Chapter 10
The moment Marcus walked into work Monday morning, he knew something had happened. There was a certain energy in the air as he walked past a few of his coworkers who were talking with one another, their eager hushed tones making him curious as to what they were talking about. Marcus was planning to stop by his office to drop off his things, but before he could, he was approached by his boss Felix.
"'Morning Marcus. Meeting in the big conference room in ten," he said, his eyes glinting jovially. "You're gonna want to be there for it."
"Did something happen?" Marcus asked, interested.
"You'll see," Felix said with a wink. He clapped Marcus on the shoulder before walking past him toward the conference room, and Marcus hurried toward his office to drop his things off.
Ten minutes later, everyone in the office was gathered in the large conference room: Rose had about a hundred or so employees, and all of them gathered together in the largest conference room was a rather tight fit. A few people sat in chairs or leaned against the walls, and a majority of people simply stood, watching Felix stand up at the head of the table. Marcus stood near the back of the room with two salesmen Greg and Liam.
"Hey, do you guys know what happened?" Marcus asked Liam quietly as everybody around them gathered in the conference room for the meeting.
"No, do you?" Liam asked, and Marcus shook his head.
"I heard it's something to do with Rax Technologies," Greg whispered to both of them. Marcus looked at him in surprise.
"Really? I feel like I would have heard something about that."
"Everyone!" Felix held out his hands so people's chattering voices quieted down. "Everyone, please settle down... I think a majority of you have all heard the news already, but I'd still like to make the official announcement right now. Rax Technologies, who we've been in negotiations with for the past several months, have not only agreed to let us utilize their sensor technology for our self-driving cars, but they have also agreed to work in conjunction with us and become a key investor in Rose Engineering. Their investment is set to bring five million dollars into our company... and we have our very own Marcus Sato to thank for it."
Everyone began to clap and cheer, many heads turning toward Marcus and grinning at him. Marcus was in shock, barely able to register what he'd just heard: Rax Technologies was going to be working with them! Marcus had no idea he'd made such a good impression on the Rax guys during that meeting, but apparently his hard work had paid off.
"Dude this is amazing!" Greg said excitedly, grasping Marcus's shoulder and giving it a shake. Marcus could only give a shocked laugh.
The clapping and cheering went on for another minute or so before Felix held his hands up to settle everyone down. "I know, this is great news for Rose! And to celebrate, we're going to have lunch catered from Marty's Pizzeria at noon today. Courtesy of the company."
Everyone cheered once again for that, and Felix soon dismissed everyone and told them to get back to work. Everybody left, chatting excitedly with one another, while Marcus approached Felix at the front of the room.
"Great job, Marcus," Felix said sincerely, clasping his hand and shaking it. "Seriously. This will be reflected in your Christmas bonus at the end of this year - you've definitely earned it."
"Thanks Felix," Marcus smiled, a swell of pride growing in his chest.
"Good work, Marcus," Randall, Rose's CFO, now approached them with a grin on his face. Trailing behind him were Gerald and Sam, a couple other upper-level executives, and Marcus suddenly felt nervous to be in the presence of all his superiors.
"Um... thank you, sir," Marcus said gratefully.
"We're all going out for drinks tonight at that bar Havana. Seven o'clock," Gerald said to Marcus, clasping him on the shoulder. "And you're coming out with us - no excuses."
Marcus smiled as the others laughed. "Sounds like fun."
"I should hope so. My wife Sarah has been bugging me to take her out for weeks now," Felix smirked. "According to her, I work too much."
"My Janet thinks so too," Randall chuckled, and he turned to Marcus. "Feel free to bring along a friend or your girlfriend, Marcus. It won't be too formal - we're just going to have a few drinks, get to know one another a bit outside the office, that sort of thing."
Marcus felt his heartbeat quicken, his mind casting to Morgan. "Oh, um... sure. Yeah, I'll see if my girlfriend can come along."
Shit.
"Excellent," Gerald grinned. "So we'll see you both tonight."
Marcus agreed, and the men all said goodbye before dispersing. Marcus hurried out of the conference room and headed toward his office, trying not to look like he was running even though he was sorely tempted to break out into a sprint.
Fuck
He had just promised to bring Morgan to an after-work social gathering with his bosses! This definitely wasn't part of their arrangement, and now he was about to drop this suddenly at her feet... he sincerely hoped she wouldn't be too angry or upset.
He closed the door to his office before picking up his cell phone, swiftly dialing Morgan.
"Marcus?" she picked up after the second ring.
"Morgan," Marcus said, running a hand nervously through his hair. "Sorry, is this a bad time?"
