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loving-inkpressions · 3 years

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Burning Up [4/?]

Summary: When she applied to be the secretary for managing partner Rosé McCorkell, Denali hadn't expected to end up working for the biggest pain in her ass, nor did she expect anything beyond a professional relationship.

Word Count: 2.3k

A/N: Just a little something short and sweet.

Prefer reading it on AO3?

It took almost three weeks for Denali’s ankle to heal, and within that space of time, Rosé had at her insistence driven Denali both to and from the office on a daily basis. During those drives, their friendship, as Denali pointedly called it as such in her mind, developed even more to the point where they had gotten even closer.

Purely platonic, of course.

Just work friends.

When her ankle had healed, Rosé had insisted to still drive her to work, but Denali had put her foot down and instead started taking the train to work again. That hadn’t stopped the redhead from driving her home on most evenings though.

On the fifth morning of Denali taking the train to work, she arrived to the office to find a box on her desk. It wasn’t a very big box, just a simple small brown one with a little purple bow on top. It looked vaguely familiar, but she couldn’t recall where she’d seen it before.

Dropping her bag onto the ground next to her desk, Denali picked it up and out of curiosity shook it just a little, hearing the muffled sound of several small things rattling inside.

“What you got there, Nali?”

Nearly dropping the box in shock, Denali whirled around to find Kandy staring at the box in her hand.

“Kandy, you scared the shit out of me!”

“Not my fault if you weren’t paying attention. Now come on, who gave that to you and what’s in it?”

“I don’t know.” Denali shrugged. “It was already here when I arrived.”

Kandy’s eyes brightened. “Looks like someone has a not-so-secret admirer!”

“Not so secret? What do you mean?”

“Girl, don’t pretend you don’t know who it’s from.”

Denali furrowed her brows, confused by the coy look on Kandy’s face.

“You mean Steve?”

Kandy’s expression shifted into disbelief as she looked at Denali as if she was stupid.

“No, it’s not Steve- Who the fuck is that anyway- No genius, think!”

Denali tapped the box with her finger. The only person she could think of was maybe Rosé, but it couldn’t be.

Could it?

“I don’t know who it’s from.” She said dumbly, making Kandy roll her eyes in exasperation.

“Sure, play dumb all you want. We all know it’s a certain hot boss that signs your pay cheque every month.”

“No, it’s not.”

“Well then, how about we open it and find out.” Kandy challenged, reaching over to grab the box from Denali, but the blonde pulled it away, cradling it to her chest.

“Okay okay, I’ll open it! No need to snatch it.”

Huffing, Denali stared at the box for a moment, ignoring the impatient Latina shifting at her side. Finally tugging the ribbon loose and lifting the lid, she was hit by the sweet scent of malt and chocolate.

“They’re cookies.”

The very same cookies that Denali had mentioned in passing that she wanted to try when Rosé had sent her home last night-

Oh.

“Cookies? Wait, aren’t those the cookies you were moaning about wanting to try from that new bakery since it opened? I thought they had a waiting list or something that stretched for months.”

“Yeah.” Denali muttered, staring at the said cookies nestled in the box, a small glossy black card with the bakery’s logo embossed on it amongst the sweet treats lying inside.

“They are.”

She hated it when Kandy was right.

———

“Okay, so what event is it this time?” Denali asked as she plopped into the seat opposite of Rosé for their daily morning meeting, folio and trusty pen in hand while the box of cookies was safely tucked away in her desk drawer.

Rosé looked up from the papers in front of her, a look of confusion on her face. “What?”

“The cookies? They’re meant to be a bribe of some sort, right?” Denali replied. After all, there was no way that the redhead had given them to her for no reason. It had to be part of a ploy to get her to do something.

Rosé put her pen down and folded her hands in front of her.

“I don’t follow.”

Denali snorted in disbelief.

“The last time when you were trying to get me to be your partner for the benefit, you tried to bribe me with sweets. So what is it this time? Another benefit? A charity auction? Some boring social event?”

