“Is that an option?” Steven asked.
“It is for an IT guy.” Holt shrugged and rubbed his forehead. “I don’t know about you, though.”
“Oh. In that case.” Steven grinned. “Want to be my date, man?”
“Hell, no,” Holt said, shaking his head for emphasis. The last thing he wanted to do with a migraine coming was socialize with his boss and coworkers. He’d end up coming across as an idiot. “I got out of it, so I’ll be damned if I agree to go now. Not even for you.”
“Fucker.”
“Yep.” He leaned back in his chair. “What about Lauren?”
Lauren was Steven’s other best friend, who Holt was ninety-nine percent sure was actually his soul mate…if those even existed. They’d never gone there, but it was a ticking time bomb waiting to explode, in Holt’s opinion.
They were both just too stubborn to admit it.
“Already tried her.” Steven shook his head. “She’s got dinner with her latest boyfriend…so that leaves you.”
“Ah.” Holt shrugged. “Sorry man. Not interested.”
“Whatever. Be a dick. I’m out of here. I have to go out to the Branson mansion to watch the old man golf.” He dragged his hands down his face. “I’d rather stare at a code all day like you.”
“Yeah, well, not everyone can be as awesome as me.”
Steven snorted. “If that’s what you want to call it. Myself, I’d say ‘dorky,’ not awesome.”
“You can’t insult me today.” Holt cracked his knuckles and rolled his shoulders. “It’s just not possible.”
“Why not?” Steven stared at Holt, his hazel eyes latched onto him. “What did you do last night that has you in such a cheery mood? Let me guess. You had another meaningless fuck with some faceless woman who fell for the whole tortured nerdy thing you have going on?”
He cocked a brow. “Tortured nerdy thing? I don’t—”
“Yeah, you do. And you make it work.” Steven crossed his arms. “Spill it. What did you do last night?”
“Nothing much. Just went to the bar with Gordon, then met someone.” He shuffled through the papers on his desk, taking his time to carefully form the thoughts in his head. “And for some reason, I can’t stop thinking about her.”
Steven sat down. “Seriously? She’s actually still on your mind the next morning?”
Holt didn’t want to give away too much, since he didn’t really know why she was different from the others either, so he shrugged and set the papers back down in the same exact order as before. “What can I say? She was pretty fucking amazing in bed, man.”
“Apparently.” Steven leaned his elbows on his knees. “Tell me about this paragon of a woman who has you smiling like a fool.”
Smiling? Holt froze. He hadn’t even realized he’d been smiling. He pushed his glasses up into place and shifted his position. “She’s got strawberry blonde hair, and does this thing with her tongue and fingers that made me—”
Steven held up a hand. “You know what? Never mind.”
“Pussy,” Holt teased.
“I jut broke up with my girl, man. I’m not ready to listen to you wax poetic about some redhead yet.”
“Strawberry blonde, not red. And when you are ready, I’ll be here. I’ll even be your wingman.”
Steven stood up. “You might not be single for much longer, from the sounds of it.”
“The hell I won’t be.” Holt’s phone rang, and he rested his hand on the receiver. “She might be good, but she’s not going to hook me like that. I just wanted one more go at her, but she left before I could have one. So she’s in the past now…just like the rest of them.”
“Famous last words, dude.”
Holt flipped Steven off, and the other man left. As soon as the door shut behind him, he picked up the phone. “Holt Cunningham.”
“Hey,” his boss, Cooper Shillings, said. “Can you come to my office, please?”
“Sure thing.”
The line clicked off, and he stood. When the head of Shillings Agency called you down to his office, you didn’t waste time. You fucking went. He’d been avoiding him, since he hadn’t wanted to stumble over his words in front of the man who could fire him, but he couldn’t avoid a direct call like that.
When he got to Cooper’s door, he knocked once and heard, “Come in.”
Holt walked in. “What can I do for you?”
“I have a new assignment for you.”
“Okay.” Holt sat down in the chair across from Cooper, who looked at him with bright green eyes. ”Where am I going?”