Val stood in her boss's office, fury burning through her veins. Her left side faced the glass wall, giving her a perfect view of the open-plan office—and unfortunately, of Tyler, leaning against her desk, chatting up the women in her team.
Ugh. Just perfect.
"I apologise for dropping this on you, Valkyrie," Oliver said, hands spread in a placating gesture. "But this came from the top. There was nothing I could do."
"That's not fair," Val shot back. "None of us—none of the team—were prepared for this. When did you know?"
"Friday evening."
Her nostrils flared. "And you didn't tell us?"
"There wasn't enough time." Oliver sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Besides, if you'd been on time this morning, I could've briefed you."
Her jaw clenched. "That's not fair. I am never late. The one day I'm late, and you're blaming me?"
"No one's blaming you, Valkyrie." His voice was tight with frustration. "I'm saying it could've been avoided."
"Oli—"
He cut her off. "Look, we don't have time to argue. I need you to focus on Tyler's onboarding."
Val nearly recoiled. What?! She already had a mountain of work, and now he wanted her to babysit him?
"I have too much to do," she protested.
Oliver shook his head. "You need to onboard him," he said firmly. "You're his counterpart. It'll be faster if you take him through everything."
He kept talking, but Val wasn't listening. Her mind was already racing, trying to figure out what this meant for her future.
As he wrapped up, dismissing her with a nod, she spoke up. "What about my promotion?" Her voice was quieter now, laced with something dangerously close to vulnerability.
She had worked her ass off for this. She had earned this.
Oliver hesitated. "You're a hard worker, Valkyrie. No doubt you'll make regional manager one day. But that's not something I can guarantee."
Her throat tightened. "So, what? The top doesn't think I can do my job?"
"That's not what I—"
She cut him off this time. "This tells me exactly what they think." Her voice wavered despite her best efforts.
"Enough," Oliver said sharply. "Stop feeling sorry for yourself. You won't achieve anything by doing that."
Val swallowed hard, pushing down the sting of his words.
"Now get back to work," he ordered. "Both of us have too much to do."
That was her cue to leave. She stalked out, fists clenched, rage burning in her chest
Oliver watched her go, guilt flickering across his face. He knew the truth would hurt her more than she realised.
Val threw herself into work, determined to drown out the bitter frustration clawing at her. She had too much on her plate to waste time worrying about shoe-kicker.
Laughter rang across the office.
"Ha! Oh my god, Ty, that's hilarious!" one of the interns giggled over enthusiastically.
Val's head snapped up.
Tyler stood by his desk, five women from her team hanging onto his every word, their eyes practically twinkling.
Val rolled her eyes. What do they even see in him? Arrogant. Violent. A total menace.
She turned to Elsie, who sat at the desk beside hers, ready to vent—only to find Elsie gazing at Tyler with the same admiration.
Oh my god. Not you too.
Before she could fully process her disappointment, a knock on her desk made her look up.
"Hey," Tyler said, staring down at her with those cool, unreadable blue eyes. "Ready for our meeting?"
She met his gaze, fire blazing in hers.
Without a word, she turned back to her computer, finishing an email. "I'll meet you in the conference room," she said flatly.
Elsie flinched. Val never spoke like that.
Tyler only smiled, clearly amused. "Okay, boss lady. You look busy. I guess it's good you've got a helpful guy like me on the team."
With that, he sauntered toward the conference room.
Val clenched her fists so tightly her nails dug into her palms. He is so damn annoying.
"Are you okay?" Elsie asked hesitantly.
"I'm fine," Val bit out.
She stood abruptly and stormed off.
I've never seen Val this upset before, Elsie thought.
Val shut the conference room door behind her, inhaling deeply. Do not let him get to you.
She could feel his gaze on her as she set up the projector. Her eyes flicked up briefly—he had removed his jacket, now sitting there in his white dress shirt, arms crossed.
She could see the taut muscles under his shirt.
Ugh. An obvious gym bro. She forced her focus back on the screen.
"I'll start with an overview of the business," she said, waiting for him to interrupt. When he didn't, she launched into an explanation.
By the time she wrapped up, she was outlining the company's latest marketing tool. "We built this in-house and launched it recently," she said, unable to hide the pride in her voice. "I oversaw the entire process."
Tyler leaned back, smirking. "You seem like a hard worker."
She ignored him, "I am a hard worker."
"Hard work is good." He paused "Are you single?"
She spun around, arms crossing, eyes narrowing.
"Is that an appropriate question to ask?"
His smirk widened, thoroughly unbothered.
"You're pretty uptight Val," he observed. "I can call you Val, right?"
She stiffened at the mention of her nick name. He noticed.
Slowly, she walked to the table, palms flat against the surface as she leaned in, her stare deadly.
"And you, new guy, are cocky." She smiled sweetly. "I wonder how you'd feel getting a PG (Personal Grievance) raised on your first day."
He exhaled a quiet laugh. His cool blue eyes gave nothing away, but the amusement faded slightly. "Alright, alright. I'll behave."
She pushed off the table. "Good." Then as she turned away, she tossed him a glance over her shoulder, she added "Oh, and no, you cannot call me Val."
She continued the briefing, feeling a small but satisfying victory over cocky O'Ryan.
What she didn't notice was Tyler, leaning back into his seat, eyes intently fixed on her.
A smirk tugged his lips.
I'm going to enjoy it here.