The Wright Boss

by K. A. Linde

  “We meet again, Heidi,” he said with a sideways grin.

  “Indeed. You know what this meeting is about?”

  “Nope. They never tell us anything before they want to.”

  “Yeah, that’s the truth.” I reached out and snagged a doughnut from the table. “At least they got us some breakfast.”

  “I’m surprised that you eat that kind of thing.”

  I stared at him in confusion with half of the glazed doughnut stuffed in my mouth. “Huh?” I managed.

  “It’s all processed flour and high fructose corn syrup. It’s horrible for you.”

  I swallowed and grinned. “Tastes delicious.”

  “You should take care of your body. You only have one.”

  “Noted,” I said, giving him a thumbs-up as I reached for a second doughnut.

  Just then the engineering manager, Dennis, moseyed into the room. He was a balding man in his mid-fifties with a round belly and an easy smile. I liked Dennis just fine. He was the one who kept giving me merit raises for doing better than the boys.

  “Is everyone here?” Dennis asked. He walked to the front of the room, grabbing a box of doughnuts as he went.

  I glanced around and noticed that, no, in fact, not everyone was here. “I think we’re missing Jim.”

  “Right, Jim,” Dennis said. “Jim is taking a position at the Austin branch. His son just got into Texas, and he and his wife wanted to make the move to be close to him.” He shrugged, as if he thought that was a stupid reason to take a position in Austin.

  Family was the most important thing though. It was kind of sweet that Jim wanted to move to where his son was. And, as long as it was a lateral move, I didn’t see how it was even a bad thing. Austin was a freaking awesome city. I’d gone to visit Emery a couple of times while she had been getting her PhD. It had more to offer than Lubbock; that was for sure.

  “So, with Jim clearing out his desk next week in the middle of the new city contract work, we’re going to need to get someone prepped and into his job, pronto.” Dennis smacked his lips together.

  My eyes lit up. They were looking to promote someone. Oh my God! A lead engineer spot was open, and they wanted someone to drop right into the city contract work Jim had been doing. Might not be most people’s dream, but I wasn’t most people.

  I wanted that position. No, I deserved that position. I’d worked my ass off to get to where I was. I’d spent years in school and training. I had all the certifications. I was up to date on all the proper programs. I even did extra work to prove my worth. This position needed to be mine.

  “Company policy says that I have to leave the application up for a minimum of three days. That means you all have until next Wednesday to apply before I close the application entirely. Too much is resting on this project, and we need someone who knows what they’re doing right away. So, I’m not going to drag my feet on this. If you don’t think you can handle it, then don’t waste my time. Understand?”

  We all answered in the affirmative.

  “Great. Now, get back to work. You’re wasting time and money.”

  I laughed, but most of the other guys grumbled. Dennis was a hard-ass, but he had a good heart.

  Matt immediately turned to face me as we stood up. “You seem awfully happy about this,” he said.

  “Yeah, well, I think it is a great opportunity.”

  “You’re applying?” He sounded genuinely shocked.

  “Um, yeah. Why wouldn’t I?”

  “You just haven’t been with the company that long.”

  I gave him a disbelieving face. “Um…I’ve been with Wright for six years. Haven’t you only been here for four?”

  “Oh, yeah. I guess I forgot that I started after you. I did work for another company for four years before this though,” he said, as if that somehow made his eight years of experience better than my experience.

  “That’s cool.” Misogynistic pig.

  He followed me as I exited the room, and we headed back toward our desks.

  I’d had enough of Matt after one sitting today. First, he’d criticized doughnuts. I mean, doughnuts! And then he’d made it seem like I shouldn’t get the promotion because I didn’t have enough experience. In this job, that was code for, You shouldn’t get it because you’re a woman.

  “Hey, Heidi,” Matt said after I turned my back on him and was trying to ignore his presence.

  “Hmm?” I asked. I studied the papers on my desk.

  “So, I know, the last time we talked, you said that you were dating someone.”

