“She’s just messing with you.” I laugh. “You are going to clean up that mess.” I point to the counter that now has his coffee splattered all over it.
“I’m not messing with him. I ordered frozen breast milk this week and switched it out.” Kaleigh looks at me, while I look inside my coffee cup. “You put butter in my potatoes, remember?”
“You let me drink someone’s breast milk?” I throw the coffee down the drain along with the rest of the milk. “That’s sick, Kal.”
“Where the fuck do you even order breast milk from?” Austin is looking under the sink for cleaning products. “Do we need to get, like, a hepatitis shot or something?” he asks, coming up with some Windex in his hand.
“I ordered it online.” She shrugs her shoulder. “I switched it yesterday morning after the kids left.” She nonchalantly studies her nails, while Austin and I start to freak out.
“What if the woman has a disease? Jesus! Could we catch it?” Austin turns to me. “I feel a little funny.” He puts his hand to his stomach, making me roll my eyes.
“Relax, it was from a reputable website for mothers who can’t produce enough milk,” she assures us right before someone starts banging on the front door.
“Kaleigh! Are you in there?” Noah yells from outside.
Austin smirks at her and walks to the door to open it. “Hey, man.” He steps aside for him to walk in. “Come in. Can I get you some coffee? With or without breast milk?” Noah just looks at him like he’s crazy.
“What are you doing here?” He walks into the kitchen and eyes me in Austin’s now buttoned-up shirt before shifting his gaze to Kaleigh.
“You took my shirt? And then you just fucking left?”
“She’s not good with the whole morning-after thing,” I add helpfully, while Kaleigh shoots me a glare and the middle finger.
He turns her around on the stool as he cages her in between his arms with his hands braced against the counter. “I thought we said we were doing yoga this morning?” He leans into her.
Austin laughs from beside me, where he stands after closing the front door. “You couldn’t do yoga if you tried.” He continues laughing while Noah glares at him.
“Plus, you said we could do the down-dog thing,” he whispers to her.
“What’s the down dog?” Austin asks me in a whisper that is not at all quiet. I shrug my shoulders as I shush him and continue to watch the scene in front of me.
“Don’t you two have to be somewhere?” Kaleigh looks back at us.
“Nope,” Austin and I answer at the same time and then look at each other and smile. His smile melts me, so I wrap my arms around his waist as he throws his over my shoulders, bringing me closer to him.
“Come back home with me,” Noah asks her, leaning in and tracing her jaw with the tip of his nose. “Please.”
“Okay,” she replies, and I gasp at her in surprise. She never lets her guard down with men, ever. “Besides, I think Austin is going to kill me for making him drink breast milk.” She tries to make it seem like this isn’t a big deal, but I know better.
Noah looks at Austin as he stands back, making room for Kaleigh to get up and gather her stuff. “You drank breast milk, dude? Can you die from that?” He slips his hands in his pockets.
Austin stills next to me. “No, you can’t. Now, go away before he goes nuts,” I order before turning to Austin. “You can’t die from drinking breast milk,” I reassure him. “Well, unless the mother had like HIV or something.”
Noah bursts out laughing, grabbing Kaleigh’s hand, and dragging her back out the door.
“We need to get tested,” he states.
“I was just kidding. She wouldn’t really try to kill me. Anyway, I was thinking maybe we could shower. I’m feeling very, very dirty,” I whisper to him.
He grabs me around the waist, my body molding to his like it was made for him. We walk upstairs, where we make good use of our hands and mouths—and that third condom.
When nighttime comes, he gets dressed to go home. I’m a little down. We haven’t talked about where this is going, but I’m not stupid enough to think that it’s going anywhere. So, I tuck it down, bury it, and try to just live in the moment.
Later that night, he texts me.
Missing you.
I’m not sure what to say to him, so I send a casual reply.
