by Vi Keeland
I went into the bathroom to wash up and came out to find Chase sitting in my bed with his back against the headboard. Pulling a knee up, I crawled to him, planting a kiss on his lips. When I moved to pull back, he stopped me by taking my face between his hands.
Looking directly into my eyes, he said, “Thank you.”
I knew what he meant, but pretended I didn’t. “I haven’t even given you anything to be thankful for. Yet.”
He smiled but continued with a serious tone. “It means a lot to me that you decided to tell Sam tonight.”
“You know. I realized tonight that it wasn’t Sam I was afraid to tell, really.”
“No?”
I shook my head. “After the dumb mistakes I’ve made in the past, of course the thought of a relationship with someone at work scares me. But I think what I’ve really been afraid of was feeling strongly enough about someone to be willing to purposely take a risk.” I grinned. “I tend to be risk averse, in case you hadn’t noticed.”
He attempted to conceal his smile. “I hadn’t noticed.”
“Thank you again for having the alarm installed. It was really sweet of you.” I kissed him again. Leaning my forehead against his, I whispered, “We’re really doing this, huh? Going to be a couple out in the open with my long-lost, middle school, second-cousin boyfriend who is also the bossman?”
He pushed a lock of hair behind my ear. “That’s a mouthful. How about if we just call you my woman?”
“Your woman, huh?”
His gaze roamed over my face. “It’s the truth. We’ve both been fighting it for different reasons. But you’ve been mine since I saw you in that dark restaurant hallway.”
“You mean when you called me a bitch? I don’t think that’s quite how you won me over. It was a little after that, I’d say.”
“Maybe for you. But you were under my skin from the first minute I laid eyes on you. I wanted to know what made you tick.”
I cocked my head. “And have you figured that out? What makes me tick?”
He flipped me on my back and braced himself over me. One hand trailed down my side, causing my skin to prickle.
“I’m still learning. Maybe we should play that little game you had me play once before.”
“What game?”
“Be watched masturbating or watch someone masturbating?”
“Ah…we’re playing Would You Rather?”
Chase answered by rubbing his nose along my neck.
“Are we talking about you I’m watching, or someone else?”
He stiffened and pulled back to look at me.
“Kidding. I was kidding.” I pecked his lips. “Watch you. I think I’d actually enjoy that.”
His face relaxed somewhat. So I continued the game with a real question. Lightly scratching my nails down his back, I said, “Office memo or PDA?”
His response was quick. “PDA.”
“What kind?”
He brushed his lips sweetly against mine. “Like this.”
“Mmm…show me again.”
“This is fast becoming my favorite game.”
“Mine too.”
I could spend all day doing this, but there were more pressing would you rather questions to attend to.
When our kiss broke, I asked, “Give or receive first?”
He grinned, but I didn’t give him a chance to respond. Instead, I lowered my head down his body.
Receive.
Chapter 28
Reese
Chase wasn’t exactly good at following the script.
The next day we traveled to the office together early, as had become our habit lately. Only this time, after picking up our coffee, we rode the elevator together up to Parker Industries. I was acutely aware of his hand on my back as we exited. Even though it felt comfortable and natural to have him touching me, doing it in the office felt strange. And it wasn’t a monumental gesture, by any means. In fact, this morning we’d discussed that we were going to avoid any public displays of affection until after I spoke to Josh. So I was pretty sure Chase wasn’t doing it intentionally.
I owed my boss a certain amount of respect and wanted to let him know what was going on before Chase and I completely came out of the closet, so to speak. The plan was that I would talk to Josh this morning, and then Chase and I would go out to lunch together alone. We could be touchy-friendly, in a way more than a typical boss-employee relationship, but there would be no statement PDA. Or so I thought.
After I’d settled into my office, Travis found me in the break room making my oatmeal for breakfast.
“Morning, sexy,” he flirted.
I opened the microwave, removed my bowl, and stirred the oats. “Hi, Travis.”
“When are you going to let me make you breakfast?”
I extended the bowl in his direction. “You want to stir my Quaker Oats?”
“At my place. The morning after. I make a mean eggs over easy.”
“I think your pickup lines need some work.”
Travis leaned his hip against the counter next to me. “Oh yeah? Tell me what you like. I’ll work on my game.”
“Well, for starters, we don’t like you to assume we want to have sex with you. So opening with a line regarding the morning after is definitely a no-no.”
“So what’s a good opening line?”
“How about something real? Complimenting something you actually like about the person.”
Travis’s eyes dropped to my breasts, and he grinned. “I can do that.”
I rolled my eyes. “No. Not like that. A compliment of a non-sexual nature.”
“That doesn’t leave me with many body parts.” He looked me up and down, then pushed off the counter and stood tall. “Your toes always match your outfit. I like that.”
“Very good. Shows you’re paying attention to details and doesn’t make you sound like a pervert right off the bat.”
“Got it. So I’ll leave off that I really want to suck on them.”
Of course, Chase walked in right at that moment. From the look on his face, I gathered he’d caught at least the last part of Travis’s sentence. “I really want to suck on them.”
