Work & Play (Love at First Sight Book 2)

by Mia Madison

  “I don’t believe that.”

  “I’ve given you no reason not to.”

  I shook my head, unable to keep the denial from spilling out of my mouth. “You’re faking it—I know you are. I’ve seen it. You fake indifference to protect yourself. But I don’t want to hurt you, Charles. Can’t you see that? I just want you.”

  He looked away, back down to his stack of papers. He took a long, deep breath before slowly shaking his head as he said, “Miss Price, I’m sorry if you don’t believe what I’m saying. But I have no reason to lie. It meant nothing to me. I—”

  “Do you remember what you said at the wedding? About how we’d discuss you answering my question?” I asked, interrupting him with the desperate hope that he’d recall the conversation we had before going to the dance floor together. “Just tell me the truth. Please. I’ll agree to whatever bargain you want from me.”

  “The truth about what?”

  “About us!” I cried out, pressing a palm to my forehead as I tried to reel in my emotions so he wouldn’t think of me as that girl. “Us, Charles. What are we?”

  He grunted. Seriously. A grunt and nothing else. Then—with words even more disappointing than the grunt—he slammed the hammer down on my chest just hard enough to finish breaking my already fractured heart.

  “You are my employee. I’m your boss. No more, no less,” he ground out, not bothering to look up from the stack of paperwork he was staring at. “Anything that has happened between us meant nothing to me and that is the truth.”

  “Employee,” I said slowly, like I had never uttered the word before, rolling it around on my tongue and noticing the moment his shoulders tensed minutely. “Do you fuck all your employees in your office?”

  “Would it surprise you if I said yes?”

  “Not anymore.”

  Charles finally looked up, his eyes void of all emotion except for a hint of annoyance. He was a master of stoicism, even as his hand reached out to point toward the hall.

  “Get out.”

  “Are you firing me?”

  “No. Take the rest of the day off and I’ll see you in the morning,” he said, his eyebrows furrowing as his attention shifted back to his files. “I have a lot of work to finish, Finley. I don’t have time for these…” he trailed off, waving a hand in the air. “Dramatics.”

  I wanted to scream that my feelings weren’t ‘dramatics’, but that would have only proved his point. I glared at him for another moment while he continued to ignore me, spinning on my heel and leaving when I realized there was no point in staying.

  When I reached the door, I hesitated. I could feel his eyes move back to me, but I didn’t turn around to look at him as I said, “You know what? I take back what I said. I completely understand why you’re alone and it has nothing to do with your work ethic. And by the way—I quit.”

  A part of me desperately wanted to look back, but I didn’t. Because I knew if I did, I’d find nothing but more disappointment.

  Not even losing a case could chink his armor. It pissed him off, sure—but there was never a visible reaction. There was no way the words from a girl he didn’t even care about would be any different.

  I cleaned out my desk before the tears in my eyes blurred my vision, but I lost the battle long before I ever made it home and cried for what I had mistakenly thought might have been my first real love.

  16

  Bad news always came in threes. I lost my job as an assistant and lost the man of my dreams along with it.

  For a little while, I thought I was safe. Good news came only two short weeks after my epic meltdown with Charles in the form of a job offer. The company hadn’t been hiring when I originally applied for the job, but the head of the hiring department had placed my resume to the side after being impressed by the praise I’d received from professors and my previous employer. One of their employees moved to Rome and the spot was officially mine three days later.

  It was a perfect fit. I got along with my boss and the other employees I worked with and soon enough, I was sure that I was in the clear. I shoved my superstitions to the side. Number three wasn’t coming.

  Until I looked at my calendar one Saturday morning and frowned at the date.

  Hours later and I was pacing around my apartment, unsure of what to do with myself. I tidied up the apartment to keep busy and made myself tea, but my nerves were shot to hell. Eventually, I accepted the fact that the deed had to be done and I set the timer on my phone.

  Number three isn’t coming. Everything is good now. All is well. I just need to—

  My buzzer rang and the noise jolted me out of my thoughts. I tried to remember if I had invited any of my friends from work over and it just slipped my mind, but I was coming up empty. I strolled to the intercom and pressed the button.

  “Hello?”

  I waited for a response, but nothing but the sound of street traffic met me. The noise stopped abruptly and I shrugged, but the buzzer rang again just as I started to step away.

  “Who’s there?” I spoke into the speaker, waiting a beat before pressing the button again. “I’m not buzzing a stranger into my building.”

  Silence was all that greeted me and I stared at the buzzer, unwilling to move unless I was certain whoever was outside was gone. I did hear another buzz and I frowned as I walked over to my front door and cracked it open.

  I stuck my head out and I could hear the muffled sound of my neighbors’ buzzers all going off in the otherwise silent hallway. I imagined every buzzer in the building was going off—except for mine—but it only continued for a moment before someone got annoyed enough to unlock the door.

  “Oh shit,” I muttered, ducking back into my apartment and throwing all the locks into place.

  I waited for the inevitable sound of footsteps and when they finally arrived and stopped in front of my door, I sucked in a shaky breath and looked out the peephole.

