Page 1 of From That Moment

Chapter 1

Prior

“I thinkyou’re going to like it here, though I still don’t know why you only want to stay for six months. I don’t know, once you meet everybody, you might want to stay for a bit longer. There are some perks.” Benji elbowed me in the ribs, though it wasn’t hard enough to hurt, and then he winked. “If you know what I mean.”

I looked at the other man and kept a pleasant smile on my face. I hoped to hell I had no idea what he meant. Because if this was the start of my new job, then it was going to be a long fucking six months.

I was going to take this job today and be here for the next half a year. The branch wanted me to plug up a hole that people kept revolving through over the past year or so.

I was a software engineer and was damn good at my job. Working on a project usually took longer than six months. However, turnover on this one seemed greater than normal.

I’d always wanted to work for this department of the company, even in a temporary position. When my current branch offered to loan me out, I greedily accepted.

I loved my current job, but I adored the fact that I could work with another team for a little while. It wasn’t that unheard of when both branches were owned by the same conglomerate. The fact that I got bored easily, even with jobs I loved, meant that this was a perfect break for me. It wasn’t the first time I had done it, but it was the first time I’d felt so uneasy about the guy talking to me.

Benji had been working at this particular branch for the past six years and had moved up in the ranks quickly. I had seen his work and appreciated what it did for the company. I hadn’t spoken to him in person before, though. Now, I understood why that had probably been a good thing for both of us.

“So is my office this way?” I asked, changing the subject. I didn’t want to wonder what Benji was talking about for long. Not if I wanted to keep this job.

“Oh, yes. You’re right next door to your software quality engineer.”

“That’ll be helpful, considering she’s going to check all of my work for the next six months.”

Benji rolled his eyes. “She’ll probably give you a hard time about it, too. She loves telling us everything we do wrong.”

I frowned, grateful that no one was around to overhear.

“That’s sort of her job, isn’t it?” I asked. “I mean, I develop it, and she tests it. There’s always going to be kinks in the system that we need to figure out.”

“I think she enjoys telling men that they’re wrong. If you know what I mean.”

I hated that phrase.

I held back a sigh and resisted the urge to pinch the bridge of my nose. Oh, good. It was going to be one ofthoseplaces. I couldn’t wait.

“So, here’s your office,” Benji said, moving into a nicely sized room with a desk, a couple of tables against the walls, and a bright window.

I was going to love that view and natural light.

At my current place, I shared an office with someone because the rooms were about twice the size of these. And my office mate hated light. Seriously, I was pretty sure he was a vampire. That meant my beautiful window always had its blinds closed. No matter what I did, I resolved myself to the fact that I would never be able to see the outside world again from my office.

At least that’s how it felt. That’s why I did my best to work from home most days.

Considering my job, I was able to do that. I kind of liked this office so far, though. Maybe I would work onsite more often. I’d have to see how things worked. For instance, if Benji continued on his path of freaking me out, maybe I’d telecommute. I guess it all depended on my software quality engineer.

For all I knew, they did have it out for every developer out there and enjoyed telling us what was wrong.

What I didn’t like was the fact that the man sounded fucking sexist when he said it. I would like to see and form my own opinions.

“Looks great,” I said and turned to Benji. “Thanks. Seriously. I’ll be back tomorrow to start for real, but I’m thankful that you showed me around today.”

“I’m glad you’re going to be here. Even though it’s only six months, maybe you’ll like it. We always like new blood. It gets kind of annoying after a while when everyone just leaves because they’re afraid of the Shark.”

“Excuse me?” I asked, confused and a little weary.

“Yes, Benji. Excuse me?” a very familiar voice said from behind us. I turned and could have cursed under my breath.

Paris. Of course, it was Paris.