Daphne chewed on her lip. I’ve never worked on a project with anyone else on my team before, she thought. And Asher is so competent. What if he thinks I’m incompetent?
Even the thought was enough to make Daphne ready to puke. She clutched her hands together, wringing them, trying to calm herself down. It’s going to be fine. I doubt he would have offered to help me if he thought I was incapable.
She looked at the clock on her computer. Landon had left about twenty minutes earlier, and she had told Asher she had a few more things to get done before she could meet with him. Really, she had just been trying to calm herself down enough to work with him, while using the time to get a few extra things done in the process.
She took a deep breath. The extra time had done nothing for her confidence. Just look at it as an opportunity to learn from him, she tried to convince herself.
She grabbed her phone and opened it up to text Gary. At the very least, I should make plans so that I have an excuse to leave if he starts steam rolling me.
Do you want to meet up tonight? She texted. Maybe go for a walk at the park by the café?
It took only a few seconds before she saw the three dots suggesting Gary was typing back to her already.
Sure, he had written, and nothing else.
Daphne grimaced as she grabbed her laptop and a notebook to bring over to Asher’s desk. Maybe I should have made plans with someone else. Today doesn’t exactly seem like the best day to spend with Gary. She swallowed hard, chewing on the inside of her cheek. I guess there’s still a possibility that we could reconcile from the fight. I just struggle to see how. He’s probably still butt hurt that I can’t pay him anymore.
She sighed, attempting to put thoughts aside, and walked over to Asher’s cubicle.
“Hey,” she said to the back of his head. “Sorry it took longer to finish than I expected,” she said.
He spun around in his chair and gave her a half smile. “No problem,” he said, gesturing to a chair that he had put next to his. He had even cleaned off a portion of his desk for her to set up her laptop at. Although, his desk wasn’t all that messy to begin with.
“Thanks,” she said, sitting down and unloading her arms on the space he had provided. “Hopefully you didn’t have important plans after work today.”
“Oh, no, not at all,” Asher said, turning back to his computer.
Daphne let out a small breath that she hadn’t even realized she had been holding. “That’s good,” she murmured.
He was loading something up on his computer and pulling it up on the monitor between them. “So, I got the run down from Trevor about what all this project would entail,” he said in his deep voice.
Wow, straight to business. Her heart sank a little.
“It’s not as rigorous as Trevor said it would be,” Asher continued. “He was probably trying to make it sound worse than it was to punish you.”
Daphne nodded. “Probably,” she agreed.
“Sorry I couldn’t get you out of it entirely,” Asher apologized, looking back towards her and briefly meeting her eyes. She swallowed hard when their eyes met, but he looked away almost immediately, which made her to slouch a little.
“It’s not your fault,” she said. “He was just being petty.”
“That’s one way to see it,” Asher replied, and Daphne saw his dark eyebrows quickly raise and fall. “Still,” he said. “My hope is that I can do the lion’s share of the work, so you are able to stay on top of all of your other projects you’re working on, plus training Landon.” He shook his head and sighed. “Sure seems like Trevor tried to dump everything on you this week.”
“Yep,” Daphne agreed, wringing her hands. She chewed on her upper lip, unsure of what else to say.
“Anyway, the project,” Asher said, turning towards the monitor that was between the two of them. “Let me walk you through what I learned from Trevor so you can decide what you’d like to work on.”
“That sounds good,” Daphne agreed, scooting a bit closer so that she could see the screen better.
As he moved the mouse, the scent of wood and laundry hit her nose. She pursed her lips, doing her best to quiet her reaction.
“I spent a good portion of the afternoon trying to figure out the best way to divvy the project up between the two of us,” he said.
Daphne snuck a quick glance at his face. His eyelashes were long and dark, and sharply contrasted the white light that was coming from the screen. As his eyes were scanning over the monitor, Daphne noticed that in a certain light, his warm brown eyes had flecks of green in them. While his nose was a little big on the end, his lips were smooth and thinner than her own. His hair was a true black, similar to her own, with no brown or blue mixed in. He wore it a bit long, as it nearly touched his neck, and Daphne was able to see the slightest hint of waviness in it. Despite the body that his hair had, rather than being frizzy, it had a nice sheen in the light, as if it was incredibly well kept. Along the edge of his jaw, a dark line of stubble grew. I’m pretty sure that wasn’t there this morning. His jaw was more defined than she’d ever seen on a man before.
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Holy shit. Asher doesn’t just have a great smile. He’s incredibly handsome as well.
She shook her head at herself. She did her best to look back at the monitor and pay attention to what he was saying. How did I miss his appearance before? Was I really so into Gary that I didn’t notice?
“What do you think?” he asked as she focused her eyes back on the screen and the virtual whiteboard he had been presenting to her the entire time. “Is there anything that stands out to you that you’d prefer to work on over anything else?”
Daphne’s eyes widened and she looked at the floor. I should have been paying attention to what he was saying. She groaned internally. I’m going to make myself look like a complete fool now.
“Umm,” she responded, looking back at the monitor.
He turned his chair to face her and smirked. Daphne bit her tongue. Oh God. Did he notice?
“What do you think about what I said about you taking roughly twenty percent of the work?” he asked. “And putting together the slideshows for me? I’ve seen some of your presentations in the past, and they were exceptionally professional,” he said.
Daphne felt her eyes widen a bit. He’s seen my presentations in the past? When?
“Are you sure you’re okay taking on eighty percent of the work?” she asked him, narrowing her eyes.
“I’m more than happy to take that amount of work on,” he replied with a small smile and nod.
