Firewall {One Direction a.u.}

Chapter 6

Three hours later, there is a knock on the office door, signaling that someone is waiting to come in. I look up and see Mr. Styles standing there, looking incredibly attractive.  I'm surprised I didn't notice earlier today.  A man always looks better in a suit. At least that's what grandma used to say to me. She was right.

The suit, black and very form fitting. He has a white button down shirt on and a black tie that reaches exactly where it's supposed to.

He clears his throat, obviously trying to get my attention away from checking him out. I immediately look down, feeling embarrassed that I got caught. "Ready for lunch?"

I nod in response and get up to grab my coat. He takes my coat and instructs me to turn around so he can put it on. What a gentleman.

We walk next to each other in silence until we get down to the lobby and he asks, "Italian food okay?"

I smile up at him. Not too far up, which is nice, I am pretty tall. "Yeah that sounds good. I love Italian food."

"Bye Brian!" Mr. Styles calls as we walk out the front doors to his office building.

I look down, avoiding Brian's gaze. I know that if I look up, he'll wink or do something stupid to embarrass me.

We make our way to the restaurant in silence. Not exactly uncomfortable, but not the most comforting.

Mr. Styles pulls my chair out for me and I quickly thank him as I sit.

"Red or white?" He asks after looking at the menu for a short period of time.

"I'm sorry?" I don't think I heard him correctly. Wine? At lunch?

He lets out a chuckle. "Would you prefer red or white wine? I'm in the mood for wine but don't want to be the only one drinking."

I give him a small smile. "I prefer white."

"White it is."

The server comes over and takes the order for wine with the lunch order. Mr. Styles got lasagna and I got penne alla vodka, my favorite meal ever.

"So, Miss Stevens," he starts and I can already tell he's about to start talking business, "I have a proposition for you."

I raise my right eyebrow in curiosity. "Intriguing, what would that be?"

"I was thinking, since you can obviously do a lot more than IT, that you could start a department that encompasses what you do."

"What do you mean I can do more than IT?"

"Well, I noticed on your resume that you have a degree in Cybersecurity, rather than Information Technology. I thought that the company could use that to their advantage and make a division of Cybersecurity with you as the head. After you freaked out at me in my office on Monday, I realized you had more potential than just fixing copying machines." He states.

Holy shit. "Um I uh I would have to think about it, but that definitely sounds like a possibility."

"Any questions?"

"When would this start? Who would I work with? Do I get to hire people or does that fall under Liam? How long would I have to put everything together? What exactly would I have to do? Do I have to train other-"

"Stop." He cuts me off. "One question at a time please." He says with a small chuckle.

For the rest of lunch, Mr. Styles answered all of my questions, not straying from his business persona. I enjoy his business persona, but I really do wish he would have taken a step back and talked to me outside of the business world. For some reason, I have the want to get to know him, more than a boss.

After lunch, as we're walking back to the office, I get lost in my own thoughts. Maybe Mr. Styles wanted to have lunch to discuss this. I can't believe I thought he was flirting with me. I guess I've been out of the game for a while now.  I've had one boyfriend and he was only in my life for about a year and a half.  That year was a wild ride.

"Miss Stevens?" I hear Mr. Styles ask, pulling me out of my thought process.

"Uh, s-sorry I was just thinking."

"About?" He questions.

I clear my throat, kind of uncomfortable with his question but I am willing to answer. "About my life before moving here I guess." He just looks at me. I can't gauge his reaction but since we haven't talked about anything personal, I decide to add, "and the whole division I'm going to be running soon."

He smiles at that comment. "You are going to do amazing. Liam has told me about all the work you do and have done already. Like you mentioned to me previously, you already installed all the anti-virus software."

"I know that, it's just," I pause to put my thoughts together. "I'm twenty two, just out of college and you're putting me in charge of a whole department. You're making me an executive at the company and I'm barely done with school."

"Yes, because I've seen your resume and the work you've done here and published." He references some papers I guess he's read from my research in college. "You're brilliant and now, you just need to work on confidence."

I snort laughing, one of my many flaws. "Confidence, you're funny. That is never going to happen."

"It's the only way you'll succeed. If you don't have confidence in what you're doing, you've already failed."

I hum in agreeance. "Wise words, Mr. Styles. Is that how you did it?"

"Did what?"

"Started this company when you were around my age?" I ask out of pure curiosity. If he can start his own company at my age, I can definitely start the Cybersecurity department.

"Okay, first of all, don't say 'my age' as if I'm so much older than you." Humor is radiating off of his words. "And second, yes. Confidence is everything in business. I had a lot of help, but my confidence walking into boardroom after boardroom is what got me the investments I needed."

I nod in acknowledgement.

"We're here. Have a good rest of the day. Please think about starting the department, I know you're not fully on board yet."

I smile at him. "Thank you, I will definitely think about it. Let me know if you need any help with your technology, you know where to reach me."

He nods and walks towards the elevator. I see Brian at his desk, anxiously waiting for me to walk over to him and start spilling all the details of the lunch.

"The only thing I am going to say is that it was perfect. I never got to tell him that I wanted it to be more than business because I chickened out, but he was completely professional. The entire time. It killed me because I realized I want more from him than a professional relationship." I buried my face in my hands.

I hate feeling like this. There is no way that I got this stupid meaningless crush so easily. I've been working here for over a year but now I get a stupid crush on my boss. Wouldn't that be something that happens the first week of work and you get over it by the second?

Brian practically beams at me. "I knew it, you have a little crush on Mr. Styles."

I roll my eyes. "I do not have a crush on him. I don't even know him enough to have a crush on him. I just find him very attractive."

With that, I spin on my heel and walk away from Brian, excited for my night out tomorrow. Hopefully I can forget about a certain handsome CEO.