Rosé chuckled, shaking her head as she leaned back in her seat, eyes twinkling in amusement at how suspicious Denali was. “I just got them for you because you said you were dying to try them last night.”

Denali stiffened at the unexpected response Rosé had given. “Wait, so there really isn’t an event that you want me to accompany you to?”

“No Denali, I just wanted to get them for you because you said you wanted to try them. No ulterior motives whatsoever.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, oh.” Rosé chimed back at her, leaning back forward. “Now what do you say when you get a present?” She teased, a manicured finger tapping the surface of her desk.

Denali shifted in her seat, a little embarrassed at having been wrong about her suspicions, but also a little warmed at the thought that Rosé had gone out of her way to get those cookies for her. She knew it couldn’t have been easy, especially on such short notice, and in the morning no less.

“Thank you, Rosé.” Denali said quietly, eyes focused on the desk in front of her, not wanting to meet her eyes.

Rosé smiled, taking in how Denali looked just a touch bit shy under her gaze, her cheeks a soft shade of pink and how the blonde was now biting her lower lip.

“You’re most welcome, angel.”

———

The cookies were only the start of the random gifts that began appearing on Denali’s desk on an almost daily basis, and there was no question who they were from. The gifts were never big. They had been simple enough, though sometimes toeing the line of almost expensive.

Rosé must have figured that Denali would start refusing them if they had been extravagant or impractical, and had instead settled for harmless ones.

At least they were simple in the beginning.

There were the little sweets that she’d somehow managed to sneak onto Denali’s desk: The seemingly never ending supply of chocolate in her desk drawer, different little mints she’d find after lunch in the middle of her keyboard, a random cupcake or some other treat delivered to her desk in the middle of the day, assorted breakfast pastries and coffee that would sometimes be waiting for her in the mornings.

Every time she got them, no matter how small they were, Denali’s heart would flutter in her chest, which she tried in vain to push down. Never in her wildest dreams would she have imagined these sweet gestures from Rosé, especially not after how disastrous their initial meeting was. She didn’t know what to make of them either, and she was too afraid to think of the possible implications behind them.

The little sweets soon evolved and included other things too.

Kandy was looking over her shoulder when she sat at her desk in the afternoon one day, staring at the flat box that had just been dropped off by a courier that was clearly addressed to Denali.

“Maybe she got you pizza this time.”

Denali laughed as she shook her head.

“I’m pretty sure DHL doesn’t deliver pizza.”

She stared at the package, finally snapping out of it when Kandy cleared her throat impatiently. Biting her lip, Denali carefully unwrapped the package and gasped.

It was a brand new folio.

The one that she had been using had started to show signs of age, having been one she had found in a thrift shop at the start of her time in the firm. Just yesterday she had been fingering the corner of it, silently bemoaning the fact that the material was peeling at the edges and the scuff marks were becoming more obvious.

This one was genuine leather, one that had been dyed a gorgeous deep blue with gold filigree detailing on it. Her name was also cleanly stitched onto the spine, and when she opened it there were more slots and pockets than her old one.

A white note card was peeking out of one of the bigger pockets inside.

Pulling the card out with slightly shaking fingers, she flipped it over to find Rosé’s familiar writing on it.

“Only the best for you.” Denali read aloud, her eyes widening and her heart picking up speed at the words written.

Kandy whistled lowly.

“Maybe she doesn’t want to just fuck you after all.”

———

To say that Denali was panicking would be an understatement. What Kandy had said had shaken her just a little bit, and she hadn’t really known what to do. All this time she had been trying to convince herself that maybe Rosé was just being nice, just being sweet to make up for how insufferable she had been in the early days, or had just wanted to be friends.

However, hearing someone else say it out loud made things very real for Denali.

