Chapter 8 : Callan's World

**Callan

My eyes fell on her as soon as we walked into the bar. I had nearly forgotten that the Luca team had invited me out for drinks until Roman called me up and asked me to go out. I wasn't planning on drinking with them, but having Roman by my side gave me a good excuse to be able to leave early or hang around longer, depending on what I needed him for.

"Hey," Roman piped up. He elbowed me in the arm and nodded his head towards the table. "Does that one girl look familiar? The one with the long brown hair and nice rac—"

I elbowed him back. "Don't talk about my employees like that," I grunted.

Roman guffawed. But I could tell by the smirk on his face that he already knew the answer to the question.

The team spotted us and waved us over to the table, pulling out a couple of chairs at the ends for us to sit in.

"Boss!" Gary, the legal guy, called out. "You decided to come after all!"

I forced a smile and nodded. Though I tried not to be obvious about it, I was all too aware of Isa sitting there sandwiched between Myalin and David, who had his arm draped around the back of her chair.

Isa was staring down at the table, her hair hanging loosely in front of her face.

For a while, I'd wondered why she never seemed to want to look at me, but after I remembered that night it all made sense.

She knew me. She had to.

"She's being a little obvious, don't you think?" Roman leaned over and whispered in my ear.

I nudged him away. "This is my cousin Roman, everyone."

Everybody smiled and waved to welcome him. Even Isa glanced up for a moment to nod at him. Still, she was sure to avert her gaze from me.

"We were just talking about office romances," Tiffany said with a mild slur. I guessed I wasn't the only lightweight here.

My chest lurched. Office romance? Then… could that be why she didn't want to look at me?

I glanced nervously around the table, trying to understand the situation.

Jonas shot Tiffany a sharp look and then grinned innocently at me. "It's not that… We just… you know… there's always someone crushing on someone else."

I gave a half-smile and poured myself a glass of the wine that was sitting on the table. "Go on. Talk away," I said. "Just pretend for the evening that I'm not your boss. Besides, Candance is the only person who cares about that kind of thing, since she's the Director of HR."

Roman chuckled. "So, who's got sparks between them?" he asked, leaning playfully against the table. He glanced around. "You can tell me. I don't work there, anyway, and I'm way cooler than this walking, talking Armani suit over here."

I took a sip of the wine. Sour, dry.

"Is it you two?" Roman asked, pointing at Isa and David.

I camouflaged my shock with another sip of sour wine. But I saw her flinch, sit up straight in her chair, eyes wide and worried before she narrowed them.

"I don't get involved with co-workers," she stated matter-of-factly.

The pitter patter of my heart slowed as I soaked in her words. Maybe that was why she was being so standoffish with me.

David laughed and removed his arm. "I just met her this week. It takes longer than a few days to become a couple."

So he wasn't denying it. Maybe he'd already started to develop an infatuation with her. By the way he looked at her out of the corner of his eye, it seemed that was likely the truth.

"So what are you going to do about this situation?" Roman whispered.

I eyed Isa who finally met my gaze. Her look was intense and pointed, and it made my heart come alive again.

What would I do… that was the question indeed…

***

"Damn, it's already almost ten," I groaned to myself.

Jeffery had taken off from the office long ago and left me to focus on my work. Paperwork was the theme of my life, it seemed, but it kept things going.

I took a break to stroll through the empty office and call for fast food delivery.

Passing through the hallways, it was tempting not to stop and take a closer look at Isa's office. I glanced at the nameplate on her closed door. Her name was pretty… Isa. I wondered what it meant.

No, I wondered what she thought of me. I thought back on the last few weeks, especially since the night at the bar with the Luca team. Isa had been particularly detached from me, which was really rubbing me the wrong way.

Then again, she was probably feeling much the same way if she really remembered me from the beginning. I was walking around, clueless for so long with her hanging out right under my nose. Even my dreams had been trying to make me remember.

