Hired, page 9
The door of Sebastian's office opened, and Sebastian walked out with the woman he'd had a meeting with, sending her a terse smile as he led her to the elevator. He waited until the elevator had closed, then made his way over to Hadley with a deep sigh. “Thank god that's done. That woman was insufferable.”
“That bad?” Hadley said sympathetically. Sebastian wasn't usually so open with him outside of his office, but Beryl had a doctor’s appointment, so Hadley was alone.
“She kept flirting with me. Other than outright telling her I was gay, how the hell could I have stopped that? And if she’d done her research, she should’ve known I’m not into women. It’s not like I make a secret of who I am. But she didn’t get a hint, and trust me, I gave plenty of them.”
Hadley snorted. “If you were your grumpy, grouchy self, I agree she shouldn't have had any reason to assume the interest was mutual.”
Sebastian never took offense when Hadley remarked on his usual mood, which Hadley found interesting.
“It's annoying. Even if I were into women, I would never mix business with pleasure like that. It's so unprofessional.”
“Who is she?” Hadley had seen her name on Sebastian's schedule—something else he had changed, making it digital so he had access as well—but he hadn’t made the appointment and wasn't sure who she was.
“She's a reporter who works for a major consumer magazine, and she's gonna write a feature on the Mow Buddy.”
“Ah, gotcha. Well, if she has any follow-up questions, you can send her my way. Anyone who doesn't pick up on me being gay should have their gaydar checked.”
Sebastian sent him a rare smile. “You're a freaking unicorn personified.”
“Damn right.”
“Anyway, I need to work uninterrupted for a bit, so can you take my phone?”
Hadley held out his hand. “Of course.”
Did Sebastian even realize that the way he asked things had changed as well? When Hadley had started, Sebastian had been barking orders not just to him but to others as well. He hadn't asked people to do things but had told them, if not flat out ordered them. Lately, he'd begun to make actual requests, which was an improvement. Hadley didn’t know if Sebastian was doing just with him, but it was progress, right?
“Thank you. Please hold all calls unless it's urgent.”
“Family, fire, or financials.”
Sebastian frowned. “What now?”
“Those are the three categories I always label urgent. If there's something wrong with your family, if something is on fire, whether literally or metaphorically, or if it's about a lot of money. Anything else can wait.”
“Family, fire, financials,” Sebastian repeated. “I like that.”
“I keep telling you, but I'm happy to remind you again that I've been doing this for a while.”
Sebastian rolled his eyes, but a smile tugged at the corners of his lips. It still happened rarely, and it always felt like a victory to Hadley when he managed to make Sebastian smile. “I’m going to go now. You and your ego have fun there.”
Hadley was still chuckling as Sebastian closed the door behind him, then put the man's phone on his desk. What had he been doing? Oh, right. He’d been setting up several general email addresses, automatically routing them to the right person. He'd been shocked to find out HR didn't have a general email address either, just the individual addresses of the people who worked at that department. He created that one first and had set it up so it would route to their secretary.
The second email address had been for general inquiries about the company, and for now, those came into his inbox. That had already cut back on the number of emails in Sebastian's inbox, so that was a good first step. Now, what else could he do to limit them? Would organizational software like Slack perhaps be a better solution? Definitely something he needed to look into. He should compare a few systems, both in what they offered and in pricing, then present the options to Sebastian so he could make an informed choice.
He spent some time Googling, making notes about what each software offered and what the cost would be. Okay, that was enough to show Sebastian and have him decide. For now, he wanted to program a few more rules into Sebastian’s email so certain emails would automatically be sorted into folders and could be tackled later. That would keep his inbox uncluttered. Hadley did it on his computer first, then double-checked on Sebastian’s phone if the rules worked there as well. They didn’t at first, but when he closed the email client and opened it again, they did. Yay, another problem solved.
Just as he wanted to put the phone down, an all too familiar alert pinged. He clicked on the Grindr notification. Oh, he was cute. Sweet brown eyes, a bit of a sexy stubble, and if the pics were really his, a nice dick. Without thinking about it, he swiped right, then froze.
