and revenue assignments.” He plunked the bag on my desk. “I brought you something. A peace offering, since we have to work together.” He reached in and pulled out my mug. Specifically, my broken caffeine mug, with riverlike cracks running down and across it, held together by poor Krazy Glue craftsmanship. “I found all the pieces and tried to fix it, but as you can see, it’s not the same.”
Nope. Not the same.
He cleared his throat. “I got you another mug from the pharmacy downstairs. It’s temporary until I get you a real replacement. I haven’t had much luck finding the same one online, but don’t worry, I’ll find it.”
Out of the bag came mug number two. “World’s Best Grandma.” I broke my stoic demeanor and snort-laughed.
He smiled in return. “Okay, good. At least you’re not glaring at me anymore.” Our eyes met as he handed the grandma mug to me, along with the “repaired” one. “On my honor, I will get you a replacement mug. And trust me, no interns would dare steal either of these, so you’re safe.”
This was a cease-fire gesture, I got that, but I just wasn’t in the mood. And I didn’t want him still here when Asher got back, last thing I needed was incessant chiding about Nolan. “I really need to get back to work.”
He frowned. “You won’t accept any of my meeting requests and we need to get our assignments done before the deadline. I looked on your shared calendar, it’s not blocked out right now.”
Jumping to my feet, I nodded my head toward the door. “Sorry, but you saw my to-do list with your own eyes. I’ll find some time later this week. Now go.”
He wouldn’t budge. “We can’t do later this week. Ian stopped by my desk and said, quote, ‘Goddamnit, Nolan, this was due yesterday!’ End quote.”
Asher’s laugh echoed nearby. I needed Nolan out of here.
Without thinking, I nudged him toward the doorway by pushing his back. Nolan scoot-stepped along a bit, but then dug in his heels at the exit. His trim, strapping body gave a ton of resistance.
“Thanks for stopping by.” With a light shove, I pushed him into the hallway, straight into Asher.
Nolan, being the smaller of the two, ricocheted off Asher’s chest and right arm and bounced back to me. He opened his mouth to say something, but I cut in.
“Nolan was just leaving,” I said, shooting him a stern look. “Thanks for the reminder about our meeting.”
Nolan pursed his lips and scooted past Asher.
Asher smirked as he took his seat. “In-ter-es-ting. Did I interrupt a spat? A lovers’ spat perhaps?”
God-fucking-damnit. It didn’t help that my face burned hot from embarrassment. Or maybe exertion—pushing Nolan out the door was harder than it looked. That guy had serious muscles packed under that checkered shirt.
Asher opened his desk drawer slowly and rustled some papers. “Ah, here it is. The employee code of conduct.” Clearing his throat, he read, “‘Employees are strictly prohibited from engaging in any physical contact that would in any way harm another employee.’”
I glowered at him as he rubbed his upper arm. “Your intern really did a number on me. I hope this doesn’t bruise.”
Staring hard at my laptop screen, I tried to ignore his distractions, but he was getting to me.
“Oh, here’s an interesting HR tidbit. ‘Personal relationships, including romantic and-or sexual, between individuals in inherently unequal positions, where one party has real or perceived authority over the other in their professional roles, may be inappropriate in the workplace and are strongly discouraged.’” He tut-tutted and continued. “‘If such a relationship exists or develops, it must be disclosed immediately.’”
He shoved the pages back into the drawer and closed it. “Just let me know when you’re ready to tell me, office roomie. It’s cute that your boyfriend brought you gifts. But not gonna lie, they’re pretty lame. Maybe it’s a MacKenzie family inside joke.”
As if I’d paged him, Ian waltzed into our office with Kat trailing a few steps behind him. Kat shot me a look that I couldn’t decipher. It looked like . . . pain? Pity? Appendicitis?
Ian sat on my desk and smiled at me. I didn’t like that.
He announced, “I wanted to get the dream team together here for a quick morning stand-up. Melody, there’s been a small change. Maggie, the senior producer who just came back from sabbatical and was assigned to lead your project, is leaving the company to work at Riot Games, so you’ll be transitioning with Maggie