Page 12 of From That Moment

“This is not high school, Benji. We’re working. You had a huge bug in your code, and she happened to find it. That’s her job. What’s with you?”

“It’s her tone.”

“If she was a man, would you be saying the same thing?” And here I was, standing up for her. But, fuck. It would be wrong if I kicked him out without saying what I thought.

I was pretty sure that Paris couldn’t even hear me through the walls, so it wasn’t like she could get angry with me about it. Well, she probably could. She’d likely find a way. However, I did not blame her for what she’d said to Benji. Not in the least.

“You need to lay off,” I continued, my voice as calm as possible. “Don’t you hear how you sound?”

“I don’t know why everyone has to bring up the fact that she’s a woman. I’d hate the way she’s acting towards me if she was a man.”

“Okay. That’s fine. However, you need to watch the way you speak.”

“I thought you’d be on my side,” Benji grumbled. Before I could say anything, he slammed out of my office, and I closed my eyes.

“Jesus,” I whispered.

“I see you’re having as good a day as I am,” I heard and looked up to see Paris standing in my now-open doorway.

“How did you open the door without me noticing?” I asked, and she rolled her eyes.

“You know me. I’m just, you know, a secret spy or something. Seriously, though, you had your eyes closed and were rubbing your temples.”

“Sorry about that,” I said.

“No need to apologize to me.” She paused and looked over her shoulder before closing the door behind her.

“Sorry about Benji,” I said.

“It’s getting worse,” she said, beginning to pace my office.

“I know it is. And in case you were wondering, I did tell him to knock it off while he was in here.”

She paused and looked at me, then tilted her head. “You know, for some reason, I actually figured you’d defend me. Even though I don’t need you to do that.”

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. “Well, considering I was thinking pretty much the exact thing you just said, I’m going to count that as a win.”

She paused.

“What do you mean?”

“Let’s go get some lunch,” I said suddenly, standing up from behind my desk. It was lunchtime, and while I might have brought something to eat, I needed to get out of this office. There was something wrong here. And, frankly, I needed help with my project, something that would take time and brainpower.

“You want to go to lunch? With me?” she asked, her voice deadpan.

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“Because I’m the Shark? And nobody on this floor likes to eat lunch with me.”

I narrowed my eyes, rage at the rest of the people in this building filling me up once again.

“That’s going to change. We’re friends, Paris. We can go to lunch. Notice I didn’t saytake you tolunch.”

She rolled her eyes, her lips twitching into a smile. “So, I take it you’re not going to be chivalrous and pay, then?”

“Hey, I’m pretty sure you once said that chivalry is dead, and you were glad of it.”

“I did not. But I like to open doors for some people if I get there first.”