Me, too ☺
I don’t hear from him the rest of the evening, and then the next day, I make my way to work. I messaged Barbara last night, telling her I would give it another chance. She was very excited. I dressed in a tight black pencil skirt that I paired with a white fitted, button-down shirt with three-quarter length sleeves that has a faux rolled cuff, making it appear as if the sleeves are rolled up to my elbows. I finished the outfit off with a smoking hot pair of Ferragamo patent-leather, pointy-toe stiletto pumps.
I walk in and see Carmen at the reception desk. Her reaction to seeing me is less than friendly. I don’t bother questioning her on it, I just walk back to my desk.
I put my purse on the desk as I look into Austin’s office and notice he isn’t in yet. I walk to Barbara’s office to tell her I’m here, but she isn’t in yet, either. Looking at my watch, I see it’s almost eight, so they both should be in soon.
Walking back to my desk, I come face-to-face with a furious Austin, who is just walking out of his office.
“What are you doing here?” he asks with his hands on his hips, and my heart sinks a bit at his reaction.
“I work here. Barbara asked me to come back, and I agreed.” I put my hands on my hips now, too.
He grabs my arm, bringing me into his office and slamming the door.
“You can’t work here. I don’t sleep with women I work with.” I look at him in confusion.
“What?” I ask, not sure I understand.
“I don’t sleep with women I work with. I think it’s pretty straight-forward,” he barks.
“So, you’re saying that you won’t be with me if I work for you?” I ask him, now folding my arms over my chest.
“I’m telling you that you aren’t working here, so we can continue sleeping with each other.”
“Well, then that settles it. We won’t sleep with each other,” I bait him. He drove me out once, he won’t do it again. “When we slept together, I hadn’t agreed to start working for you again, so that doesn’t count,” I tell him right before there is a knock at the door.
“Go away!” Austin yells, but the door opens anyway with Barbara peeking in.
“Oh, good, you’re here. I see you’ve found out that Lauren decided to come back. You’re welcome.” She takes in the tension in the room and looks at her watch. “It’s been two minutes. How can you guys be fighting already?”
“It’s nothing,” Austin says as I stare him down.
“He’s trying to fire me, because, apparently, he doesn’t work with women he has slept with.” I look over at Barbara, who closes the door behind her.
Then I look at Austin, who throws his hands in the air. “Why did you tell her?” he asks.
“Oh, please, she changed your diapers.” I look at Barbara and then back to him. “Besides, if she hasn’t already, Kaleigh would have told her.”
He looks at the ceiling in his office, pinching his nose. “How did this happen?”
“Well, you had sex with Lauren, that’s how,” Barbara cuts in. “Which isn’t that bad, Austin. I might have to change the employee handbook back now that it appears that fraternizing with a co-worker is okay,” she teases.
“No, it’s not okay,” Austin snaps. “I don’t shit where I eat.” He looks at me. “Not now, not ever.”
“Fine, no big deal. We forget it happened and move forward since it won’t be happening again.” I shrug my shoulders in an attempt to make light of it, while, in truth, my heart is breaking. “It wasn’t that great anyway.”
“Liar,” he snaps as I turn to walk out.
“Now, if you guys will excuse me, I have
work to catch up on.” I turn and walk out before I break down.
I close the door behind me as Austin calls my name. I ignore the desire to go to him, ignore my aching heart and hurt feelings, and ignore the thoughts that we could have been starting something amazing.
Chapter Twenty-Two
AUSTIN
I had the best sex of my life. I was walking on cloud nine. I was smiling at nothing. Then I walked in, saw her in the office, and I snapped.
I promised myself that I would never let my dick get involved with my work. Then there she was, in a tight skirt and a white shirt, and all I thought about was making those buttons scatter as I ripped that shirt off and fucked her tits.
My cock saw her and immediately stood up to salute her. Then she said the words I dreaded. “I work here.”
Now, here I am, three days later, sulking in my office. While she comes in smiling every day like nothing happened. I see her bend down and have to stifle a groan. I see her chewing on her pen and think about her sucking my cock. I can’t think straight. I can’t even walk next to her without fighting the urge to push her up against the wall and fuck her so hard she can’t walk afterward.