  Confusion hit first—followed by anger. I unlatched the locks and yanked the door open, frowning at the man standing in my hallway with his fist still hanging in mid-air, poised to knock.

  “What are you doing here?”

  Charles sighed and lowered his hand.

  “Hello, Finley. May I come in?”

  “No.”

  “No?” he repeated incredulously.

  I rolled my eyes. “Don’t look so surprised. You wouldn’t have buzzed all my neighbors if you honestly believed I’d let you in.”

  “I’m not doing this in your hallway.”

  “Considering you haven’t told me what you’re doing—that’s your own damn problem.” I took a step back and moved to close the door, almost crushing his fingers as he reached in to stop me.

  “Wait. Please, Finley. I’m here to apologize. Whether you want to forgive me or not—you still deserve an explanation,” he said, his voice as close to pleading as a man like him could get. His eyes shifted away and behind him before he lowly added, “Though I’d prefer not to have this conversation in your hallway.”

  “Come in,” I said with a sigh of resignation, allowing him to push open the door and enter my apartment. When he began to move toward me after closing the door, I held up a hand to stop him. “This is far enough. I let you in to talk—so talk.”

  Charles was very obviously irritated about not being allowed further into the apartment, but he accepted it regardless. He ran a hand across his jaw before combing it through his hair, blowing out a long breath and shrugging.

  “I swear I came here to explain, but I don’t even know where to start.”

  “You can start with what happened that night. What did Arthur say to you?”

  “He said a lot of things. He called me a perverted old man, pointed out that his daughter was almost the same age as you, said anything sexual between us was disgusting. Those were the most notable ones, but he reamed me for quite a while. And honestly—I agreed with him.”

  “Charles—”

  “Only for a little while. A few days
after that night, we spoke on the phone and I told him you quit. He said it was a good thing. Told me it was wrong of me to abuse my position of authority and use you like I did,” Charles said, taking a step closer and frowning down at me. “You see, that’s when I realized how completely wrong he was about everything. Because despite what you and Arthur may think of me—I swear I’ve never used you.”

  “I know you didn’t,” I said softly, mad at myself for already feeling my anger starting to deflate. “And you didn’t abuse your position, either. If anything, I was kind of the one who started this whole thing.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong,” he said sadly. “I started this, in a way. I knew from the very beginning that something like this was going to happen. I should have passed you off to one of the lower partners. I just wanted you too badly. It was inappropriate.”

  “I have to admit that I’m really glad you didn’t.”

  “Even after everything that’s happened?”

  I shrugged, a sad smile coming to my lips. “Well, yeah. Don’t get me wrong—we started out pretty shaky and our last conversation hurt like hell… but the good parts made it worth it. At least to me.”

  “Better to have loved and lost,” Charles muttered, licking his lips before sucking in a breath. “I’m sorry for hurting you. I realize how terribly I handled the entire situation and I’d understand if you can’t forgive me. I know I don’t deserve it.”

  The tables had been turned once again and I had no intention of using what may have been my only chance to use my bargaining chip.

  “I’ll forgive you,” I said, holding up a hand when he started to smile. “On one condition.”

  “Anything.”

  “Answer my question.”

  He let out a humorless laugh, shaking his head before he looked to the floor. “The truth about us?”

  “Yes. Tell me.”

  When he met my eyes, I immediately noticed that he had pulled back the veil. The stoicism that I hated him for was nowhere to be found, but there was a notable amount of fear in his eyes.

  “I told your sister that we were dating because I wished we were. I still wish we were,” he added for clarification. “The truth is I’m fairly certain that I fell in love with you the moment I saw you. I tried to rationalize it away, but you made it impossible with your presence. When the opportunity to spend time with you out of the office arose, I didn’t even think before jumping on it. I’m still a little surprised you didn’t tell me to fuck off.”

  Charles chuckled as he remembered my confusion the day he invited himself to Brooke’s wedding with me. I had been so taken aback by the sudden turn of events that I couldn’t have declined even if I tried.

  “Finley?”

  I jolted out of the memory and back to the present time where the man of my dreams had just told me he loved me. I was still shocked that he had so easily admitted it and it took me another minute to get my mouth to work.

  “Thank you. I forgive you.”

  Charles nodded, a hopeful look in his eyes as he waited for me to continue.

  “And I love you, too. That’s what I was about to tell you when Arthur walked in on us.”

  “Really?”

  “Really.”

  We stared at each other for a long moment. I looked down to see his hands twitching nervously at his sides and I took pity on the poor man and his uncertainty by stepping forward to close the distance between us.

  His arms went around my back and the moment I had mine wrapped around his neck, he dipped me low just like he had done when we danced together at the wedding and pressed his lips firmly to mine.

  The raw emotion I felt coming from him as he moved his lips against mine said far more than he ever could with words and it didn’t take long for me to break the kiss because I couldn’t stop smiling. When I opened my eyes, I found his already locked on my face, grinning as he stood me back up and cupped my cheek lovingly.

  Our tender moment was interrupted by a shrill ring and I pulled away as I remembered what I was doing before he unexpectedly showed up.