  My head snapped up at that. Oh no. “Yeah?”

  “Well, I heard through the grapevine that you’re single again.”

  “There’s a grapevine for that?”

  He shrugged with a nervous smile. “You know that people gossip around here.”

  “I see.”

  “Well, I was just wondering if you wanted to go out sometime. I’m free tonight. We could go to Rain Uptown. I love their pasta.”

  I smiled in a really nice no-way-in-hell sort of way. Then, I figured I’d let him down easy. “Sorry, Matt, but I don’t date in the office.”

  “Oh,” he said softly. “I see.”

  “It’s a personal rule. Better not to mix business with pleasure and all that. You understand, right?”

  “Uh, sure. Yeah, it makes perfect sense,” he said as I crushed his dreams.

  I sank down into my chair at my desk and tried to ignore the pitiful looks I got from Matt, as if the day could get any more awkward. Well, it probably could if Landon showed up and found out that Matt had asked me out. Those Wright boys were a jealous bunch.

  But Landon never showed.

  His office was mysteriously dark all through the afternoon. I wanted to ask around to find out if anyone knew where he was, but the last thing I wanted was to draw attention to me and Landon. It was bad enough, what we had done so far. It would be worse to make people consider the possibility.

  Of course, they already knew we were friends. We’d been friends since high school. I hoped it didn’t get misconstrued.

  By the time five o’clock rolled around, I was really concerned. I’d gotten used to seeing Landon every day. Three weeks as my boss, and now, it was a thrill to see him and talk to him. Even if nothing was going on.

  With him gone all day, I realized how much I missed him. No more stolen glances. No more hidden smiles. No more stupid reasons to go talk to him. No more elevator rides. Today was unbelievably bland without him. And my phone was unbelievably silent.

  I checked it once more as I walked over to my car. Nothing.

  I plopped down in the front seat and blasted the air conditioner to keep me from sweating from the damn Lubbock dry heat. I wanted to know what was going on with Landon. It seemed strange that he would skip work with no one knowing or talking about it. Maybe he was hurt. Or maybe he’d had something to do.

  I knew it was a lame excuse, using his absence to text him…but I did it anyway.

  Hey! You weren’t in the office today. Everything okay?

  It took a good five minutes before I sent it. I laughed shakily at my need to make sure he was all right.

  He texted back almost instantly.

  Yeah. Thanks for checking in. Did I miss anything?

  New job opening in engineering. Pretty excited.

  That’s great. Because of Jim leaving?

  You already knew!

  Of course, he’d already known. He was my boss after all. He’d probably had to talk to Jim when he asked for the transfer to Austin.

  Guilty. But I couldn’t say anything.

  I get it.

  And I was secretly frustrated that we had this thing between us. This thing that kept us apart. I wanted to talk to Landon. I wanted to tell him everything going on in my life, like we used to be able to do.

  So, why weren’t you at work today then?

  I waited a solid five minutes between that message and the next. I wasn’t sure why it was tak
ing him so long to answer, but when he responded, I knew he had been deciding if he wanted to be bold.

  I liked bold.

  Why don’t you come over to my apartment, and I’ll tell you all about it?

  Nineteen

  Heidi

  Going to Landon’s apartment fell under the category of Bad Ideas. Yet here I was, driving over to the address he had texted to me and feeling ridiculous that I was doing so. I could try to convince myself that it was simply because I was worried about his well-being.

  Actually, let’s go with that.

  Seemed legit.

  Even if it was a lie.

  I was going to Landon’s because I wanted to see him, and staying away from him fucking sucked. Point-blank.

  Just as I pulled into the parking lot of his apartment building, I got a text from Emery. Blood pounded in my ears, and I felt frozen. I still hadn’t told Emery that anything was going on with Landon. I mean, nothing was going on with Landon, but she would want to know why I was going over there to see him, and I didn’t have a real answer to that. At least not one that I could give her.

  Hey! I’m heading over to Jensen’s tonight, but I miss you. Can we plan a girls’ night this weekend?

