Better Than Chance(2)
“So, I take it you did a little celebrating last night? Tell Mama all about it.”
I laughed. She was one of those funny, straight married women who loved gay men. She loved hearing about my grand gay adventures, even though she knew most of what I told her was pure bullshit. I entertained her. Whatever the case may be, she had become an ally and a friend. In the cutthroat work environment of a lobbyist in the nation’s capital, you learn quickly whom you can trust and whom you cannot. I was lucky to have her on my side.
I spent a few minutes embellishing my tale of debauchery from the evening before. The truth was that Aaron, my best friend, had insisted we go out to celebrate. After a drink or three, he talked me into going dancing at a nearby club. I hadn’t required much persuasion in all honesty, but that’s just how things were for me sometimes. It was hard to stop having fun when I was on a roll. Aaron understood. Not everyone else did, though. Rebecca just laughed and shook her head at me.
“You ought to know better. How old are you now anyway? Twenty-eight?”
“Well, we used to be friends. I’m twenty-seven! Alright already… as interesting as the subject may be, enough about me. Do we know who the project leader is yet? How big the team is? What do you know, All-Seeing-One?”
Rebecca giggled like a schoolgirl and shifted her larger frame in her chair. She pulled out a pair of reading glasses and her notepad and pen. Suddenly she was the epitome of a diligent secretary working for a high-profile DC firm. I adjusted effortlessly into work mode myself and began to take notes. Our new client was a new environmentally progressive solar energy firm who required our assistance with the Department of Energy. What exactly that entailed and who would be assigned to tackle what issues would all be discussed in our morning meeting with the project lead.
“I don’t know who the lead is for certain, but I have a suspicion you’ll be happy.” Rebecca peered at me over the rim of her reading glasses, her brown eyes twinkling with amusement.
“Oh? Do tell. The caffeine is finally taking hold, but my body is still wondering why the hell I’m here at seven fucking a.m.”
“Language!” She reprimanded. Rebecca didn’t mind swearing per se, but she really hated the word “fuck.” Too bad. It was one of my personal favorites.
“Sorry, ma’am.” I turned on my southern charm and was begrudgingly forgiven.
“I have a feeling it’s Peter Morgan. You know, the really handsome….”
“Oh my! How will I concentrate? Do you know we’ve never worked together before? This is rather exciting! More to celebrate! I have had a major crush for two years.”
“Honey, this whole office has. But, don’t get too excited. I think he bats for the other team.”
“Oh that is too bad…. Shouldn’t you be admonishing me about infatuation at the work place? It is, after all, highly unprofessional.”
“Well, yes. But who could blame you? That man is fi-ine!”
We giggled, but quickly got back to work. I needed as much information as possible to prepare for the seven-thirty meeting.
REBECCA’S SOURCE was solid. I entered the glass-enclosed meeting room five minutes early to find the head chair taken by his truly, Peter Morgan. He was on his cell phone, but lifted his head in greeting when I walked into the room. I sat three seats away in deference to his phone call and took the opportunity to study my new project supervisor.
God-like beautiful. It really was no exaggeration to say Peter Morgan was a blessed man in the looks department. He was taller than me, which made him instantly interesting, because at six foot three, I was always one of the taller men in any given room. His dark hair and classically gorgeous features reminded me of an Italian movie star or a GQ model. His hair was cut short and had an effortlessly styled look. His cheekbones were high and complemented his square jaw beautifully. In short, he was dreamy. I sighed and silently reprimanded myself. This delicious man was my boss, not a potential conquest. He was completely off-limits. An office romance wasn’t in the cards. Being a member of this project team was important for my career. I needed to show my professional and hardworking side, not get caught drooling over my straight project leader.
A few more people took seats around the table. Light chatter filled the conference room until Peter set his phone aside and immediately had the attention of everyone at the table. There were just eight of us gathered at the large glass table, which was a little odd since most of the firms we dealt with were large and required substantial resources and manpower on our part. Peter addressed the smaller than normal group and explained that this was a small but extremely important project. Each of us had been specifically chosen because of our superior skill sets and he was confident that we would be more than capable of completing our objective within the specified time frame. The gist was that they were asking eight people to do what sixteen people usually were assigned to do in two months. Two months was literally half the time normally allocated for any project.