  “Ignore it,” Charles whispered before tugging me back into his arms. “Show me your bedroom.”

  “Wait, wait,” I breathed out, swallowing hard and giving him a nervous smile as I stepped out of his reach. “There’s just... There’s something I need to do first.”

  He seemed confused, but he didn’t hassle me. He made a sweeping gesture with his arm before he shrugged off his jacket and began curiously looking around my living room. Under normal circumstances, I might have worried a little about how dirty my apartment was compared to his place, but I didn’t have the mental capacity to think about it.

  I rushed down to the bathroom and closed my eyes before lifting the stick from the counter.

  Bad news comes in threes.

  But… was it really bad news now?

  There was only one way to find out.

  I walked down the hall in a trance, staring at Charles with wide eyes. He had made himself comfortable on my couch, but he bolted upright as soon as he saw the look on my face. His eyes scanned me from head to toe, lingering on the stick in my hand. His throat bobbed.

  “What’s that?”

  “A pregnancy test.”

  Charles blinked multiple times before rushing forward, pulling my hand up and prying my clenched fingers apart to reveal the two lines. He looked between the stick and my eyes with a frown multiple times and I focused on his lips as he nervously wet them before finally forming words.

  “Two lines means… I’m going to be a father?”

  “Yeah, I guess it does. And I’ll be a mother,” I said with disbelief, placing a hand over my stomach and trying very hard to figure out if I felt any different. “God, what a twist. I was just giving Brooke shit about her making me the godmother of a cat.”

  “I’m sorry?” he asked, his eyebrows raising high in confusion.

  “Don’t worry about it, just a weird conversation we had at the wedding,” I vaguely explained, waving off his still perplexed expression. “Are you… okay? With this? I mean, I guess we have a few different options we could take if it came down to it.”

  Charles cupped my chin and raised my head until I had no choice but to look him in the eye as he calmly said, “I’ll support you regardless of what you choose to do, but I won’t deny that I’m ecstatic that you’re carrying my child.”

  “Really? You’re not mad?”

  “Mad? Of course not. And really—this is my fault. I just assumed you were on the pill. Though I admit I’ve not thought very clearly when it came to you and nudity,” he said with a chuckle before his expression switched to something more serious. “What about you? What do you want to do?”

  “Right now…I want to show you my bedroom. We’ll take it from there.”

  “You know what this means, don’t you?”

  “What?”

  “I’ll finally be able to finish in you instead of on you.”

  “It’s going to make a hell of a mess regardless,” I dryly stated, rolling my eyes when he burst out laughing. “Hey! It wouldn’t be so funny if you had to deal with the clean-up, you know.”

  “How about this? After we’re through, I’ll carry you into the shower and make sure you’re thoroughly cleansed.”

  “Only if you carry me bridal style.”

  Charles grinned and bent down, making me squeak with surprise as he lifted me into my chosen position. I admit I’d only been half-joking when I made the request, but it was really hot to feel his strong arms holding me up as he wandered down the hall and into my bedroom.

  Neither of us left the apartment until late Sunday evening.

  17

  Two months later…

  “They’re going to figure it out, you know.”

  I tugged the sweater down lower over my stomach and growled at Charles’ reflection in the mirror. He had a smug smile on his lips that made me want to both slap and kiss him, but I opted instead to close my eyes and ta
ke a calm, sobering breath before responding.

  “They won’t figure it out as long as you keep your mouth shut,” I said pointedly, opening my eyes to see his brows raise. “We need to give them time to process the fact that we’re dating before I drop the grandchild bomb on them.”

  “You’re already starting to show, baby,” he unnecessarily reminded me as he placed his hands on the small bump. Charles released a short laugh as his hands glided up to caress my breasts. “The sweater may hide your stomach, but these tits speak for themselves.”

  “I’m pretty sure they only speak to you, Charles. You’re just loving this, aren’t you?”

  Charles hummed as he started to massage my breasts and I hated to admit that it felt really damn good. It had taken some trial and error, but he quickly figured out the perfect way to touch me to relieve some of the soreness. My head tipped back to rest against his shoulder and a moan slipped past my lips when he dipped to move beneath the sweater.

  “I won’t lie—I do love this. Not that I didn’t love your tits before, but now they’re just… perfection.”

  “They’ll go back to normal eventually.”

  “Only until I put another baby in you.”

  “Oh God,” I groaned, pulling away from him and ignoring his pout. “Can we please just try to survive the first one before bringing up the possibility of a second?”

  “I suppose I can agree to that.”

  “Good. Now, what time is it? We need to leave by two if we’re going to make it to my parents’ house for dinner.”

  “Just past eleven. We’ve got three hours to kill.”

  Charles sucked his bottom lip into his mouth and cocked an eyebrow, making it very clear on how he wanted to spend at least some of those three hours. I seemed to be perpetually horny most days and his toying with my breasts hadn’t helped, so I grinned and pulled the sweater over my head.

  “The bra as well,” he ordered, his gaze lingering on my chest. “Don’t tease me, baby. Take it off.”