  I sighed and parked the car. Man, I missed my best friend, too. I should probably head straight home and go hang out with her. That was the sensible thing to do. But there was the door to Landon’s apartment, and that was where all my curiosity led.

  Feeling like a crappy best friend, I decided not to tell her.

  Yes! I miss you, too. How about tomorrow night?

  Oh my God, this needs to happen! This damn man always takes all my time.

  Yes, because you hate it.

  Not in the slightest, but it takes time away from my bestie roomie! So, tomorrow for sure, bitch! You’d better be there.

  Definitely tomorrow. I’ll be all yours, lover.

  Oh, don’t tease me!

  I laughed at her silly behavior that I adored.

  It was officially official though. I had to tell Emery that I was into Landon. I was dreading it. Seriously dreading it. But Emery was my family. One hundred fifty percent. I wasn’t going to lie to her. My poor heart couldn’t handle dealing with that. I was already tied up in knots over the fact that she didn’t know.

  It wasn’t as if I were cheating. I was just…hanging out with my boss. Who happened to be her ex-boyfriend.

  Fuck, I’m screwed.

  I tossed my phone in my purse and hurried up to Landon’s front door. I knocked twice and tapped my foot on the ground in anticipation. I couldn’t believe I was doing this. Sure, I might be able to lie to myself and say that Landon and I had been friends forever, so it wasn’t weird to come over here. But it was still a lie.

  Landon cracked the door open, and his face brightened. “Hey! You showed.”

  “I said I would.”

  “Yeah, you did, but I wasn’t sure. With, well…you know.”

  Yeah, I do know.

  He stepped back and gestured for me to enter. With my heart in my throat, I passed him and went into the living room.

  The apartment wasn’t anything special. I could see everything about the place in one sweep. The small living space had an enormous curved TV that was currently showing some golf tournament, a tiny kitchen with a two-person breakfast nook, and a one bedroom with a too-big bed. This was not the sort of place I would have guessed from someone in the Wright family. Let alone a professional golfer. From what I knew—not that I cared one way or another—the Wrights were all millionaires-plus, and professional golf, even in the midrange, raked in over a million a year. Yet here he was, in a tiny one-bedroom in Lubbock, Texas.

  “Nice place,” I told him.

  He coughed twice as he choked on his own laugh. “Yeah. Sure. Awesome digs.”

  “It’s not what I expected,” I said truthfully.

  He closed the door behind me and followed me into the living room. “I’m not bitter, I swear, but I went from living in a five-thousand-square-foot house in Clearwater with a pool and Jacuzzi, across from a PGA-regulation golf course, to this. This is…an adjustment.”

  My jaw hung open at his words. “Well, shit.”

  “Pretty much my take on it.”

  “Why did you pick this place? It’s not like you can’t live somewhere…better.”

  “That’s true. I could move again if I wanted. But, considering all the other changes in my life, I just wanted to go minimalist. I don’t need the space. It’s just me after all.”

  “That makes sense actually.”

  “I think it sounds better in my head than when I said it out loud to Jensen,” Landon said. He angled for the kitchen. “You want a drink? Water? Coke? A beer?”

  “Coke is fine with me.”

  He popped open two cans and handed one to me. I made myself comfortable on his couch, which was really low to the ground and clearly very new. The bubbles fizzed at the top of the can and tickled my nose when I went to take a sip. I giggled quietly to myself, and my eyes darted to Landon’s mouth. I licked my lips where the bubbles were and tried not to think about what he would taste like without whiskey.

  “What did Jensen say when you told him you wanted a one-bedroom hole in the wall?”

  Landon put his hand over his chest. “You wound me. It’s not actually a hole in the wall.”

  I laughed. “It’s almost comically small.”

  “Cut me a break. I didn’t see it before I signed the lease.”

  “That wasn’t a smart move.”

  “Nope,” he agreed. “Anyway, Jensen thought I was overreacting to the whole divorce and moving away. That I didn’t need to live in a tree house to get that far away from my normal lifestyle.”

