Daphne chewed on her lip as she hit submit. She glanced at the clock. It was already a quarter after five. Shit, she thought. I’m late.

  She locked her computer and pulled the laptop off of the docking station at her cubicle. She quickly shuffled her feet towards the conference room that Asher had asked her to meet him in. He was already waiting for her and seemed to be fiddling on his phone. Daphne’s mind was filled with memories of Gary, and how much time he had spent texting other women on his phone.

  I wonder if Asher has a partner. If he does, I hope they treat him well. They would be crazy not to.

  She slipped into the conference room. “Sorry,” she said. “It took me longer to get things done than I thought it would.” She swallowed hard, her chest feeling tight.

  “It’s not a problem,” Asher replied looking from his phone with a smile. Daphne watched as he carefully slid his phone into his pocket, as she smiled back.

  “Even with Landon, Holly, and even you helping me, I’m still overloaded,” she said with a sigh as she pulled out the chair next to him. “I really didn’t realize how bad it was until last week.”

  Asher made a pursed lips smile, and looked a little sad. “Yeah, I’m not sure why Trevor dislikes you so much.” He opened his laptop and began typing in his credentials. “On an unrelated note,” he said. “I figured it might be nice to have one another’s phone numbers just in case something comes up with this project. It seems like there might be quite a bit of driving around the state for the work.”

  Daphne felt her eyes widen. “Are you serious?” she asked.

  Of course Trevor would try to assign me a project that would eat into my productivity hours, she thought. That man is more of a prick than I thought he was before I came back to the past.

  “Completely,” Asher said with a nod. “And it seems as though this project is going to take a considerable amount of time to completion.”

  Daphne put her hand on her face and groaned. “What are we going to do then?” she asked. “What changed that made you think it’s so much more work than the last time we talked?”

  “I’ve had a few more meetings than last time,” he replied. “So now I’m better able to scope the work. I’ve already talked about offloading some of the work I currently have in flight to Holly,” Asher said, nodding. “And as I know you’re buckled down under more projects than I am, I’m happy to do the lion’s share of the traveling for this work. But if something comes up and I need your help putting something together or grabbing something and sending it to me, I would like to be able to notify you quickly, which is why I think it would be good to exchange numbers.”

  Daphne felt her heart skip a little beat as he asked for her number again. She’d only just exchanged phone numbers with one of her co-workers for the first time only a day before. Holly had been the first person at work to ever ask for her number. Now she was being asked to share it again, and with Asher, no less.

  “That sounds like a good plan,” she replied, attempting to ignore her emotions. She pulled out her phone, trying to steady her hands, but they were still shaking as she exchanged phones with Asher.

  “You nervous your boyfriend will think you’re cheating?” Asher asked as he began typing his name into her phone.

  Daphne swallowed hard and looked down at Asher’s phone in her hands. It was simple and clean looking, and in dark mode. She smiled a little, realizing that his phone reflected his appearance.

  “No,” she replied, starting to type her own information into his phone. “We broke up.”

  “Oh,” Asher said, sliding her phone on the table back to her. “Sorry I brought it up.”

  Daphne bit her bottom lip, finishing typing in her number, and handing his phone back to him. She met his brown eyes and noticed that a dark strand of his bangs had come untucked and was hanging down on his forehead.

  A fresh rush of adrenaline shot through her, and she quickly averted her eyes, feeling her face flush. “It’s no problem,” she replied, doing everything she could to keep her voice steady.

  Asher cleared his throat. “So I already met with some of the main people who are going to be involved with the project, as I said…but outside of the traveling piece of the work, I’d like to walk you through what I know so far. How does that sound?” he asked navigating on his laptop. Daphne looked over and saw that the tips of his ears had turned a bit red, as he was opening the document he had taken his notes in.

  “That sounds good,” Daphne replied, holding tightly onto the table in front of her.