I’m watching her while she talks to Steven, her arms crossed over her chest and leaning back. Today, she’s wearing one of those tuxedo shirts for women, with rows of pleated material down the center. I wonder if she’s wearing a lace bra underneath? All I know is, if I see her laugh one more time at something he says, I’m firing him. I pick up the phone to call her.
“Yes,” she answers, and I swear my cock knows when she’s close, because he twitches.
“I need the specs for my meeting with Dani.” I look over at my screen, knowing she sent it twenty minutes ago.
“I sent it to you already,” she huffs and then turns back to her screen. “Yep, it says ‘sent.’ Did you refresh your screen?”
“Obviously, Lauren,” I grate out. “Can you just bring me in the hard copies so I can go over them?”
“Sure.” She hangs up and prints out the pages, then gets up to bring them to me right as Steven steps in her way, causing the papers to drop to the floor. She bends over to pick them up, her ass pointing straight at my office window. Steven doesn’t even notice that ass; he just helps her pick up the papers.
I groan and throw my pen down, trying to get my thoughts together so when she comes in, it doesn’t show that I’m affected by her.
I adjust my cock and mentally tell him to knock it off.
The door opens and she walks in, handing me the papers. “Here you go. Do you need me to attend the meeting?” she asks, and I can’t say anything. Today, she has her hair tied up in a ponytail, and I want nothing more than to untie it so I can run my fingers through it. I just nod, pretending to review the plans.
“Fine. I’ll meet you in there. I’m going to get myself a coffee. Would you like one?” she asks me over her shoulder as she walks out of my office.
“Sure, no laxatives or breast milk, please.” I watch as she rolls her eyes. I continue to watch her as she walks past my office, a little swing in her hips and a small smile playing across her beautiful face. Like me, I know she’s thinking of that morning, that incredible morning. It feels like it was ages ago, but it’s been only four days.
Every night on my way home, I go out of my way to pass by her house just to see if she is there, hoping to catch another glimpse of her. Each and every night, I wish I could text her, call her, go to see her. But I can’t.
The knock at the door jolts me out of my thoughts, and I look up to see Carmen standing there, leaning against the door jamb. “Hiyeah. I called, but you didn’t answer. Dani is here,” she informs me, and I nod as I get up, grabbing my jacket, and making my way to the conference room.
Dani and Lauren are in there gabbing away about new recipes. I can’t help but notice how everyone has taken to Lauren. She gets along with everyone.
She looks over at me, feeling me staring at her. She smiles at me, her smile different than the smile she gives anyone else. It takes over her whole face, her eyes, her cheeks, and her body relaxes.
“Hey.” She points to the table. “Your coffee is there.”
Dani sees me and walks over to me, hugging me, and kisses my cheek. “Hey there, we missed you on Sunday.” My eyes fly right to Lauren’s.
“Yeah, sorry, I was…” I don’t finish. I just look down at the pictures on the table. The restaurant is almost done. “Oh, wow, these are beautiful. I love the booths.” I look and see that the booths are exactly like I wanted them to be, but now each also has a chandelier that hangs over the center of the table that gives it the appearance of falling rain.
“Yes, that was Lauren’s idea. When she described it, I thought right away about the booths, so I told Chris. We are having a soft opening this weekend to make sure everything goes as planned, and then next weekend, it’s go-time. I have a couple of celebrities coming. I even hit up your friend, Cooper Stone, and he’s bringing his wife, Parker, with him.”
I sit in the chair, looking at the pictures, while she talks, only half listening. “So, do you have a date for this or not? I can set you up with this girl I go to Pilates with. She is very detail oriented, and she just wants a good time.”
My head snaps up, shooting straight to Lauren. “Um, no.” I see her looking down at the pad in front of her. “I’m not bringing a date.”
Dani laughs at me. “Serena will be there anyway.” My eyes leave Lauren and shoot to Dani.
“Excuse me.” Lauren pushes off from the table and walks out.
I look at Dani. “Is that all? Did we need to go over anything else?”
“No.” She looks at me then at the door that Lauren just went through. “Jesus, are you and Lauren…” She motions with her fingers.