As I made it to the first floor where I met the delivery guy, I scoffed at myself. I was such an idiot. Despite the alcohol in my system before and after meeting her, I should have done a better job at remembering.

But what was I to do now? She was basically my subordinate, though I liked to think that each Chief position was equal around here. And it seemed I'd made a negative impression on her.

What were the chances that she was still thinking about me, about that night?

A flash of heat shot through me as I recalled the way she felt under my lips, under my hands.

I tipped the delivery guy generously and took the stairs back up to my office. I needed to tire myself out to keep my mind on track.

It wasn't easy to keep my thoughts on the subject of work, however.

When I reviewed Isa's latest file on Luca's budget, I was almost happy to see that she had made a mistake. It was a rookie mistake, one that would be easy to fix, but the important thing was that it would give me an excuse to get her into my office the next day.

***

"Callan, good morning," Jeffery greeted me. "Don't forget that the first thing on your schedule for today is to call your father. Your goal is a ten-minute conversation this time."

Ugh. Why did I ask him to do this kind of thing first thing in the morning?

I nodded and rubbed the tiredness from my eyes. The morning drizzle was trying to lull me back to sleep after a sleepless night.

"Rough night, sir?" Jeffery asked.

I shrugged. "No rougher than usual."

He frowned at me. "You should really take it easy, even just for a few days. Take a three-day weekend or something. Or, better yet, just get off work before midnight like everyone else."

I gave him a sidelong glance. This was the same discussion he always tried to have with me. He didn't seem to understand that everyone expected me to put in the extra work as the CEO, especially my father.

"You know, even your dad—"

"No," I stopped him. Jeffery had been my dad's assistant for five years before I took over as CEO, so I often heard about the differences between us. "I don't want to hear about that right now. Just… let me get some coffee. And I want to see Isa right away. I found a mis—"

Speak of the devil and she shall appear.

As Jeffery and I pushed through the cafe door, I saw Isa standing at the pick-up counter with David right on her elbow. Their shoulders were shaking with laughter, and Isa was touching David's forearm lightly.

Nobody was supposed to be that cheerful this early in the morning.

David's eyes crinkled happily as he gazed down adoringly at her. My stomach balled up in a fist.

Really, David had just gotten back only a week ago, and already he'd sunk his teeth into her. Not that I blamed him. She was a beautiful, intelligent woman. However, since I'd realized that my dreams were not just dreams, I'd been thinking about making some kind of move myself. I didn't like David standing in my way.

"Is it just me or have those two been awfully chummy lately?" I muttered.

Jeffery followed my line of sight. "What do you mean?" he asked. "Is there a problem?"

I adjusted my suit jacket on my shoulders. "No, no. I just… don't want any of my employees to be distracted at work. You know, office romances and all."

Jeffery cocked his head and raised an eyebrow. "Since when have you cared about the employees' love lives?"

I halted. "Actually, I think I'll just get coffee from the break room. I don't want to wait in line," I said, swiftly turning on my heels and heading towards the elevator. "Oh, and about that upcoming international trip, make sure everything is arranged. Each traveler needs to sign the consent forms I emailed out on Monday."

"Callan," Jeffery called from behind me. He stepped into the elevator right behind me and huffed. I could tell by his labored breathing that he was irritated with me. He hated it when I dodged his questions, no matter how insignificant they were. "What about Ms. Loveless's work? Do you want me to reschedule—"

"No, I'll see her right away. In fact, why don't you go get her now," I said, just as the doors closed.

Jeffery narrowed his eyes. "You couldn't have said that four seconds sooner?"

I shrugged.

"If you don't mind, sir, I'll just meet her at her desk and bring her up, along with your coffee."

"Sounds good," I said, clasping my hands together in front of me. I clenched them tightly as if I could wring out the picture of David and Isa standing together and laughing.

Although a part of me argued it was none of my business, a possessive imp in me argued it was entirely my business who made Isa Loveless laugh.

Especially if it wasn't me.