izzy was pacing the house
like a caged tiger.
 
Roni knew Izzy could
be dramatic, but this was beyond her typical outburst.
 
“I don’t want to hang out with the Super
Asshole on a Friday night!” Roni stared at her friend, who was now stomping her
feet as though she was a two year old who’s favorite toy had been taken from
her.
 

“Izzy, calm
down.
 
I have never seen you like
this.
 
You won’t be hanging out with just
him, I promise to be the buffer between the two of you.”
 
Roni soothed her friend.
 

“You know
that’s not going to happen, right?
 
You
are going to be off trying to not kill Derek with your clumsiness while
simultaneously trying to make goo-goo eyes at him. Meanwhile, your best friend,
aka me, will be taken into custody for murder one when I kill the bastard.”
Izzy practically yelled.

At this point
Roni had no choice but to laugh at her friend’s antics.
 
Roni loved Izzy and could not even begin to
understand how her sweet, gentle, shy friend could hate, with all her being,
someone she met for less than five minutes.
 
Between snorts of laughter Roni asked, “What on earth did that man say
to you?”

Turning a
shade of red that was not found in nature, Izzy huffed out a frustrated breath
and said, “Nothing, never mind.
 
I will
entertain the Neanderthal, while you go get the man of your dreams. But you own
me BIG TIME!”

“This is why I
love you! No matter what murderous intentions you have to stifle you are still
there for me.”
 
Roni hugged her small
friend.
 
“Now, let’s go make me look
incredible and see if we can’t tap down the whole ‘I want to kill the world’
look you have going on.”
 

Finally a
burst of laughter came from Izzy.
 
The
girls headed to their rooms to get ready for a night out.
 
Roni was so excited! Yes, she would rather
have Derek all to herself for this evening, but maybe with other people around
them he would be safe from her clumsiness.
 
One could hope anyway.

“Tell me again
why you would want to invite yourself out to be around a girl that the last
time you saw her, she left her hand imprinted on your face?” Derek was
completely bewildered by his friend’s behavior.
 

“I am trying
to help you out.
 
Girls are far more
comfortable going out with a new guy if it is a group outing.
 
You should know this by your age.”
 
Alex seemed to believe his own bullshit, but
Derek was far from sold.

“So let me get
this straight.
 
You are giving up a
Friday night, a night you could be hooking up with some poor unsuspecting woman
for a night between the sheets, just so you can help your ex-nerd buddy land
the girl of his dreams?” Derek said his voice laced with heavy sarcasm. “Wow, I
am such a lucky guy to have a friend like you.”
 

Alex gave him
the bird and pulled his night blue Porsche 918 Spyder into the small parking
lot of the downtown brewery Derek and Roni had chosen for the evening.
 
Derek knew his friend had his own agenda for
the night.
 
He only hoped that it did not
interfere with his own.
 

Lunch between
Roni and Derek had gone perfectly.
 
The
two sat for a couple of hours talking about everything from their favorite
seasons in their college days.
 
She managed
to make it through the entire lunch without causing him physical pain.
 
Well, until he dropped her off at her car
back at Starbucks. She opened the car door at the same time he tried to. He now
had a nice bruise on his knee to remind him of her.
 
He liked that she was clumsy.
 
It made him feel more comfortable around
her.
 
His nerd days might be behind him,
but Derek was still learning to accept that he had outgrown that awkward
stage.
 
Roni was beautiful, smart and
funny. Her almost landing him in the hospital every ten minutes were what
allowed him to see them as equals instead of way out of his reach.

 
Derek was so lost in his thoughts he had not
even realized Alex had parked the car and was walking into the brewery without
him.
 
Oh
shit!
He had to move to catch up or have Alex be alone with Roni and her
friend. Derek bolted from the car. He grabbed Alex by the arm right before he
reached for the door.
 
“You are to be on
your best behavior tonight! No crude jokes, or bad pickup lines.
 
In fact, it would be best if you said
nothing.
 
I don’t want a repeat of last
night.”
 
Alex only laughed.
 

Derek pushed
Alex aside, scanning the room to find the girls.
 
Once he located them near the back of the
brewery he made a beeline for them.
 
Each
and every time he had seen Roni over the last six months she had made his heart
stop.
 
Tonight was no different.
 
She was dressed casually again in jeans that
looked like they were made for her and a red sweater.
 