“She works for me, so that answers your question.”
“Right.” She gathers all her papers. “I’m going to hit up John before I leave. I’ll see you Sunday?” Every Sunday, we all get together for dinner.
“I’m not sure,” I reply, because I’m hoping that Lauren quits tonight.
I walk back to my office, expecting Lauren to be there, but her computer is shut off. I check my watch and see it’s only two-thirty.
I pick up my phone and call her on her cell. She picks up after the first ring. “Sorry, I’m so sorry I had to leave,” she says, almost frantically, without even greeting me.
“Is everything okay?” I’m ready to run out if she needs me.
“Yes,” she sighs. “Well, not really. I might have to call in sick tomorrow. Kaleigh has strep throat. She has a fever, and she’s at my parents’ house now, because the last thing I need is for anyone else to get sick.”
“What?” I’m trying to follow her, but she is rambling.
“Kaleigh had a fever, so she went to the doctor. She has a throat infection. She is the one who watches my kids after school while I’m at work. Except, tomorrow is a staff development day, and she’s sick, so I have no other backup.”
“Okay, don’t worry about it.” I go to my computer to check my calendar, seeing that there’s nothing on my schedule till Monday. “What are you going to do with the kids tomorrow?” I ask her, not exactly sure why, but I do it anyway.
“I have no clue. Hopefully, keep them from killing each other. Listen, I’m just getting home, so I need to go. Sorry about just taking off like that,” she apologizes softly.
“It’s fine. I’ll call you later to check in,” I tell her and then hang up.
I block out my day tomorrow, sending a message to Barbara that I’m going to be working from home.
I have no idea what the fuck I’m doing. But the next morning at nine a.m., I’m standing on Lauren’s porch, hoping she doesn’t turn me away.
I hear the door locks turning and hold my breath. Rachel opens the door, still in her pajamas. I squat down to talk to her, asking, “Hey there, is Mommy home?”
She smiles at me, showing me a missing tooth, her lips shiny
with what I’m assuming is syrup. “Mommy!” she yells loudly. “Asshat is at the door.”
I put my head down, laughing at the nickname. “What?” I hear her voice from somewhere inside the house as she makes her way to the door. She is wearing a short pink cotton robe, loosely tied at the waist, the front a bit open on top so you can see her camisole. Her hair piled up on her head, she places her hands on Rachel’s shoulders. “What are you doing here?” She looks down at me.
I rise up from the squat position. “I came to see if you and the kids would like to go ice skating?” I ask her, and not waiting for her to invite me, I walk past her, kissing her on the head.
I shrug off my jacket, throwing it on the pile next to the door with the other jackets. Then I turn and look at her. “Is that bacon I smell?”
“Real bacon,” Rachel says, turning to run back into the kitchen.
I look at Lauren questioningly. “Kaleigh makes them eat vegan bacon, but I picked up the real deal yesterday, so it’s like Christmas morning.” She laughs as she pulls her robe together at the top of her neck. “Austin, what are you doing here?” she asks me again, and before I have a chance to answer her, Gabe runs into the room.
“Are we really going skating?” His eyes are wide with anticipation. “Mom, can I bring my stick so we can shoot some pucks?” He then turns to me. “Is it okay if I bring my stick?”
“You play hockey?” I ask him.
“Yeah, I want to, but Mom says I have to choose one sport, so I chose soccer.” Gabe looks at his mom.
“I used to play college hockey with Cooper Stone. Have you heard of him? He’s retired now, but he was a big deal when he was playing.”
“You used to play with Cooper Stone? Matthew Grant is my favorite player of all time! He’s still a rookie, but he’s awesome.”
I smile at him. This kid obviously wants to play hockey. “How about next Sunday, if it’s okay with your mom, I ask Cooper to join us on the ice?”
“Mom, please? I’ll do all my chores.” Gabe turns to his mom and begs.
“First off, you’re at your dad’s next weekend. And second, you don’t have any equipment, and this isn’t the right time for me to be buying stuff,” she answers him.
Tempt The Boss Page 15