Oh, shit. This was Sebastian’s phone. He had just swiped right on Sebastian’s Grindr, not his own. Shit, shit, shit. How the hell could he have been this stupid? How on earth would he explain this to Sebastian? He could opt to keep it to himself, but Sebastian would find out when the guy contacted him, and then Hadley would be in even bigger trouble.
He couldn’t help himself and looked at Sebastian’s Grindr profile. His profile pic was a tantalizing shot of his hairy chest at a perfect angle, showing off hard nipples and that happy trail south. He’d slipped a hand beneath his pants, clearly holding his dick. Damn, that was one hell of a sexy pic, and Hadley would absolutely have swiped right on it. Sebastian’s profile name was WkndLover, which made sense after what Hadley had learned about him. It was a smart name, since it made clear he was only available on the weekends.
Would Sebastian have more intimate pics in his profile? A dick pic, perhaps? Oh, how Hadley wanted to check out his other photos, but he couldn’t. He’d already crossed a line he’d never thought he would, and even though part of it was by accident, he still felt guilty.
The door to Sebastian’s office opened, and the man himself sauntered out, looking mighty pleased with himself. In fact, Hadley couldn’t remember having seen Sebastian smile like that spontaneously. Not a polite, barely visible curl of his lips but a full-on, happy smile that reached his eyes. And it had the same effect on Hadley as before. The man was sexy even on his grumpy days, but smiling like that, he made Hadley’s stomach flutter.
“You look happy,” he said, hoping he sounded normal.
Sebastian stopped in his tracks, his smile faltering as his brows furrowed. “I suppose I am. Don’t worry. It won’t last.”
Hadley snorted. “Trust me, I wasn’t counting on you switching personalities.”
“Little chance of that. I’m happy I finally got to work on something that’s been spinning around in my head for a while. A new product.”
“A new product? You still develop products yourself?”
The last traces of Sebastian’s smile vanished. “I shouldn’t, I suppose, as the CEO, but I’ve always loved the research and development process. The Mow Buddy was my idea as well.”
So Beryl had been right about that. “From what I understand, that’s looking promising, so maybe you shouldn’t tell yourself not to come up with new products.”
Sebastian blinked. “Right. I do it because the ideas won’t leave me alone otherwise, but that’s a rational way of looking at it.”
Now that Sebastian seemed in a somewhat good mood, he’d better confess his mistake, or he’d never have the courage to do it. He took a deep breath. “So a funny thing happened when I was holding your phone.”
“You were holding my phone?”
“I was adding more rules to your email inbox. That ensures that certain emails will be automatically added to folders and not clutter up your inbox. Like HR reports, newsletters you’re subscribed to, or test reports.”
Sebastian tapped his foot. “Is this going somewhere?”
“Yes. My point was that’s why I was holding your phone. Then a notification came in, and I didn’t realize I wasn’t on my own phone, and…” Another deep breath as he avoided Sebastian’s eyes. “Iswipedright,” he mumbled.
“Come again?”
“I swiped right. On the notification.”
Hadley peeked at him through his lashes. Confusion marred Sebastian’s face, but then it lit up. “You’re talking about a Grindr notification.”
Hadley’s cheeks heated, though why he wasn’t sure. Hell, two days before, they’d talked about sex. He was no blushing virgin, so why was he so embarrassed? “Yes.”
“Aw, you scored me a hookup. I guess you really are taking care of all my needs, huh?” Sebastian held out his hand, and with a sigh, Hadley gave him back the phone. The fucker immediately checked Grindr, of course, whistling between his teeth. “Oh, he’s cute. Good choice. Guess my weekend plans are all set. Unless…”
He looked at Hadley, his eyes darkening.
Hadley shifted in his chair under that relentless stare. “Unless what?”
Sebastian flipped his phone around, and there was Hadley’s profile, showing up as nearby to Sebastian’s location. Hadley hadn’t even thought of checking his own Grindr during work hours, or he could’ve easily checked out Sebastian’s profile. Hadley’s face burned. “What do you mean?”