  “Great,” Asher replied with a nod. “So because there are some big names in the organization endorsing this project, it’s considered a really high priority, and the timeline is expected to be quite rigorous across the months that the work is being done in. A lot of the groundwork has been completed already, so really, our role as project managers is going to be focused on keeping the work as on time as possible. As I said before, the team is hoping that we can help to organize the many documents they have, synthesize some of the work into some slide shows, and help design the change management plan.” He paused and pulled up some screenshots on his laptop. “If you look here, you’ll see that the work really focuses on transforming how the company will manage and allot funding for internal projects.”

  Daphne craned her neck to see the tiny text on Asher’s computer. She could barely make out the tiny words. “That sounds like a big lift,” she said.

  Asher nodded. “If it weren’t for all of the important people behind it, it would be a enormous project.”

  “So why does this require you to go all over the state?” she asked, sitting back in her chair, as he seemed to be looking for a slide deck presentation.

  “While a lot of the ground work has been done, one thing the team wants to capture is how work is currently being done by the workers requesting capital. They are hoping to design the new process with the users in mind…” Asher chuckled a little, a cynical smile on his face. “But we’ll see how that goes.”

  Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

  Daphne nodded as he pulled open a presentation similar to the one that she had helped make the week prior.

  “This is the one I really wanted you to see,” he said.

  Daphne leaned forward again, nearly having her head on top of his shoulder. Her heart started rumbling through her chest again, and she caught a whiff of a warm, clean scent. She could hear him talking in the corporate jargon language that she could normally understand, but in the moment it sounded like gibberish. Rather than digesting the words she could barely see, her focus was much more on making sure her body did not touch his in any way.

  Her breathing felt shallow, and she was hyperaware of it. Even Asher’s soft breaths were audible.

  “…what do you think?” Asher asked. “Do you think the timeline is too aggressive for all of the other work you’re doing?” He turned his head to look at her, and their eyes met again.

  Silence filled the room, and Daphne felt bewitched by his gaze. Neither of them broke the contact for a few beats, and Daphne swallowed hard, and managed to pull her eyes away. She felt her face filling up with blood once more.

  What was that? Nothing like that has ever happened to me before.

  She gently put her hand over her heart which she could feel beating quickly underneath her rib cage.

  “Ah, sorry about that,” she heard Asher’s voice say. “I should have plugged into the projector. I didn’t even think about it before you got here.”

  Chewing on her lower lip, she looked over at him. It sounded as though the words had been tumbling out of his mouth, and she saw him looking down at his own hands. His ear tips were even darker than they had been previously.

  “That’s alright,” Daphne said, her voice trembling a little. “You just surprised me when you…turned.”

  “Right, yeah, I…” He just shook his head. “Let me get this plugged in so you can actually see,” he said, jumping up, his hands scrambling all over the pile of cords in the center of the table, looking for the one that plugged into the large screen on the wall.

  “Thanks,” Daphne said, her heart finally starting to slow.

  I knew I was attracted to him… She covertly watched his rush to plug his laptop in. But what the hell was that? She chewed on the inside of her cheek. It hasn’t even been a week since Gary and I broke up…and that was the second break up I’ve been through in less than two weeks… She closed her eyes, trying to clear the sensation of how close they had been out of her mind. There is absolutely no way that I’m ready for a new relationship. I tried so hard to keep Gary, only to have him cheating on me all along. Plus…dating at the office? That could make things really complicated.

  “You alright?” Asher asked. “I must have really surprised you,” he added.

  Daphne opened her eyes and met his, as he sat down in the seat next to her again. As he did so, his hand grabbed the chair arm of his seat, and gently brushed hers. She yanked her hand back, feeling as though she had just received a jolt of static electricity.

  He looked surprised at her reaction, and she turned away from him. “Yep, I’m fine,” she muttered.

  Her heart started up all over again. God I hope he can’t hear it. The blood rushing through her seemed as loud as the silence of the room.

  “Is the projected version better?” Asher asked. Daphne knew she couldn’t hide her face any longer, even if she wished she could.

  She looked over at the screen, doing her best not to look at Asher, and ignoring the burning sensation across her face. “It’s much better,” she answered, trying to focus on reading the words on the screen.