Her hair was up in some twisty thing, leaving
her long neck exposed.
 
The thoughts that
ran through his head had him wishing he could causally adjust himself.
  

“Hey
there.”
 
His voice had turned husky even
to his own ears.
 
He put his hand on her
shoulder so he could touch her, even in this small way.
 
Six months of wanting her were hitting him in
one hard wave of lust.
 
Roni and Izzy sat
at a booth, each on one side of the table.
 
He slid in next to Roni placing and arm around the back of the booth
kissing her chastely on the cheek.
 
She
even blushed for him.
 
Perfect.

“Hey there
yourself. We ordered the sampler tray of beers since they have the new beers
out for the spring season.” She smiled at him nervously.
 

“That sounds
great.”
 
At that moment he noticed Izzy
and Alex had already began glaring at each other.
 
“I guess I should introduce myself formally,
I’m Derek, and Super Asshole over there is actually my friend and business
partner Alex.” Derek held his hand out to Izzy who turned a warm smile on him.

“It is nice to
meet you Derek.
 
Super Asshole, I mean
Alex,” she smiled, “can have a seat I promise not to slap him…. as long as he
plays nice that is.”
 

“Oh honey, I
can play real nice if you give me a chance.”
 
Alex drawled. He flashed her his best panty dropping smile, which landed
him exactly nowhere if Derek was reading Izzy’s face correctly.
 

“Well feel
free to go home and play real nice with yourself anytime.” Izzy deadpanned back
at Alex.
 

Both Derek and
Roni burst out laughing.
 
Derek could
tell that Alex had finally met his match. It was about time a woman called Alex
out on his bullshit lines, Derek thought.
 

Alex leaned in
close to Izzy’s ear, whispering something that Derek could not make out over
the music, which made Izzy’s cheek blush and her eyes light with flames of
hate.
 
With that Alex sat down next to a
woman who clearly wanted to end his life in a very painful way.
 

“Alex,
seriously? Can’t you just be human for a little while?
 
I saw a brief glimpse at the office today
that made me believe you were in fact human and not some mutated ape.
 
Let’s try to show Izzy that side as well,
huh?”
 
Roni spoke to Alex as though he
was a misbehaving child.

“I promise to
be human once this one,” he pointed his thumb over toward Izzy, “jumps off her
broomstick.”

“With each
word out of your mouth, I am more and more grateful I slapped you instead of
doing what you suggested.” Izzy stated once again speaking without
emotion.
 
“Now move I have to go to the
bathroom.”
 
She shoved Alex out of the
seat and practically ran for the bathroom.
 

Before Roni
could follow, Alex sighed, looking defeated.
 
“I’ll go talk to her and smooth things out.
 
I promise to be… human.” With that Alex
followed behind Izzy.
 

“Seriously, I
have never seen her behave like this.
 
It
is like Alex has this power to flip her bitch switch with only a few
words.”
 
Roni thought out loud.

“I have never
seen him like this either.
 
Usually if a
girl doesn’t show interest right away, he is on to the next.
 
I think he likes the fact that Izzy wants
nothing to do with him.
 
He sees her as a
challenge or something.” Derek contemplated back at Roni.
 

“Well, if she
comes out with blood on her hands, don’t be offended if I help her hide his
body.”
 
Roni smiles up at him.

“I would
completely understand.
 
Hell, I may even
lend you a shovel.
 
Enough about them,
how was the rest of your day?”
 
He
scooted a little closer to her. Her slight floral fragrance engulfing his
senses.
 
Six months was a long time to
want one woman.
 

To his great
joy, she scooted closer and smiled. Turning to face him, she laid a hand on his
chest, “We were only apart for a little bit.
  
I spent that time trying to talk Izzy into coming out with us
tonight.
 
What did you do?”

“Tried to talk
Alex into staying home. I see that at least you were successful.”
 
The waitress arrived with the sample tray of
beers at that moment.
 
“So which one are
you going to try first?”
 
He reached for
a dark brew at the same time she reached for the lightest blonde on the tray.

“I’m not one
for the heavier darker beers.
 
They give
me an instant headache.” Roni said, scrunching up her noses at his drink.
 

“Well, this
works out perfect, because the pale beers feel unmanly to me.” Derek laughed at
Roni’s scowl.
 