“That’s you, right?”
Hadley hadn’t used his name in his profile. He’d called himself HappyBottom, which had seemed perfect at the time as it advertised his best feature, and to drive the message home, his profile pic was a sexy shot of his ass clad in a pair of bright red silk panties. How the hell had Sebastian guessed it was him? “What makes you say that?”
Sebastian clicked his tongue. “At the risk of crossing into sexually inappropriate terrain…”
“’Cause you’ve been appropriate so far.”
Sebastian grinned. “I just wanted to point out that I had, in fact, noticed your rather attractive derrière.” At Hadley’s confused expression, he stage-whispered, “That’s French for ass, but it sounds so much sexier in French.”
He’d noticed Hadley’s ass. Of course he had. All gay men did. In itself, nothing new, but why then was Hadley still struggling to get rid of that stupid blush? His cheeks were still burning hot. And he’d bet Sebastian had spotted that too and that it only egged him on. No, Hadley needed to get his act together and pretend some level of indifference. “Yeah, that’s me. So?”
Sebastian’s eyes darkened even more. “That’s a delectable picture.”
“I see you’re not done being inappropriate yet?”
“I haven’t heard you protest so far. Tell me no, and I’ll stop.”
Did he want him to stop? He should, but what he should do and what he wanted weren’t always the same. “I know.”
“Did you check my profile?”
Hadley swallowed. “Just your name and profile pic. Nothing else.”
“Pity. There’s quite a flattering pic in there of my best attribute.”
“How the hell did you manage to take a picture of your sunny disposition?”
Sebastian laughed. Not a tepid smile but a full-out laugh, and it startled Hadley. Holy shit, he needed to stop flirting with Sebastian. This had catastrophe written all over it.
“Not the attribute I was talking about, but I fear that showing you the picture I’m referring to would venture into dangerous territory.”
“Smart decision, though I’m pretty sure we crossed that line a while ago.”
“I could swipe right on your profile and put the ball in your court.”
Why did Sebastian have to be so stupidly hot? God, Hadley wanted to fling himself at him and beg him to fuck him, and what the hell was that about? “You could. I’d swipe left, though.”
“Really?” Sebastian cocked his head. “You’d reject me?”
“In a heartbeat. I told you. I can’t sleep with my boss.”
“You can, but you won’t. There’s a difference.”
“In my case, the two are closer than you think. I can’t afford to lose my job, Sebastian. If Flextechs fires me, I’d be in big trouble.”
“I’d hire you.”
Hadley shook his head. “That’s bullshit if you’d be the reason I got fired in the first place. You don’t do relationships, and neither do I. All it would be between us is sex, a onetime thing. Is that worth it? I scored you a hookup for the weekend, albeit by accident. I suggest you take advantage of it and forget about me.”
Sebastian stared at him. “I doubt I’ll be able to forget about you, but I’ll refrain from swiping right. For now.”
10
Sebastian chewed on his fourth Tums of the day as he leaned back in his chair, tuning out Drew, his chief technical officer, as he droned on about something Sebastian had lost interest in ages ago. Why the hell was he having acid reflux again? He’d tried to eliminate foods with high acidity, like orange juice, as those seemed to make it worse, but all he’d had was a bagel with salmon and cream cheese and his slice of banana bread. And his coffee, of course, but that had never bothered him before. Maybe he should try milk again. That had helped settle his stomach the other day, so Hadley had been onto something there. Then again, he hadn’t steered Sebastian wrong so far.
He studied Hadley as he sat across the table from Sebastian, making notes of whatever Drew was ranting about, his fingers flying over the keyboard of his laptop. His eyes were trained on Drew, only occasionally flicking back to his screen, and man, he typed fast.
Having his PA sit in on meetings was new, though no one had complained about it. Up until now, Sebastian had made a few quick notes about each meeting himself, but he had to admit that Hadley’s thorough notes were much more useful. This was the third meeting he was sitting in on this week, and the notes of the previous two had been uploaded to the system within fifteen minutes of the meeting finishing. Just one of the many ways in which Hadley had made Sebastian’s life easier.
