She crossed her arms and lifted an eyebrow, her chin lowered. “Oh my God.”
“I’m not lying.” Heat washed up from under his shirt and into his face. “Fuck me, something is wrong with my computer.”
“I cannot believe this,” she said tightly, turning and striding out of his office on those fucking sexy-as-hell legs, though how he could even notice that at this point when his career was spiraling downward like a turd in a toilet, he could not fathom.
At that point he became aware of distant laughter. He looked out the glass wall on one side of his office and saw Scott, Ravi, Owen and Dash collapsed over a desk. Tears were literally running down Owen’s face. Dash rolled off the desk and hit the floor next to an upholstered chair. He pounded his fist on the seat, laying his face against it, still howling.
With a flash of realization, Levi knew…he’d been set up.
Oh for fuck’s sake.
He was pretty tech savvy and couldn’t believe he’d fallen for this. He bent his head to the computer and pulled out a tiny USB. He held it up to the guys and, with a grin, Scott held up the wireless mouse they’d been using to fuck him up. Levi reached beneath the desk and found the cord of his own mouse, disconnected.
He nodded. Once again, they’d got him. He was going to have to up his game here.
Reluctant admiration coursed through him. If it weren’t for the fact that Sloane Granderson thought he was a total asshole, he’d be laughing right now. Had they planned that part too? Or was that just his fucked-up luck that she’d come by in the middle of his humiliation?
What to do, what to do?
He stood and strolled out of his office. “Nice one, guys,” he said with a friendly smile. “You got me again.”
They were still laughing so hard they couldn’t speak.
Mason walked by and stopped at seeing the four men collapsed in laughter. “What the hell is going on?”
“Small joke.” Levi pocketed the tiny USB. He was sure as shit not going to be the one to tattle to the boss.
“You should’ve seen your face,” Ravi chortled. “And then Sloane walked in…”
Levi gritted his teeth again. “Yeah, about that—”
“What the hell did Sloane walk in on?” Mason demanded.
Oh yeah, right. Mason and Sloane were “tight”. Whatever that meant. Levi eyed his boss, his mind racing as he tried to figure out how to handle this without throwing his coworkers under the bus. Though right then he personally wanted give each of them a hard fucking shove.
“You’re gonna love this.” Scott held up the wireless mouse to show Mason. “We took control of his computer. Opened up his browser to a porn site. Bwhahahaha!” He shook with mirth again.
Mason’s lips twitched. He swallowed. “And that’s when Sloane walked in?”
“Yep.” Levi sighed. He didn’t want to mention that she already thought he was a dickhead.
“Well, Levi, you’re getting quite the initiation here with these assholes.”
“Yes, I am.”
“I’ll explain it to Sloane,” Mason said. “Now please, get to work, gentlemen.”
Their hilarity passing, the guys managed to pull themselves upright and wipe away their tears.
“Did you plan for Sloane to come by then?” Levi demanded. “Or was that just my good luck?”
“We couldn’t plan that,” Owen admitted. “But damn, it couldn’t have worked out better.”
“We were gonna send in Bailey or Phoebe.” Ravi named the two media buyers on the team. “But Sloane got there first.”
Levi gave them a disbelieving look. “That’s kind of asshole-ish to the ladies.”
They frowned at him. “They can take a joke,” Ravi said.
Well, he wasn’t going to argue with them, but the last guy who’d said that to him had been slapped with a sexual harassment suit the next day. Jesus.
A short time later, once everyone had calmed down, Levi and Scott occupied two of the bright red armchairs in a far corner of the open space. Levi had another cup of coffee and he set it on the small table as he opened his notepad.
“Okay,” he said. “Let’s talk beer.”
“I’d rather drink it,” Scott said. “Ha.”
Levi had studied the creative briefs they’d been given yesterday afternoon by Noah, signed off by the clients just last week. He’d done a shit ton of his own research too after learning what the problem was they were being asked to solve.
“So we have these ‘craft beers’.” He did air quotes with his fingers. “That now aren’t really craft beers but we have