Chapter Text
Colin Bridgerton stared at the computer in front of him on his mahogany desk with a frown. His left hand found its way to his curly chestnut locks as his right scrolled through the 50-plus page document he was attempting to make sense of. He was so consumed with the work before him he barely registered the knock at his office door. He grunted an acquiescence when a second knock came slightly louder than the first but he didn’t look up as the door opened.
“Oh Dear,” a familiar voice said, “You do not look ready for our usual Friday lunch date.”
“Pen!” Colin’s head snapped up at the words and saw his fiancée standing on the other side of the room. She was dressed in jean shorts and a soft pink blouse that accentuated her full figure. She wasn’t wearing much makeup and clearly had come straight from her home office. He was, as usual, struck dumb by the sheer loveliness of her. Even more than her appearance, the look of love and care on her face sent a burst of warmth through him. He stood immediately from his desk, heedless of how disheveled he looked with his loosened tie and his wrinkled shirt. “I am so sorry,” he professed anxiously, “I lost track of time.” She let out a little laugh and came towards him. It was a testament to his level of stress and distraction that he only then saw and smelled the paper bag she held in her hand.
“It’s okay,” she assured him, “I figured you would be swamped with stuff for the meeting on Monday and brought lunch to you.” She set the bag on the desk as he stepped around it to pull her into a tight embrace. She wrapped her arms around his waist as he breathed her in. Colin pulled away from her just enough to plant a gentle kiss on her lips.
“Do you know you are the most wonderful woman alive?” he asked her with complete sincerity. Penelope laughed again, and the sound was even more beautiful the second time.
“Don’t let your mother hear you say that,” the redhead gently admonished. “Besides, you don’t even know what I ordered.” She nodded towards the bag.
“Doesn’t matter,” he told her, letting go only long enough to grab their lunch and guide her to a low table that sat near the window surrounded by plush couches. He sunk into the leather seat nearest them and settled her onto his lap. She smiled and leaned forward to begin pulling out the food.
“How was your day,” she asked, as she handed him a container of pad thai.
“Fine until I started reviewing the report we need for the merger meeting on Monday,” he sighed. Pen frowned.
“Something need correcting?” she asked.
“All of it,” Colin replied exasperated. “I genuinely do not understand how all of the corrections I put in last time went unaddressed but other things I didn’t touch got completely changed.”
“Who was responsible for getting the edits corrected?” she asked curiously.
“Marina,” he replied through a mouth full of noodles. Penelope’s eyebrows furrowed.
“I see,” she said in an even tone. Colin immediately wrapped an arm around her waist. He knew she didn’t like the assistant. If he were honest he wasn’t a huge fan of the woman either if for no other reason than she made his Pen uncomfortable.
Marina came to work at The Bridgerton Group shortly after Penelope and he had started dating. Technically Marina was the administrative assistant for the entire department, but she continually referred to herself as Colin’s secretary. He would have been annoyed by it if he spent any mental energy on her. The fact was, he had hardly noticed the woman or her behavior toward him until Penelope had tearfully confessed that she hated watching Marina constantly flirt with Colin.
It had been a special type of agony seeing his beautiful Pen express frustration at herself for being jealous. She had explained that she was endeavoring to be more honest with him about her feelings and Colin had understood immediately. Ever since then he had done his level best to limit his private interactions with Marina, but they did work together which made complete separation impossible. So, when the familiar shadow fell over Penelope’s face at the sound of Marina’s name he immediately went into comfort mode. Pulling his fiancée against his chest, he pressed a kiss to the top of her head as one hand rested on her hip and the other moved to wrap around her shoulders.
“Hey,” he said soothingly, “I love you.”
“I know,” she replied, mouth muffled by his button down. He could tell she was trying to keep the emotion out of her voice, “I love you, and I trust you. You know that right?”
“Of course,” he agreed with a firm nod against her hair. “You don’t have to rationalize your discomfort, my love. Especially about this.”