He swallowed the last bit of the Tum. Hadley’s face was so expressive. No one was paying attention to him, so they weren’t picking up on the subtle signs, but to Sebastian, it was clear that Hadley wasn’t a fan of Drew. Every now and then, he would roll his eyes ever so slightly, his mouth would tighten, or he’d sigh quietly before making his expression blank again. It shouldn’t be cute, but it was, and Sebastian had a hard time looking away.
Hadley looked across the table, meeting Sebastian’s eyes, and everything else faded away. Those captivating moss-green eyes held his, and Sebastian all but felt Hadley’s gasp, a quick rise of his chest. He had such a lovely neck. Sebastian wanted to lick it, then suck it hard enough to leave a mark. Mmm, yes, he liked that idea. Have everybody see he’d claimed Hadley. His dick twitched at the thought.
And oh, that ass… Now that he’d seen that picture on his Grindr profile, he was even more intrigued. Did Hadley wear those frilly, übersexy panties every day? Was he wearing them now? Sebastian had no trouble at all picturing Hadley, his voluptuous ass clad in red silk, the soft fabric barely accommodating his hard cock. How perfect that would feel if he just pushed them aside and fucked Hadley with the panties still on, make them all wet and dirty from his cum.
Hadley’s cheeks grew red as if he’d been able to read Sebastian’s mind, and he broke off eye contact. Too bad, though Sebastian had to admit it was for the better. This meeting wouldn’t last forever, and he could hardly let Drew think his endless blabbering had given Sebastian a hard-on. Speaking of which, he was out of patience with this whole diatribe.
“You’ve made your opinion more than clear,” Sebastian interrupted Drew. “Let’s move on.”
Drew shifted in his seat, shooting him a dark look that Sebastian ignored. The man loved to hear himself talk, and after yakking for a good ten minutes, he’d already used five times the amount Sebastian had wanted to allot him.
“What’s next?” he asked when no one said anything.
“A quality control issue with the robotics sprinkler,” Hadley helpfully supplied.
Right, they had an actual agenda for meetings now, also something new. Sebastian looked at Drew again. “That’s your territory as well. Keep it short.”
Drew narrowed his eyes, but then he pasted a smile on his face and gestured at a woman sitting at the end of the table. Her name escaped Sebastian, but he was pretty sure she was new to Drew’s department. Head of quality control, maybe? He seemed to remember that position had been vacant. “I’ll let Julia handle this one.”
Julia. Right, she was their new quality control manager. Sebastian remembered her résumé, which had been impressive, though right now, she looked like a deer in the headlights. She sent a look of desperation in Drew’s direction, but he only leaned back in his chair. “The floor is yours, Julia,” Drew said.
Her face hardened, but then she made eye contact with Sebastian. “Mr. LeClerc, the short of it is that we have identified a systemic quality control problem that has so far caused multiple minor issues. They haven’t had major financial consequences, but if this isn’t addressed, it will.”
Sebastian frowned, leaning forward. “What issues?”
Again, she looked at Drew, who sat silently. “We’re still working on identifying the causes, but they’re all software issues. What we haven’t determined yet is if they all share the same root cause.”
“Software issues. You’re talking about the control system itself?”
“Yes, sir, the software embedded in the sprinkler system.”
“I know what the software is,” he snapped. “I wrote some of the code myself.”
She froze for a moment, and a red hue spread from her neck upward. “I wasn’t aware, sir. I apologize.”
“I don’t need apologies. I need to know what the problem is and how you’re gonna fix this.”
She raised her chin, her face even tighter than before. “I understand, and I will have an answer for you by the end of the day.”
Sebastian checked his watch. Noon. “Acceptable.” He looked around the table. “Nothing else? Good.”
As everyone left, Hadley stayed behind, packing up his laptop with an unusual lack of speed. When Sebastian walked out of the conference room and crossed the hallway into his office, Hadley followed him, closing the door behind him.