"No, not at all," she said. "What's up?"
Marcus took a deep breath, unsure as to why he was feeling so nervous. "Look, I'm so so so sorry about this, but I need a favor."
"Okay?" Morgan said slowly, clearly curious.
"My bosses invited me to have a drink with them after work tonight, and I need you to come with me," Marcus said in a rush.
There was a short pause. "Um..."
"I know. Normally I would just go by myself or I would skip it, but my bosses want to celebrate a big client I helped them get today," Marcus explained in a rush. "They're bringing their wives with them, and they said I could bring my girlfriend with me, and I mentioned you and they suggested I bring you along and I know this is super last minute but this is kind of a big deal for me and I want to make a good impression--"
"Marcus!" Morgan laughed, interrupting his rambling run-on sentence. "It's fine. I'd be happy to go out for drinks with you and your bosses tonight."
Marcus paused, his eyes wide. "Really?"
"Of course. I have nothing going on tonight anyway, so it's totally fine," Morgan said. "When is it?"
"It'll be at seven o'clock at a bar called Havana," Marcus said, smiling in relief. "I can't thank you enough for this Morgan. I definitely owe you one."
"I'll hold you to that," Morgan giggled. "I'll see you tonight."
"See you tonight."
They hung up, and Marcus went to sit down behind his desk, letting out a breath he didn't know he was holding. He grinned to himself: Morgan had agreed to come with him to have drinks with his bosses tonight, and just the thought of that immediately made him feel more at ease. Spending time with Morgan had always been effortless, so her being by his side tonight would surely make this evening less stressful.
Morgan was such a great person, and Marcus felt incredibly lucky that he had found her to agree to this arrangement with him. She was beautiful, smart, witty, and happy to play along with this little ruse... honestly, why couldn't all relationships be this easy and uncomplicated?
Marcus quickly powered on his computer, feeling inordinately pleased about the fact that he was going to see Morgan later tonight.
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~Havana, 7:05 pm~
There was a rather harsh chill in the air tonight, and Marcus would have preferred to wait inside Havana where it was warm and comfortable. But Morgan had just texted him to say she was arriving in the next few minutes, and he wanted to greet her outside before bringing her in to meet his bosses.
Marcus hadn't been too familiar with this bar, but after arriving he realized it was a rather classy establishment, with soft low lighting and dark leather furniture strewn around the place. A majority of the patrons here were clearly high-brow lawyers and corporate executives having a drink after a long day at work, which was probably why Felix and the other execs at Rose were familiar with this place. Marcus realized he should have warned Morgan to maybe dress up a bit for tonight, and he was nervous she was going to feel too out-of-place here if she dressed too casually.
Marcus glanced at his watch before gazing down the street, wondering if he should text Morgan to hurry up.
"Hey Marcus."
Marcus looked to his left, and his jaw nearly dropped on the ground. He couldn't believe he was nervous about Morgan dressing too casually - she was looking fantastic in a dark red knee-length dress and classy black heels, her brown hair in soft curls around her shoulders. Her normally pretty face looked absolutely flawless with dusky eyeshadow accentuating her green eyes and red lipstick on her beautiful mouth.
She was wearing a black overcoat to stave off the cold, her hands shoved into her coat pockets as she approached Marcus, smiling at him.
"...Morgan," Marcus finally croaked when he found his voice. He cleared his throat. "Wow... you look amazing!"
"Thank you," Morgan smiled, clearly pleased. She lifted one of her feet up, showing off a sexy black pump. "I just bought these heels the other day, so I thought I'd wear them out for the first time tonight."
"They look great," Marcus said sincerely. "You look great. Wow. I'm sorry, I wasn't expecting you to look so good - I was worried you were going to dress too casually for this place and would feel out of place."
"I've been to Havana before, so I knew what to expect," Morgan giggled, shrugging. "Is everyone inside right now?"
"Yeah, most of us are here already," Marcus said, holding out his hand for her to take. "Are you ready?"
"Let's do it," Morgan smiled, taking his proffered hand in her own. Marcus felt warm tingles shoot up his arm at her touch, and he couldn't help but notice how soft and smooth her skin felt against his. He grinned at her.
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Wow.
Morgan is amazing.
Marcus knew there were probably other adjectives Morgan could be described as, other phrases that could be used to properly articulate the kind of person she was, but those three words seemed to be the only thing that could penetrate his mind throughout the evening.