“Travis…” Chase warned.
Travis raised his hands in surrender. “I know, I know…no fraternization.”
Chase grabbed two bottles of water from the refrigerator. “Actually, we’re rewriting that policy.”
“Really? Have I mentioned how much I love working here?” Travis mused.
Chase’s eyes narrowed on Travis as he walked to me, offering a bottle of cold water. I took it, but Chase didn’t let go as he spoke to Travis while looking at me.
“If you love working here so much, perhaps you should spend more time working and less time harassing women who are taken.”
“Taken? Who’s taken?” Travis muttered.
Rather than answer his question, Chase leaned in and kissed me on the lips. With a cheeky grin, he added, “Twelve for lunch good, Buttercup?”
So much for subtlety and avoiding PDAs.
***
I had thought Sam would be the person who wouldn’t take the news well. I wasn’t expecting it to be Josh.
“This puts me in a very uncomfortable position, you realize.” He looked at me sternly.
“I’m…I’m sorry. I didn’t intend for anything to happen between us. In fact, it was the last thing I wanted to happen at my new job. I really like working here. I like working for you.”
Josh sighed. “I’ve been with Parker Industries for five years. I started where you are and worked my way up. Chase is a very intelligent man. I’m sure you know that. He questions everything and has a strong hand in managing this business at every facet. It took me a long time to build a relationship of trust with him—one where he’ll rely on my expertise, even if he doesn’t necessarily agree with my direction. I won’t have you undermine that.”
I was completely shocked. “I won’t. I wouldn’t.”
He frowned. “I
hope not.”
We stared at each other awkwardly. “Does Sam know?”
I nodded. “She does.”
After a few seconds, Josh nodded hesitantly. “I appreciate you coming to me at least.”
“Of course.”
He put his reading glasses back on, signaling that our conversation was over. “Why don’t you finish compiling the focus group results, and we’ll discuss them over lunch. My assistant will order us something in.”
There was no way in the world I was going to mention that I already had lunch plans. Plans with his boss. I’d be canceling with a certain someone else.
My text letting Chase know things didn’t go as well as I expected with Josh went unanswered, as did the follow-up one I sent letting him know I needed to cancel lunch. I could see it had been read, but not even a quick K came back in response. I chalked it up to him being busy and dove into compiling the last of the data Josh and I were going to review over lunch.
It was clear that I’d damaged my relationship with my immediate boss, and it was going to take some time to repair. Although we worked together right through lunch and for hours into the afternoon, things between Josh and me felt strained. It was as if he’d put up a wall of professionalism that wasn’t there before. I hoped time would chip away at that wall once he realized I had no intention of undermining him in any way.
As we cleaned up the paperwork we’d spread all over the table in his office, Josh said, “Why don’t you update the PowerPoint with our final slogans and packaging picks and email it to me.” He caught my eye. “I’ll forward it on to Chase to take a look at.”
I nodded.
Just before I walked out of his office, he added, “I’d like to keep communications through the proper chain of command in the future. I spoke to Chase about it as well this morning.”
I nodded again.
Although I thought it unnecessary, I couldn’t blame him for feeling the way he did. And I was curious at how his conversation with Chase had gone this morning. Normally, I heard or saw Chase around the office a few times during the day. But his blinds and door had been closed whenever I passed by today. His absence was noticeable, and by the time the end of the day rolled around, it had started to make me feel anxious.
I waited until after the office began to empty out—after Josh, specifically, had left for the day—before making another trip down the boss’s hall. Just as I rounded the corner, Chase’s door opened, and he walked out with a woman. I’d never seen her in the office before. She was attractive, with blonde hair pulled back in a neat ponytail that worked with her business-casual look. They shook hands, and I assumed it had been some sort of a business meeting…until she put her other hand on top of their joined hands. It was a small, yet intimate gesture. She said something I couldn’t hear, and I suddenly felt like I was intruding as I walked up to them, but I couldn’t very well back up.
They both looked over at me, realizing in unison that someone else was in the hallway. My heart started to beat a little faster.
“Hi…umm…I thought I’d stop by before I left since I haven’t seen you all day.”
The woman looked back and forth between the two of us. “I better run anyway. It was good to see you, again.”
Chase nodded.
Oddly, I felt even more uncomfortable after the woman left. Yet in my internal battle between uncomfortable and curious, curiosity won out.
“Who was that?” I asked, trying to sound casual.
Instead of answering my question, Chase spoke curtly. “I have a lot of work to get back to.”
My uneasiness grew. “Okay. I’ll talk to you tomorrow, then? I guess?”
He didn’t look at me as he nodded, and I jumped at the sound of his office door slamming behind him. What the hell is going on?
I had a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach that whatever it was, I was about to get hurt.
Chapter 29
Reese
Chase didn’t show up at work the next day. My uneasiness had worked its way into an overall sinking feeling, and my stomach was upset because I knew something had changed. I had no idea if it had something to do with the woman coming out of Chase’s office last night, or maybe with the reaction Josh had had to our couple-status news, but my anxiety over the unknown was killing me.