He placed his head in
between the dark and light beer glasses dividing the sampler in half. “This
side is mine and that side is yours, deal?” He watched her slam her current
double shot size beer and grab the next with a smile.
 

“Deal.”

They sat and
tried each of the beers commenting on the taste of each.
 
He had to admit that coming to the brewery
was entirely her idea. He wanted to take the girls somewhere nice to impress
her. Roni put her foot down saying that they needed to relax and the perfect
way to relax was good beer, good food and pool.
 
How can a guy say no to that?
 

They were now
sitting so close to each other that a piece of paper couldn’t have fit between
them.
 
He liked her this close. Although,
he would like to get much closer to her by the end of the night.
 
He began contemplating how Alex might have
the right idea about public sex.
 
He
wasn’t sure he could wait to get Roni home.
 
The rational, mature side of Derek knew he had to wait, they had really
only met a few days ago.
 
While the horny
teenager in him was scoping out dark corners he could take her to.
 

His body was
screaming for more of her touch, more of everything from her.
 
In an attempt to appease his needy body,
Derek placed a hand on her thigh rubbing it slightly.
 
At that moment she smiled and made an almost
purring noise leaning in toward him.
 
His
eyes went to her lips just as her pink tongue darted out to lick her top
lip.
 
Placing his hand on the back of her
head Derek pulled Roni toward him, lowering his head capturing her lips with
his.
 
So desperate for her after six
months of longing, he skipped the traditional gentleness and went straight to
the deep bruising kiss.
 
She moaned
quietly, her hands fisting into his shirt.
 
He slid his tongue between her lips to play tag with her tongue.
 
As their tongues wrapped around each other,
their bodies pulling to get closer the world fading, all hell broke loose. “You
stupid mother fucker!” Derek vaguely registered a female voice yelling
out.
 

He was
completely ready to ignore the yelling and continue exploring her mouth.
Unfortunately, Roni heard the yelling all too clearly because she pulled away
from him searching for the location of the voice. Her eyes became huge blue
lakes and her mouth dropped open before turning into a smile.
  

Derek turned
to see what she was looking at.
 
He
started laughing at the sight.
 
Izzy had
Alex pinned against the wall with a pool stick across his chest.
 
Even with her back to them her stance told
Derek that Alex had stepped in it again.
 
“Well, at least she hasn’t left a visible mark on him.”

Roni laughed
at his observation. “The night is still young I am sure Alex will say something
that earns him either a slap or castration.
 
I hadn’t even noticed that they were playing pool. Maybe we should go
join them?”
 

Derek nuzzled
her exposed neck with his nose, whispering “I would rather get back to what we
were doing and just let the two of them kill eat other.”
 
His nuzzling turned in to small kisses and
licks.
 
He moved her sweater over a
little to get take a small nip at her collar bone quickly soothing it with his
tongue.
 
Her skin was soft and pale, the
slight floral sent him now associated with her intoxicated him.
 
His only wish was that they were somewhere
more private, like his bedroom.
 

“Hmm
Derek.
 
We should go save Alex from being
murdered. I really don’t want to have to go on the run with Izzy.”
 
She smiled and pushed him away.
 

“Fine, be a
do-gooder.
 
But mark my words, we will
finish this little make out session at some point.”
 
He kissed her mouth quickly and took a deep
breath.
 
He needed to get his body under
control again.
 
The horny teenager had
been in control and was pissed about being sidelined.
 
He looked over to the pool tables.
 
Izzy was glaring at Alex as he took a
shot.
 
At least she had released him from
the wall.
 
Derek slid out of the booth,
reaching for Roni’s hand to help her out. “Let’s go be social and save Izzy
from going to jail.
 
I would hate for her
to be the woman who finally ended him”

“Oh, I think
she would love to have that honor even if it did cost her life in jail.”
 
Roni scooted out of the booth taking Derek’s
hand.
 

***

The moment
Roni touched Derek’s hand, she regretted her decision to end their very public
make out session.
 
This man could
kiss!
 
She wasn’t sure if it was the
passion of the kiss or the six months it took them to get to this point,
whatever the reason she felt like her skin was on fire. She decided that no
matter how many extra sets of batteries she had, her battery operated boyfriend
was not going to be able to provide any relief.
 
Only Derek could quiet the storm churning within her body.
 
She sighed quietly as they walked hand in
hand over to Alex and Izzy.