“I just,” she sighed, pulling back to look up at him, “I know it sounds so stupid but I can’t help but think she did that on purpose.” Colin blinked down at her.
“Why would she intentionally be bad at her job?” he asked. He didn’t outright discount the theory. If he had learned anything from having four sisters and seeing the dynamic within Penelope’s own female dominated family it was that, most of the time, he had absolutely no idea what was going on in the heads of the women around him.
“Well,” Penelope said thoughtfully, “If it were me and I had a massive crush on you,”
“Which you definitely don’t,” he assured her. She smiled a little.
“Exactly, no crushes here,” she replied, “but IF I had a crush on you and I got to spend time with you at work, I would try to extend that time, maybe mess up a document or two so we had to stay late to fix it. If there was a deadline, we might even have to work the weekend together.” Colin stared at her open mouthed. Everything she said made sense, he just never would have thought to do any of it.
“Let me be very clear, Pen,” he said looking at her reverently. “If you pulled that off it would be sexy as hell. Anyone else does it and it’s creepy as fuck.” She shrugged halfheartedly.
“The line between flirtatious and uncomfortable is pretty much always determined by attraction,” she said lightly. Colin frowned at the statement and was still pondering the depth of so few words when she continued speaking, “I might be totally off base. And if so I owe her a sincere apology, but my money says Marina will offer to stay late and help fix the problem when you confront her about it.” Colin’s frown deepened. If that was what Marina thought was going to happen she was dead wrong.
“Well,” he said firmly, “She’s about to be sorely disappointed. I am spending this weekend with my beautiful fiancée, in our apartment, having pancakes for dinner and catching up on the new season of Rings of Power.” Penelope groaned.
“Col, I love you, and I love Lord of the Rings but the second season of that show is absurdly boring and has more tropes than the romance section of a library.” Colin ignored her perfectly valid critique in favor of sealing his lips over hers. She sighed softly against his mouth and he had just begun to deepen the kiss when she pulled back. He groaned and put his head against her shoulder.
“Come back,” he moaned. She just shook her head.
“Everytime we start something like this in your office we get interrupted,” Penelope pointed out. “Beside’s from the sounds of it you have a lot of work to do.”
“It truly is remarkable how she always manages the timin-” before Colin even finished his sentence the door to his office swung open and Marina breezed in with a stack of empty folders.
“Oops,” she said in a breathy voice, “sorry am I interrupting something? I just wanted to make sure we had everything ready for the meeting on Monday.” She looked straight at her boss, hardly giving Penelope a passing glance and Colin felt his hackles rise even as Penelope gracefully slid off of his lap. The picture of cool indifference at the interruption. “I hope the documents looked okay,” she simpered expectantly.
“No actually,” he replied, allowing the irritation he felt earlier to color his tone. He could feel Penelope’s gaze on him. He rarely let his frustration show but he was over being polite and charming Colin Bridgerton, especially where Marina was concerned. He didn’t look up at the lovely woman who had been in his lap only a few minutes ago but instead kept his piercing gaze on the shrew in front of him, “In fact, in looking at the document I don’t think you made a single one of my requested edits.”
“Oh, no, Colin, I-” she began.
“Mister Bridgerton,” he corrected her coldly. She had the good sense to look put out at that.
“Mister Bridgerton,” she amended. “I am so sorry about that. I saved the original notes you sent and I’d be happy to make those edits this afternoon. I’ll stay late tonight to make it right.”
Colin did glance at Penelope then. She simply raised her eyebrows in an expression that spoke volumes.
“That’s not necessary,” he said firmly. “I’ll make the edits myself and come in tomorrow to finish things up.”
“I’ll be here at 7:00 am sharp!” Marina chirped.
“You don’t work on Saturdays,” he pointed out.
