Unexpectedly Yours (Private Relations 3)

Jim sighed as he moved to the mini-fridge to grab a bottle of water, then said, “Yeah. I asked her to lunch but she was busy. Said she was going to be here late, so I figured I’d get dinner and bring it down. I think they all run on pure coffee.”

Deacon smirked at him and said, “You’re not kidding. Sara never eats while she’s working unless I feed her. So, what’s going on with you and Elle?”

Shrugging, Jim said, “Not sure. Hoping to clear that up soon.”

“From what Sara said, she’s a happily-ever-after type girl,” Deacon said trailing off.

Jim finished chewing the bite he had taken and raised his eyebrow as if to say, “And?”

“Just putting it out there in case you hadn’t picked up on it, yet,” Deacon said.

“I’m not necessarily looking to settle down, but I don’t want to rule it out if the right person comes along. I want to get to know her. That’s all.”

Deacon nodded and said, “Makes sense.”

“Cynertex is coming back next week, right?” Jim asked, blatantly changing the subject.

“Yeah,” Deacon said. “They’re releasing that MMORPG they were working on in the next few months. They wanted to consult about some marketin

g avenues. Personally, I think they just like coming to LA.”

“What’s it about?” Jim asked.

“So far as I can understand from the high-level overview they gave me, it’s a space-related game. You take over new worlds,” Deacon said.

“Sounds interesting. Kind of like manifest destiny but with aliens.”

“Pretty much.”

“Well,” Jim said, thinking out loud, “we can probably use Chris’s contact at TBC to get some time during Saturday morning cartoons. Sounds like something they’d be interested in.”

They continued to talk shop for the next few minutes while they finished their sandwiches. As Deacon threw away his sandwich wrapper and empty chip bag, he said, “I’ll send you my rough draft within the next couple days. Can you look at it and let me know? I’d send it to Chris but he’s leaving for Miami in a couple of days.”

“Yeah, sure. Shoot it over to me when you’re ready. It’ll do me good to not focus on Blue Mountain for a few minutes,” Jim said, as his mind shifted back to work.

“I’ve got a one o’clock,” Deacon said.

Jim said, “Me too. Weekly sales manager meeting. I hate them. I always feel like they’re trying to sell me something.”

Deacon grimaced and said, “Have fun with that.”

Jim gave him an artificial grin, then shot him double finger guns and said, “You know it!”

Shaking his head, Deacon asked, “Some of them never turn it off, do they?”

“Nope,” Jim agreed. “I think maybe they just don’t know how.”

“Later,” Deacon said, walking toward the door.

Jim gave him a salute and then gathered up the remaining trash. Throwing it and his empty bottle of water away, he moved back to his desk. Sitting down, he dialed into the conference call and waited for the rest of the participants to arrive.

Ugh, he thought. This was going to be a long afternoon.

Chapter Three

Elle was in the zone. She was working on the clam chowder when she heard the phone in the office ring. Stripping off her gloves, she hurried in to answer it.

“Hello,” she said.