  He started talking again, and Daphne found herself sneaking glances at him. Am I the only one who is attracted? Surely the tension in the air wouldn’t be this this thick if I was…right?

  Undeath the table, she pinched her thigh and winced. Stop it. I have to get over Gary before I can even consider a new relationship. Even more important than that, I have to figure out who murdered me before it happens again. It’s not like I’m swimming in extra time to spend building a new relationship.

  Attempting to be subtle, Daphne attempted to widen the gap between them. Much to her chagrin, Asher looked up at her as she was scooting, and smiled awkwardly.

  Shit. The floor can swallow me up any time. All I’ve done is make things worse.

  She tightly smiled back at him.

  “So, what do you think?” he asked. “Does that all make sense?”

  “Yes,” she answered with a nod. “Is there anything specific you or the team would like me to do?” she asked. “Since we are tag teaming this project and everything.”

  Asher nodded, his smile loosening. “The team is having weekly meetings on Thursday at eight thirty in the morning, so if you have that time available, or could make that time available, it would be ideal to have you at those.”

  Daphne nodded and opened her laptop. “I think that time is typically free, but let me double check.”

  “Sure,” Asher replied. “Additionally, the team was really impressed with the presentation you put together for them last week, and they are hoping that you will be able to continue putting the presentations together for the course of the project.”

  Something that had been feeling tight in Daphne released. “That’s it?” she asked. She looked over at him, and he was nodding.

  “That’s it,” he confirmed.

  “Are you really going to be alright with me taking on this little of the project?” Daphne asked, raising her eyebrows. She turned to look at her computer to look at her calendar.

  “Yes,” Asher replied. “This is an enormous ask of the PM team, and Trevor should have tried not to slap it on the busiest person on the team. The president of the company is involved so it needs to be done right, and it needs to be done well.”

  Daphne’s eyebrows somehow raised higher and she looked over back at Asher. “The president of the company?” she asked.

  “Yes,” Asher answered. “And I’m not trying to say you’re incapable of the work either.”

  “I know what you’re saying,” Daphne said, crossing her arms, feeling a flash of heat run through her. “You’re saying that Trevor was trying to sabotage me.”

  “Essentially, yes,” Asher said with a nod. “He was at least attempting to set you up for failure…which only a complete knucklehead like him would do. Without this you, this team could probably only manage seventy-five percent of the work we are doing. Trying to get your best employee booted seems like the fast track to losing your own job.”

  Daphne pursed her lips. “Do you really think I do twenty-five percent of the work?” She asked, turning back to her laptop. “And for sure, Thursdays at eight thirty will work for me,” she said.

  “Great,” Asher replied. “I’ll forward you the meeting invite.” He paused. “And yes, I do think you’re doing that much work. I think you’re a very fast worker, and also really great at the work you do. You’re very efficient with your time, which is why Trevor is an idiot.”

  Daphne let out a small laugh. Her chest felt warm and tingly as she smiled widely. “Thank you for saying that,” she said.

  Does he really think that about me? I didn’t realize that I was being paid attention to at work…even Holly was paying attention to me and I had no clue…

  “Honestly…” She swallowed hard. “I really appreciate you saying that a lot,” she added. “I’ve been considering trying to find a new job, and I have been struggling with thinking that I won’t be able to find something because I’m incompetent.”

  Asher nodded. “I don’t blame you for looking,” he said. “You should have more confidence in your skills for sure. If you really do struggle to find something, though, feel free to let me know. I know a guy who might be able to use a project manager.”

  “Thanks,” Daphne said with a small smile and a nod. “I’ll keep that in mind.” The warmth she had already been feeling in her heart grew some more.

  I don’t know why I never tried to connect with my co-workers. I wish I had realized what great people I had around me sooner.

  “Alright,” Asher said. “Let me give you a run down on the next slide show the team will need,” he said with a smile.

  “Sounds great,” Daphne replied, her smile widening at him.

  I really have missed out on a lot of life. She turned back to the large screen. I have been foolish this whole time.