  “He’s not wrong,” I said softly.

  “He’s not. But I’m not living in a tree house either.”

  I shook my head and set my Coke down on the coffee table. “So, why weren’t you at work today?”

  “Ugh! You want to talk about work?” he asked. He scooted closer to me, and my heart raced for a whole other reason. “When I finally have you here?”

  “Finally?” I muttered, arching an eyebrow. “I’ve never been invited to your tree house before.”

  “I didn’t know that all I needed to do was send you an invite to get you over here.”

  His hand slipped across the space between us and took my hand in his. Our fingers twined together. My stomach knotted at the touch, and I shivered as he ran his thumb up and down my hand. My eyes snagged on his and the intensity in them. I knew I should stop, but I didn’t pull away. I hovered on the brink of surrender.

  “I’m not sure just any invite would have worked,” I murmured.

  He drew even closer until his hip was pressed into my side and his shoulder was tight against mine. His lips were only inches from me. The reminder of our one shared kiss hit me over the head with want.

  “How about this one?” He eased his other hand up into my hair and brought my face toward him.

  Our lips melded together with a heat that suffused the entire room. There was this moment alone. And I could feel this ache that had settled in the pit of my stomach, unrelenting for weeks. This might be wrong, but it felt so right.

  I wasn’t breathing as I met his kiss, heated and needy. I had wanted this for so long, and now that it was right in front of me, all in front of me, I couldn’t get enough. There was no way this could ever be enough.

  And, as I dragged him closer to me and opened my mouth to his kisses, I tried to push away that nagging feeling. I tried to ignore that voice in the back of my head, saying that he was my boss and I was going to get fired for this.

  I shoved him backward with force I hadn’t known I was capable of and stumbled to my feet. “Oh, fuck,” I muttered unintelligibly. “Fuck, shit, fuck.”

  “Heidi, what’s wrong?” he asked, jumping to his feet, too.

  I stepped back from him and shook my head. I held my hand out. “Stay. Stay right
there.”

  His eyes ignited in frustration. “Why?”

  “Because this only ends one way, Landon.”

  “Hopefully, with you in my fucking bed, Heidi.”

  “That is not going to happen!”

  “And why the fuck not?” he asked.

  “If the only reason I’m here right now is because you want to fuck me, then I’m going to leave,” I snapped back at him.

  I skirted the couch as I headed for the door, but Landon jumped in front of me, blocking my path.

  “No fucking way are you leaving right now.”

  “Watch me!”

  Landon slammed his hand out. “You’re not leaving.”

  “You’re sadly mistaken if you think that, by inviting me to your tiny tree house, I’ll give up all my reasons for staying away from you.”

  Except that was exactly what I’d been thinking about ever since he texted me and told me to come over. I had known that coming here was a bad idea, and I had done it anyway. I had known this would happen, and I’d wanted it to.

  Stupid fucking conscience.

  “That’s not what I think. I think you came over to talk to me about why I’d missed work. Then, you looked at my mouth and licked your lips, and I couldn’t sit next to you and lie to myself about wanting you. I can’t do what you’re capable of.”

  “Yes, I want you. But I can’t have you. That’s it. Full stop.”

  “I don’t accept that,” he told me.

  “Learn to.”

  “Are you just blind? Is that what this is? Do you think you can really avoid this forever? Because I’m not going anywhere, and what we have isn’t just going to go away.”

  “What do we have, Landon?” I asked in desperation. “Some phone calls, a New Year’s mistake, and two whole kisses? That’s not much as far as I’m concerned.”

  “You’re joking, right?” His eyes were round and hurt at my accusation. “We’ve been friends for, like, fifteen years, Heidi. You’ve helped me more than you could possibly know during the last year. The only reason I stopped talking to you was because I was so into you, and I knew that I had to put distance between us. But let me be clear,” he said, stepping dangerously close to me, “there is no distance between us any longer.”