From the moment they walked in together, Marcus knew Morgan was going to shine. She looked gorgeous in her red dress and with a large smile on her beautiful face, and Marcus, feeling like the proud boyfriend of a woman who was way out of his league, introduced her to all of his bosses as his girlfriend with confidence. Morgan greeted them all with her usual open friendliness and a kind disposition; she wasn't overly gushing or annoying, and Marcus couldn't help but feel fucking proud to have her with him tonight. Everyone who had come out tonight were clearly taken in by Morgan's effortless charm, and Marcus couldn't help but agree.
Throughout the evening, Morgan engaged in friendly conversation with everyone, her ability to mingle so easily leaving Marcus practically in awe of her. The conversations flowed all evening, with topics ranging from the work they did at Rose to the wine selection here at Havana. While Marcus had initially felt nervous about this evening going smoothly, he now realized Morgan made this night go far more smoothly than he could have ever possibly hoped for.
She was amazing. That really did seem like the only word to describe her.
Amazing.
Several hours had passed at this point, and the night was finally winding down. Randall, Gerald, Sam, and their wives had all left for the night, and Morgan and Marcus were about to head out too.
"Morgan, it really was lovely to meet you," Sarah, Felix's wife, smiled brightly to Morgan as they hugged goodbye. "You and Marcus simply must join us for our annual trip in Napa Valley this summer! A group of us at Rose go every year and it's always such a blast."
"We'd love to go," Morgan said graciously, and Marcus knew she was just being polite since the two of them weren't going to be 'together' anymore by the summer. "Marcus and I will have to check our schedules, but that sounds like a lot of fun."
"Honestly, we'd love for you to come," Felix said sincerely, wrapping an arm around his wife and smiling at Marcus. "The two of you are more than welcome."
Marcus thanked them both, and Felix and Sarah said their last goodbyes before leaving. Morgan went to put on her coat.
"Is the rest of our group gone?" Marcus asked, glancing around the now mostly-empty bar.
"I think so," Morgan said, looking over her shoulder. "Why-- AGH!"
She didn't finish that question as Marcus suddenly wrapped his arms around her waist and picked her up bodily from the floor, spinning her around in a circle. Marcus laughed as Morgan grasped his shoulders in surprise.
"Oh my God, Marcus!" she squealed, though she tried to keep her voice down as she glanced around. "People are looking!"
"I don't care," Marcus grinned, though he did place her back down on the ground. He kept his arms around her waist as he smiled at her. "You, Morgan Cahill, are absolutely amazing."
Morgan looked pleased and embarrassed by his praise. She blushed as she glanced down. "I didn't really do much."
"Are you kidding me? You did everything! You had my bosses eating out of the palm of your hand! Seriously Morgan, this night was a huge success because of you. Thank you so much for doing this for me."
"It was no problem, Marcus. I actually had a lot of fun tonight," Morgan smiled up at him, and Marcus thought she looked a bit shy. "Your bosses are really nice. Much nicer than my boss at least."
"Well, I've already met Justin, so that isn't saying much," Marcus chuckled. "I'm glad you had fun tonight at least."
"Me too," Morgan smiled.
There was a short pause as they gazed at each other, and after a moment they glanced down, apparently noticing for the first time Marcus's hands were still around Morgan's waist, holding her rather close. Morgan had placed her hands on Marcus's biceps, their bodies close enough to appear rather intimate.
Marcus looked back up and met Morgan's eyes, and she gazed back at him with an unreadable expression on her face. The bar's lighting was rather dim, but he was close enough to see the cute freckles dusting her nose and cheeks, and the eyelashes on her wide green eyes. An unfamiliar yet powerful emotion seemed to surge up in Marcus's chest as he looked at her, and his heart pounded in his ribcage, making his breath quicken.
He had a sudden, inexplicable urge to lean down and kiss Morgan, right here and right now. Just as he was contemplating acting upon his desires, however, Morgan took a step back, causing Marcus's arms to drop to his sides.
"I should probably go," she muttered, quickly reaching down to pick up her purse. "It's getting late."
"Yeah," Marcus said, clearing his throat and reaching a hand up to scratch the back on his head. "Yeah, you're right."
"I'll see you later, Marcus," Morgan barely glanced in his direction as she hurried away toward the door. Marcus simply watched her leave.
"Goodbye," he muttered, an odd disappointed feeling now filling his chest where his desire had been a moment ago. He knew he should have been glad: he and Morgan had a good thing going, and kissing her like that would complicate things far too much. It was for the best that the two of them retain a purely platonic relationship when no one was watching.
A/N: Hope you all enjoyed that! Next chapter, Morgan goes to work and learns something about Justin.
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