“I won’t clock in,” she offered with that same smile, “Won’t cost you a dime.” Colin had to grudgingly admire her sheer stubbornness even as her tone of voice drove him steadily closer to an outburst. Penelope snorted quietly beside him.
“I’m not worried about the money,” he snipped. “This is a multibillion dollar company. A company that is not in the business of paying employees overtime because they are not capable of their work during their assigned hours.” Marina paled a little at that, and Colin continued. “You’ve proven you are not responsible enough for a project this important. You’re off the team. I don’t want to see you at the meeting on Monday. Instead, start compiling the accounts for the Fife acquisition next month. It’ll probably take you that long to get the documents together, anyway.”
Colin stood up. He turned towards Penelope in obvious dismissal but Marina apparently needed to get in the last word.
“But what about the portfolios?” she asked; a little desperation finally entering her voice. “You can’t possibly put all that together by yourself.” He didn’t even spare her a glance, instead wrapping his arms around the beautiful redhead in front of him.
“What do you say, Pen?” he asked with a smirk, “Can you pause wedding planning for one day and help me get this meeting set up?” Penelope grinned.
“Of course,” she said immediately. He lifted the hand with her engagement ring on it to his lips.
“But she doesn’t even work here,” Marina pointed out, tone growing even more frantic.
“No,” Colin said bluntly, glaring briefly at the secretary. “But in a few months time she’ll officially be a Bridgerton and it’s our name on top of all the stationary.” He turned back to Penelope who was absolutely beaming. “You can go now,” he said as he continued to play with the lovely fingers of Penelope’s left hand. He only barely registered the door closing as he looked into the astounding blue eyes of his love.
“That was a little harsh, Colin,” she said but her voice held no real critique.
“That was perfectly fair,” he answered, pulling her closer so he could switch his attention to her neck. “She didn’t do her job and she’s on thin ice for it. Not to mention that I have told her a thousand times that she needs to knock on the damn door before coming in.”
“Does she interrupt you that often?” Pen asked a little breathlessly.
“Only when you’re here,” he said, sucking on the place where her neck and shoulder met. She let out a little moan and then pulled away from him reluctantly.
“I have to go,” she said even as he held her tightly.
“Why?” he groaned, raising his head from her petal soft skin to look at her with pleading eyes.
“Because,” she answered leaning up to whisper in his ear, “you have work to do and I just got inspired for a particularly filthy scene in my novel.”
***
Colin did, in fact, work late. Luckily he had kept a copy of his most recent suggested edits on the report they needed. It was easy, if time consuming, to go in and make the corrections. He knew exactly where to find the information that needed to be plugged in and managed to hit print on the 200 page document before midnight. Thank God he had a very neatly labeled filing system.
Colin was actually a very organized person, something that left his entire family in a state of abject shock. Actually, pretty much everything about the way he worked surprised his family. After his first year at the company his brother’s drunkenly admitted that the siblings had a betting pool on how long he would last at Bridgerton Group before quitting and jet setting across the world again. At first, Colin had been furious with their lack of faith in him. Now he just found it funny. Especially since the one member of the family who thought he would stay past a year was Fran. He didn’t mind his quiet unassuming younger sister getting the several thousand dollar pot. She’d promptly donated it to a music program anyway. Besides, he couldn’t really blame his siblings for their doubts. A corporate job was a pretty severe shift from his previous lifestyle.
After spending his twenties traveling, Colin had entered his thirties ready to settle down, stay in one place, and build a life with someone. That someone, of course, was Penelope. He hadn’t even realized she was the one he wanted to be with until he returned for her twenty eighth birthday party to find a handsome biologist at her side. Watching her flash a dazzling smile at a random guy sent an arrow straight through Colin’s gut. While his love for Penelope had built gradually over the years they had been friends, the realization that he was so close to losing her completely hit him like a bolt of lightning. The very next week he had taken a job at the Bridgerton Group in their international relations department and moved home.
