“Holy shit, I dunno about tossing coins, but I would totally make it rain for him,” I breathed, skimming through the gallery of photos and making a plan to cancel anything and everything I had to do after work so that I could go home and watch it.
A deep rumble of laughter got my attention off the screen, and then I was wondering if I could record him laughing and watch that instead.
When it left him, he looked down at me with a huge smile on his face and said something that I swear will stick with me until the day I die. “I used to think working with you was the highlight of every day, but now I live next to you, too, so I have you 24/7. I don’t think life could get much richer than that.”
It’s probably just as well that I wasn’t standing up because I would most likely have dropped to my knees and begged him to take me home with him. Instead, with chin almost hitting my desk, I watched him turn and walk back out again – his ass in faded denim taunting me.
Looking over at Duke who was watching us both with his head tilted, I whispered, “If I die, find a way to type out exactly what happened so that people understand why I combusted.”
Just then my phone beeped with a text from Maya.
Maya: Phase 1 complete. Time for phase 2 to commence.
Confused, I replied to it.
Me: What do you mean phase 1 complete? What are we talking about?
Maya: GYMP – Get Yo’ Man Plan.
My memories of our night out were a bit fuzzy, but that was ringing a bell. Reaching into my purse, I pulled out a wad of napkins with writing all over them. Sure enough, there it all was, all though there was absolutely nothing in phase one about getting a dog.
Me: How does getting a dog fit into phase 1?
Maya: You’ve got his attention. Cole told Ebru that the dog was all over him this morning and he even opened the door of your car for him. Now stop arguing and start planning phase 2.
Me: Someone spilled their drink on the napkin and I can’t read the writing. What’s phase 2?
Maya: Bonding over a common interest. I don’t know what that is just now, but we’ll think of something.
Me: We discussed The Witcher just now while he carried me back up the stairs to the office. Does that count?
Maya: Well shit. Onto phase 3 then. And Henry Cavill is outstanding in The Witcher.
Me: Never watched it, but I’ve played the game and the dude in that would have you sliding off your chair.
Maya: Welp, I just became a gamer.
Me: Before you dive into the depths of The Witcher gaming hotness, what’s phase 3?
Maya: You got his attention over a common interest, now you need to get it onto you. Walk sexy, act intriguing, engage with him, don’t go overboard, but be a magnet for his brain.
Me: That sounds weird…
Maya: No weirder than us finding a game character sexy as hell.
Me: Point taken.
Now what the hell was I meant to do for phase three? I was just me, there was nothing sexy or intriguing about me!FiveJarrodIt felt like something had changed between me and Katy since I’d moved in yesterday. The two people who’d danced around each other and who hardly spoke were now talking to each other, and I was carrying her up the stairs so she didn’t hurt her ankle even more. I hadn’t seen her much the rest of the day even though I’d been listening out for her in case she needed help down the stairs, and when the time had come to go home, Ren had given her a piggyback down them as he lectured her on how to look after sprains.
When I’d pulled into my driveway after going to the store, I’d noticed the lights were on in her house and I’d been tempted to check on her, but I didn’t want to make her feel awkward so I left it and came in to unpack a bit more. Now it was ten o’clock and I was lying out on the couch with the television on, but I wasn’t watching it. Instead, I was thinking about what I’d seen in Katy’s house and how she organized things.
OCD intrigued me. I understood the need for things to be laid out in a way that you were happy with, but the fact that she was compulsive about things was what got to me the most. I’d looked it up earlier to try and understand it a bit more, and was relieved when I saw she wasn’t high on the scale of OCD tendencies, but it also made me feel for people who were. From what I could see, Katy liked to lay things out in terms of size, color and subject which wasn’t all that unusual because I did that, too. The difference was, I knew that she got stressed and anxious when shit was moved about at work, so now that I understood it better I needed to try and make sure the guys didn’t mess it all around. That was going to start first thing in the morning.