There had been no response to my text checking in on him either. Even though my phone was set to make a sound whenever a new text arrived, I found myself checking it every two minutes.
I was fast losing the little focus I’d brought with me to work. A tiny voice in my head whispered, See? This is what you get for having an affair at the office. Don’t you ever learn your lesson?
I tried to ignore it. Toward the end of the day, I stopped by Chase’s secretary’s desk and attempted to sound casual. “Do you know when the boss will be back?”
“He didn’t say. Just received a one-line email saying he wouldn’t be in.” Her brows drew together, and she shrugged. “Not really like him.”
I stayed at the office until after seven. Still not hearing anything from Chase, I picked up the phone and called before I left. Voicemail answered on the first ring. Moving from anxious to worried, I sent another text. The second one never even showed delivered. Whatever was going on, his phone was off, and he didn’t want to be reached. I struggled with what to do next.
Show up at his house unannounced? We were in a relationship; it was normal for me to be concerned that I hadn’t heard from him, right?
Then again, if he’d wanted to hear from me, I would have spoken to him by now. Unlike him, I was exactly where I was supposed to be. And completely accessible in any number of ways—text, voice, email, office phone. He could certainly reach me.
Unless.
Unless something was wrong.
Oh my God. Something was wrong.
What the hell was I doing sitting in the office?
Practically sprinting to the subway, I hopped on the first train and traveled uptown. I rang the bell, but Chase’s brownstone was dark. The mail hadn’t been taken in for a day…maybe even two. Not knowing what else to do, I reluctantly went home after a while. First thing in the morning, I’d go see Sam if I still hadn’t heard from him.
I tossed and turned the entire night. Eventually, I took a shower and got myself ready even though it was barely five a.m. I’d had my phone on the charger, and when I opened the text string I had with Chase, I noticed my messages from last night had been recently read. Yet there was no response. He must have plugged his phone in somewhere. Possibly home?
My emotions swung back and forth like the pendulum on a grandfather clock. He was obviously somewhere that he could plug in his phone, so he could’ve called to let me know he was all right. Yet…maybe he wasn’t okay. Maybe he needed someone. Maybe that someone was meant to be me.
And so back uptown I went. The sun had just started to rise as I reached Chase’s stop. This time, when I reached his brownstone, there was a light on inside. And mail no longer stuck out of the box hanging next to the door.
I ran the bell and waited anxiously. After a few minutes, the door opened. I sucked in a breath and waited for Chase to speak.
But he didn’t. Even more heartbreaking, though, was that he also didn’t open the door and invite me in. Instead, he stepped outside onto the stoop. Keeping distance between us, he stared off somewhere down the block, no place in particular.
“Chase?” I took a step forward but stopped when I smelled him. Alcohol teemed from his pores. It was then I realized he was wearing the same shirt and slacks he’d been wearing the last time I saw him in the office. They were a crumpled mess now, and his tie was missing, but it was definitely the same clothing.
He still hadn’t responded or looked at me.
“Chase? What’s going on? Are you okay?”
The silence was painful. It felt like someone had died, and he couldn’t say it out loud, couldn’t face it.
Oh my God. Has someone died? “Is Anna
okay? The baby?”
He closed his eyes. “They’re fine.”
“What’s going on? Where have you been?”
“I needed some time alone.”
“Does this have something to do with the woman who was at your office the other night?”
“It has nothing to do with you.”
“Then what does it have to do with?” My voice came out high and reedy, and it broke on a whisper. “I don’t understand.”
For the first time, Chase finally looked my way. When our gazes met, I saw so much in his eyes—hurt, pain, sadness, anger. I gasped. Not so much because it scared me, but because I could feel the pain he was experiencing for whatever reason. My chest tightened, and a knot swelled in my throat, making it difficult to swallow.
Even though his body language was anything but welcoming, I reached out, wanting to offer him comfort. He pulled back as if my touch was fire.
“Chase?”
He shook his head. “I’m sorry.”
I furrowed my brow, refusing to understand. “You’re sorry? For what? What’s going on?”
“You were right. We work together. Nothing should have happened between us.”
It felt like someone had backhanded me across the face. “What?”
He looked down at me again, his eyes meeting mine, yet I felt like he still couldn’t see me. Why did he look so lost?
“I hope you’ll stay on. Josh thinks very highly of your work.”
“Is this a joke? What happened? I don’t understand.”
Chase’s expression went from blank to hurt, and I suddenly wanted to see more of that on his face. I felt used and insignificant. Ashamed. And I hated that he’d made me feel like that. It was him who should be ashamed at how he was acting.
He hung his head, not facing me—like a coward. “I’m sorry.”
“You’re sorry? I don’t even understand whatever it is you’re sorry for.”
“I’m not the right man for you.”
I took a step closer, forcing him to look at me. “You know what? You’re right. Because the right man for me would have the balls to at least give me the truth. I have no idea what happened, but I don’t deserve this.”