It turned out the biologist was off on an arctic expedition the next month and Pen wasn’t particularly invested in the relationship anyway. Colin did not hesitate. He had already wasted years of his life not seeing what was in front of him, he would be damned if he waited another day. It took a full six months for him to convince her his feelings were genuine, neither a flight of fancy or some sort of quarter life crisis. Eventually she agreed to a date, and one date turned into two, into four. He moved in with her after 3 months and proposed 3 months after that. He would have eloped as soon as the registry office was open the next morning but she insisted they not do that to his mother. So, they had spent the last few months planning a wedding and settling even further into their life together.
It was a pretty spectacular life, if he did say so himself. Not only did he love Penelope and their shared existence. He actually liked his job, alot. Working with different companies and people across the world was exciting. It also put the skills he had learned over the course of his younger days to good use. He was exceptionally charming, confidently spoke five languages, and had been exposed to enough cultures that he could pick up on social cues and taboos very easily.
His job provided for himself and Penelope and offered them independence from both the Bridgerton and the Featheringtons. He and Penelope were adamant they would not depend on either family’s money for their day to day needs. Colin was well aware his family connections enabled him to get his job but at least he got a paycheck for working instead of interest on investments made before he was even born. He made enough money that Pen could write without worrying about making rent. They both wanted children and Penelope had expressed a strong desire to stay home when their kids were young. His salary, such as it was, allowed for that to be a real possibility.
These factors and many more made it possible for him to fall in love with his work and do it well. Even on nights like this when he found himself at the office long after everyone, including Anthony, had left. It helped that throughout the afternoon and evening Penelope sent him little excerpts from her latest chapter. None of which were exactly office appropriate. Apparently, she was writing a rather steamy encounter between her main characters that took place in an executive office. By the time Colin made his way to the carpark beneath the building his mind was full to bursting with images of tight pencil skirts barely covering milky white thighs and fiery curls splayed across a dark wood desk. Her teasing was clearly winding him up for a very eventful evening.
It was nearly midnight when he got home. The sight that met him when he unlocked the door to their apartment was far more adorable than it was sexy. Penelope was curled up on the couch, a blanket draped lazily over her lap with a book on the table in front of her. She was fast asleep. He quietly made his way into the living room and squatted in front of her.
“Penelope,” he murmured softly, tucking a loose curl behind her ear. “Pen?” She stirred slightly before blinking her eyes open.
“Colin?” she asked blearily, “What time is it?”
“Far past your bedtime,” he answered, gently removing her reading glasses from her face and setting them beside her book. She scrunched her nose at him in the cutest way.
“But,” she muttered, “We were going to have sex.” He chuckled at her bluntness. She was clearly far beyond exhausted if she was being so transparent.
“It’s okay,” he assured her, reaching out to wrap his arms around her.
“But I sent you all those messages,” she argued, “I wound us both up.”
“I know,” he said, kissing her nose gently, “But it’s late and we’re both exhausted.” She opened her mouth to argue some more but he put a finger over it. “Besides,” he continued, “if I’m not mistaken most of those messages will be a lot easier to recreate at an actual office rather than here in the apartment.” Penelope blushed and his suspicions that she wanted to hook up at his work were confirmed. “Which we will absolutely be able to do tomorrow. That is, if you’re still up for helping me get ready for Monday.”
“Of course,” she replied automatically. He smiled.
“Good, then let’s go to bed.”
Before she could say another word he had scooped her up and stood. Her arms automatically wrapped around his neck and she settled her head against his chest. Colin felt her breathing even out before they reached the bedroom. He took an extra moment to kiss her forehead and hold her close before laying her on the bed and covering her with the quilt. Even in sleep she was reluctant to let go of him. Groaning when he pulled away. He chuckled quietly as he managed to untangle himself from her arms long enough to lay down beside her. She immediately wrapped herself around his arm. He pressed his lips to the crown of her head one last time before succumbing to the exhaustion of the day.