Page 22 of SaaS & Class

She shook her head. “No, all our deliveries were this morning, and our mail comes in the afternoon. It probably came in with you.”

“Must have. Which way to Mister Wall’s office?”

“Oh!” She motioned behind her. “The elevator is there. He’s on the third floor in the big office. You can’t miss it; it’s directly across from the elevator.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome!”

I strode to the elevator, and my suspicions that my mate worked there were confirmed when I was enveloped by his scent.

I gripped the handrail, my knuckles turning almost white as I fought back the instinct to burst from the confinement and hunt down my mate.

He worked there. Was he in the building? The receptionist had mentioned that many people were elsewhere. Was he at that other location?

I was so close to having answers, yet he still felt impossibly far away.

His scent was even stronger on the third floor, and it was only the tiniest thread of professionalism that kept me from going office-to-office, sniffing to determine if he was inside.

The door to the largest office opened, and an alpha stood in the frame. “Mister Andrews?”

I nodded and stepped closer. “Sorry,” I lied, “it’s a gorgeous building, and I got distracted.”

There was a beat of silence, and I could feel him studying me.

“Come on in,” he prompted.

“Thank you,” I said as I stepped into his office.

Part of me had expected some relief as I entered his space, but I could still detect traces of my omega’s scent—like he was often there. It was more muted and seemed like a background presence rather than somebody who’d been there within the past hour or so.

“Please, have a seat,” Mister Wall said, motioning to a chair. “How can I help you today, Mister Andrews?”

“Please, call me Brent.”

He smiled. “Call me Dylan. So how can I help you? You mentioned class presentations on the phone?”

I nodded and launched into my spiel. I talked to him about the subjects I taught, and how—especially with the basic computing classes—the students didn’t always believe that the skills I taught were useful outside of school. I explained my hope that professionals in the field, and people who worked with the latest software, could explain how relevant things were.

He nodded along as I spoke, but I noticed his eyes kept drifting to where I couldn’t control my fingers from tapping the chair’s arm.

The air conditioning kicked on, and brought my omega’s scent into the room. I choked back a whine at how strong it was.

“Are you ok?”

I nodded, probably a bit too eagerly. “Fine.”

Dylan’s eyes were focused on me, and it was almost unnerving. Then he glanced up at the wall behind me, and his demeanor shifted. He asked me what core concepts I taught my basic class, then what my intermediate and advanced students learned. He had me describe the design projects my advanced classes got, and gave me some ideas for updated options.

It felt as if he was making an excuse to keep me there.

We shifted from questions about whether my students would use the skills in their careers, to their excuses about why they thought that they knew all they needed with smartphones, apps, and cloud storage.

The AC kicked on several times during our discussion, and it was pure torture every time it did, as it brought a fresh wave of my mate’s scent in.

Finally, Dylan leaned back in his chair with a nod. “I think… we can work something out. But I also think the best place to start is with my SaaS expert. He’s the one who’s best equipped to go in and counter the arguments about apps, since he’s the one who knows where they do and, more importantly, do not work.”

“Ok…”