Daphne frowned at him. “You took on a whole extra project from Fiona this week, too,” she pointed out to him, cocking her head a little.
It was his turn to narrow his eyes at her. “I also told you that Trevor way overblew the amount of work that is going to be involved in this project,” he said.
“But still,” she protested, crossing her arms. Even still, she knew that it was a weak argument.
“But still nothing,” he shot back. “It’s not a big deal,” he added, shrugging his shoulders.
She stuck out her lips further and narrowed her eyes at him again, crossing her arms. “I don’t buy it,” she said.
He let out a low chuckle. “It’s true,” he promised.
“Fine,” Daphne replied. “I’ll agree to it, only if you promise to let me know if you get overwhelmed so I can help,” she said.
“Deal,” Asher said with a smirk. “Though I can promise right now that I won’t be getting overwhelmed anytime soon.”
“I wouldn’t be so cocky if I were you,” Daphne replied, turning her nose up a bit at him. “Because you helped me out, I’m sure you’re on Trevor’s shit list now too.”
Asher nodded his head to the left and the right a little, frowning. “I suppose that’s a fair point,” he conceded. “In that case, I promise that I’ll let you know if I get overwhelmed.”
“Good,” Daphne replied with a smug smile. “Does the project team need a set of slides to start?” she asked.
“They do,” Asher replied, turning back to his computer.
“When do they need them by?”
“Tomorrow,” Asher replied, wrinkling up his nose and pulling one side of his upper lip back from his teeth.
Daphne let out a heavy, quick breath. “God, Trevor is such a prick,” she murmured softly.
“You’re telling me,” Asher mumbled back. “The man genuinely makes me wonder how he got any sort of leadership position in the first place.”
Daphne grimaced and then rolled her eyes. “Literally anyone else on the team would be better.”
“I think Holly would make a great manager,” he replied. “What do you think?”
Daphne’s eyes widened a bit, and then she nodded with a small smile. “I think you’re spot on,” she agreed. “Will you send me the information they need on their slides?” she asked, turning back to the work at hand.
Asher hit enter. “Already doing that,” he said.
Daphne chuckled a little. “Thanks.”
She pulled up his message and started pulling the information into a plain set of slides.
“Do you have any fun plans this weekend?” Asher asked her as they worked side by side one another.
“Not really,” she answered, “I’ll probably be hanging out with my cat,” she added.
“You have a cat?” he asked, surprised.
“I do,” she replied, a small smile playing on her lips. “His name is Tanpopo, and he’s a little silly tuxedo boy,” she said.
“That’s a cute name,” Asher said. “Does it mean anything special?”
Daphne laughed a little. “No,” she replied. “The shelter I got him from said that he was found in a dandelion field by a woman who primarily spoke Japanese. Apparently Tanpopo means dandelion in Japanese. I thought it was cute, so I kept it.” A grin had spread across her face, and she turned to look at Asher. He had a friendly smile on his face. Their eyes met again, and Daphne’s heart skipped a beat.
“That’s adorable.”
Daphne had to look away and press her lips together to prevent herself from grinning like a fool. Asher’s adorable too.
“He’s super precious,” she replied, looking back at her laptop, feeling her face warm a little. “He makes my life so much better.”
“I would have never pictured you as a cat person,” he said, his voice amiable. “I also have a cat.”
“You do?” she asked, glancing over at him, her mouth falling agape. “I wouldn’t have pictured you as a pet person at all,” she said.
He chuckled. “I do.”
“Can I see a picture?” she blurted out.
“Of course,” he said, pulling his phone out of the pocket of his slacks. Daphne went back to the slides as he was looking for a picture. “Here he is,” Asher said, turning the phone towards her.
The cat was white and buff and had yellowish eyes that seemed to be looking slightly off center. He had a dopey-looking face that was nearly as cute as he was dorky.
“Oh my gosh, he’s so cute!” Daphne exclaimed. “What’s his name?”
“It’s Pippin,” he answered with a wide grin that made Daphne’s heart stutter. He turned his phone away from her, staring at the picture. “I know exactly what you mean about Tanpopo making your life better. Pippin makes mine so much better as well.”
Daphne grinned and went back to the slides. “Nothing compares to coming home and being greeted by a creature who missed you.”
“Nothing compares,” Asher agreed.
“Anyway,” Daphne said, working on the slides. “Do you have any exciting plans this weekend?”
“No, I don’t,” he answered. “Probably just catching up on some life things I’ve fallen behind on, and maybe going for a hike or something like that.”
“Oh, a hike,” Daphne said with a nod. “I wouldn’t have pinned you as an outdoorsy type either.”
“Oh, well, you know,” he replied, chuckling and seeming a bit embarrassed. “I only really get to go when I have time.”
“It sounds interesting at least,” she said with a polite nod.
“Yeah, it is,” he said. “Maybe we could go together sometime.”
“Yeah, maybe,” Daphne agreed.
Maybe, if I survive this winter, first. I’m not doing anything dangerous until after Christmas.
“Do you have any plans for this evening?” Asher asked as Daphne was putting the final touches on the slides. “My friend is opening a bar, and tonight is the grand opening.”
“Oh, that’s cool,” she said with a smile. “Unfortunately, I already made plans with my boyfriend for tonight,” she said, glancing over at Asher.
“Ahh, I see,” he replied, their eyes meeting. He was frowning.
Daphne bit the inside of her lip. “Sorry,” she added.
“That’s alright,” he replied. “Perhaps another time then.”
“Perhaps,” she said with a smile as she sent him the slides.