His phone buzzed a moment later with her response. It gave me great joy to generate JDC’s first bill. I must say…
Laughing, Deacon texted back, im sure it did. About to grab tacos for lunch. Will talk to you later, beautiful.
Smiling, he read her reply. K, talk soon :)
When he approached the taco truck, he saw Chris waiting for his food, having already ordered. Chris took one look at his face and said, “What’s that goofy grin about? I somehow doubt that’s Cynertex related.”
His ridiculous grin turned into a smirk as he answered, “Eat me.”
“So how are things going with caterer lady?” Chris asked with a knowing grin.
The stupid grin slid back onto his face of its own volition. Deacon said, “We’ve got a date on Friday. It’s going good so far.”
Snorting, Chris said, “That goofy ass grin is back.…you’re in trouble, dude.”
Deacon nodded, “Yeah. Probably. How’d the other night go after I left? Any interest in…Kellie?”
Chris winced and said, “I couldn’t get past that giggle. It was more like a high-pitched…whinny. I think it was even annoying your sister by the end of the night. She just kept looking away and massaging her temples.”
“Ha. I’ll have to ask her about that. Oh so get this shit. Last night the guys from Cynertex asked me to meet them out for happy hour. I didn’t really want to go, but …you know.”
Frowning, Chris said, “Yeah. You can’t really tell someone dangling on the hook no, right?”
Nodding in agreement, Deacon continued.
“So we go to their hotel bar and, dude. They got tanked. This brunette amazon on staff? She kept shoving her tits in my face and grabbing my arm. Gave me her fucking room key. She was so loud and obnoxiously drunk.”
Deacon’s face crinkled in disgust.
Snorting, Chris said, “So no amazon action for you?”
Shaking his head, he said, “No. I’m just relieved she wasn’t a decision maker because I had to be pretty direct with her. She wasn’t understanding my subtle brush offs.”
Grabbing his food from the window, Chris said, “I’m just glad it all worked out. I’m gonna go eat this. I’ve got a 1:00 p.m. See you later, man.”
Nodding, Deacon said, “If you get time, stop by and let me know what happened in San Diego. Did it go well?”
Grinning, Chris gave him a thumbs-up and then walked back toward the building.
After ordering his meal, Deacon sat on the bench near the truck and ate it. He wasn’t looking forward to going back into the building. He had blocked out time this afternoon to go over the expense reports. It was probably his least favorite activity of all time, next to getting a root canal.
By 4:30 p.m., he was convinced his entire staff was screwing with him. He’d been finding a ton of unauthorized expenses. Weird stuff, too. One report cited three yards of nylon rope, one jar petroleum jelly, and three dozen eggs. Another, one plunger, thirty packages of Jell-O pudding snacks, and one roll industrial packing tape. His favorite so far had been one rubber mallet, one tub of margarine, and one copy of Driving Miss Daisy.
Dialing Chris’s extension, Deacon said, “So I’ve been going over last month’s expense reports…”
At Chris’s guffaw, Deacon said, “Really? I’m going to have to bill them for this shit. You are such an asshole.”
Hanging up, Deacon leaned back in his chair. Chris had gotten him pretty good. He really couldn’t let the moment pass without some sort of retaliation, though. Tapping his pen, he thought for a moment.
Smirking he began writing a very sternly worked company-wide memo about unauthorized expenses. Advising that any future violations of policy would result in action up to and including termination, he snickered. Suck on that.
After sending it to only Chris and the idiots from the sales team, he drafted the reimbursement requests, laughing at the outlandish items. Looking at the remaining stack, he realized it was going to be a long night.
Chapter 11
By the time Friday evening came around, Sara was a bundle of nerves. Not able to remember the last time she had anticipated a date so much, she took special care with her clothing choice and makeup. After giving herself a spritz of perfume, she moved to the couch to play with Smitty until Deacon arrived.
At 6:55 p.m. on the dot, the doorbell rang. Sara took a couple of deep breaths, rose from the couch, and opened the door. Deacon stood there in faded jeans, a dark T-shirt and a dark leather jacket. Sara wanted to crawl all over him.