She had been hiding out in the filing room like the coward she was under the guise of locating the files she needed for her next report. Rosé had the tendency to drop by her desk to exchange banter with her or to just tease her, or steal a little bit of whatever sweet treat she had given Denali for the day, but at this point, Denali had wanted to hide. She wasn’t sure how to face her own feelings, and in turn face Rosé.

Denali felt a little foolish. Part of her wanted to laugh it off and pretend that it really was all just purely platonic, but deep down she knew that there were different intentions behind Rosé’s actions. She had been so distracted by her thoughts that she hadn’t noticed the time quickly ticking by, only realising how late it was when she heard the sound of the door knob twisting open and the sound of familiar stilettos clicking on the floor.

She panicked a little, realising she had no where to run as she sat on the ground in a corner of the room, though she was well hidden behind row after row of shelves.

Maybe Rosé was just here to locate something herself.

Maybe she’d just take what she needed and leave.

Shutting her eyes as she squeezed herself into a tighter ball, as if willing herself to grow smaller or invisible so Rosé wouldn’t find her, she crossed her fingers as she heard the sound of stilettos getting closer to her.

Maybe Rosé didn’t even know she was here.

“Denali?”

Or maybe not.

Torn between wanting to stay quiet and wanting to respond, Denali was startled when she felt gentle fingers brush through her hair. She opened her eyes and looked up to find Rosé kneeling in front of her, concern in her eyes.

“Baby, did something happen?”

Denali swallowed.

“Why do you ask that?”

“You always hide in the filing room when you’re stressed out.”

Denali stared at Rosé, surprised that she had picked up on her little habit.

“How did you know that?” She stammered.

Rosé just looked back at Denali and chuckled, tapping her on the nose. “It’s you, so of course I’d notice. Now tell me, did something happen? Do I need to fire someone again?” She teased, though Denali could tell she was only half joking.

Denali shook her head furiously. “No, nothing happened. I just wanted to get some files, that’s all.”

Rosé paused, observing Denali, noting how she was squirming under her scrutiny. It looked like Rosé wanted to say something, wanted to probe more, but she seemed to change her mind when she saw the hint of nervousness in Denali’s eyes. Not wanting to push it, Rosé instead stood up and held out her hand.

“Whatever you’re working on can wait until tomorrow, angel. It’s the end of the day and I’d rather you not work too late again considering how late you stayed last night.”

Denali looked at the redhead’s outstretched hand and, after a brief moment of hesitation, grasped it, letting Rosé help her to her feet. Once she was on her feet though, Rosé didn’t let go and instead led her out of the filing room, Denali’s hand held tightly in hers.

Gulping at the feel of her hand in Rosé’s, Denali couldn’t help but revel in how warm it was and how strong it felt. She found that she quite liked having her hand being held by Rosé.

As they entered the elevator to head back up to their floor, their hands still linked, Denali finally whispered.

“Hey Rosé?”

“Yes, Nali?”

“Thank you.”

Rosé looked over at Denali.

“What for?”

“The folio. I really like it.” She replied, peeking at Rosé through her lashes.

Rosé grinned, lifting their linked hands and pressing a small kiss to the back of Denali’s hand.

“Nothing but the best for my beautiful secretary.”

And Denali knew then that she couldn’t deny her feelings anymore.

She was falling for her boss.

———

The gifts only increased from then on. A new mug when Denali accidentally broke hers, an adorable little succulent when Rosé had commented how she needed to get more fresh air, a fountain pen when her pen had run out of ink in the middle of one of their meetings, a silk scarf when it started getting colder…

The list went on.

Each time Denali would make it a point to say thank you when she saw the redhead, and Rosé would smile, saying she was just looking after her. It made Denali’s heart warm and flutter wildly each time she said it.

And then one morning, she arrived to the office to find a new package on her desk. This one was bigger than all the others, the insignia of a familiar boutique on it.

Setting her bag down, Denali lifted the lid and peeled back the layers of tissue to reveal a dress and a note.

Be my partner for the anniversary gala?

#rosenali #rpdr fanfiction #burning up fic #work wives verse #inkpression writes

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