She spotted him sitting alone at an empty table, digging into a bowl of shrimp étouffée. He had a large stack of papers before him he appeared to be reviewing, managing at the same time to look downright gorgeous.
Helpless to do anything for a moment but stare, Carla soaked up the sight. Jackson sported the same gruff, bedraggled yet sexy scientist look he’d had in the morning, with light afternoon stubble now adding to the mix. His shirt was damp with sweat and clung to his skin like the male version of a wet T-shirt contest, emphasizing the firm muscled chest beneath. His bronzed forearms rested atop the table, and she could see the snake tattoo wrapped around his left bicep. He leaned forward as he ate, bowl in front of him, taking spoonfuls of étouffée as he read the papers. Amazing that a snake scientist could look so hot.
She stepped lightly as she approached, but nevertheless he looked up as soon as she was in hearing distance. She noticed he didn’t exactly smile when he saw her, but his eyes were welcoming as she neared the table.
“You just taking a break now?”
“I think I lost track of time,” she replied. “There’s a lot of filing in that room, and before I knew it, I felt my stomach growling.”
He actually had the decency to look apologetic. “It’s not the greatest challenge, I know. But it seems to be our default starting point for all of the interns.”
“Good to know I’m not special,” she joked, a little thrill of victory shooting through her as she noticed a small grin lifting the corner of Jackson’s lips.
“Food’s over there,” he said, nodding toward the long table that, like last night, was set up buffet style with the day’s offerings.
“Great. I’ll be right back.”
The shrimp étouffée smelled terrific, and simply lowering her face toward the chafing dish and letting herself be surrounded by the heady aroma of roasted shrimp, garlic, cayenne pepper, and Cajun spices sent her senses into overdrive. She took a heaping bowl of it, then walked carefully back to where Jackson sat. The last thing she needed was to lose her footing and go flying to the floor, landing in a slippery heap of shrimp étouffée. The thought was at once so terrifying and hilarious she choked back giggles as she approached the table.
“Something funny about the food?”
“No.” She shook her head as she took a place across from him. “Not really. I was just thinking—” Her pocket buzzed. She reached in and pulled out her phone, glancing at the number as she did so. Damn. Her mother.
She debated whether to answer it or press silence when Jackson gave a nod of assent. “Go ahead. Might be important.”
“Well, I…” Another buzz, this one seeming more impatient, as if mimicking the feelings her mother undoubtedly had about Carla not answering the call. She sighed and pressed answer.
“Hi, Mom.”
“Carla?” Some papers rustling in the background and the sounds of rapid-fire instructions directed to her assistant. Then, “I’m sorry, honey. Too many things going on at once.”
“Like always.”
“Listen, I have to make this quick but I wanted to let you know I heard from Bryce this morning.” Whooppee.
“Oh?”
“He sounded a little put off. I— No, I have to stop in Lisbon first. I can’t go straight to Paris, Betheny. I’ll need an overnight in Lisbon and then into Charles de Gaulle by noon the next day. Carla?”
“Still here.” She bit back a weary sigh, wishing for once her mother would call her without doing ten other things at the same time.
“Anyway, apparently you forgot to call him yesterday.”
“I didn’t forget, Mom, I just—”
“Remember, honey, we’ve gone over this. Men are very impatient and they don’t like to be kept waiting.” “I know, Mom. You’ve mentioned it before.” About fifty times.
“Bryce is concerned about you, Carla. I think you may have hurt his feelings.”
Whoa! Was this conversation for real? “I’m busy here, Mom, and I can’t know my exact schedule.”
“No, I won’t be checking any luggage. They charge those ridiculous fees nowadays and anyway, I don’t have time to stand around collecting my bags. Carla?”
This conversation needed to end. Now. “I’m here, Mom, but I have to go. Anyway, sounds like you’re off on another trip.”
“I am. There’s a dynamite new Portuguese player who’s going to give LeBron a run for his money. But we’ve got to get him here, first. Apparently he wants more money. Athletes!” Carla could hear the exasperation in her mother’s voice, but there was no mistaking the excitement a new challenge brought her. Linda Saunders absolutely loved her job.
“Anyway, I just wanted to let you know about Bryce. He’s keeping an eye on you for us, after all.” Carla barely contained the groan rising in her throat. Leave it to Bryce to convince her parents she needed looking after and he was the one to do it. His ambition knew no limit. As far as he was concerned, he was practically a member of her family without ever having proposed to Carla.
She ended the call and set the phone down with a sigh of disgust. Jackson looked up from his papers. “Something wrong?”
Damn. He must’ve heard her sigh. “Oh, I…nothing.” She shrugged. “My mother called.” When Jackson made no reply, Carla felt compelled to fill in the silence. “She can sometimes be frustrating.”
He nodded, his dark eyes seeming to fill with understanding. She wondered if he had the same experiences with his family but knowing how he clammed up on the personal stuff, she held back on asking him.
The rest of the afternoon passed by uneventfully, as did the next two days. Carla saw so little of Jackson during that time she began questioning if he avoided her on purpose. She’d seen him a few times talking with colleagues, and she knew he’d seen her, but she hadn’t been invited to join the conversation. Not that she could’ve exactly contributed to the snake chat. Still. She had to reassure herself that his absence was merely coincidental. She could hardly have given off such a bad impression, at least not in a single day. Right?
Her internal dialogue played itself out in her mind with alarming frequency. She did her best to stay positive but his curious absence made her wonder. It also made her think about him way more than she should. Needing a distraction, she decided to propose a project for herself in the data room.
“You want to what?” Quinn scratched his head when she first brought up the idea.
“Overhaul your database.”
“Overhaul how?”
Carla tapped a few keys to bring up the program they were using. “This was a good system in its day, but it’s really old,” she explained. “If you continue to use this you’ll pretty soon find yourselves without tech support. You’re also vulnerable to viruses. I’d love to get you set up with cloud computing.”
“Cloud? Hmm. I, ah…” She could tell by Quinn’s muddled expression he had no idea what she was talking about. Not wanting him to feel foolish, she quickly covered.
“You guys are so busy here I know you haven’t had time to think about this, but it’s part of what I do. My company specializes in advising companies on operational efficiency. Being as updated as possible with your systems is part of it. I happen to be kind of a tech geek so I know a little more about cloud computing than others. I’d be happy to do some preliminary work for you just as an introduction. What do you say?”
Quinn chuckled as he gathered papers on his desk, preparing to leave for the day. “I say you know a whole heck of a lot more about this stuff than I do, Carla. And if you think this is something we need, I’m not one to argue. I’ll run it past Jackson to be sure, but I say go ahead. Make our day.”
She smiled at his movie reference. “Great. I’ll type up some notes so you and Jackson know exactly what I’m doing.”
He glanced backward from where he’d been headed toward the door. “Aren’t you coming to dinner?”
“Yeah, but probably later. I’m eager to get started.”
And get my mind off your boss.