I Can Explain

by Missy Johnson

  “You should take tomorrow off and make it up to me,” she mumbles, her words barely coherent.

  I chuckle and gently tickle her back as she sighs. Her breathing grows heavier as she drifts off to sleep. I kiss her forehead and just watch her for what feels like forever. I don't want to go to sleep because this moment is so perfect that I just want to last.

  I nearly lost her once. I don’t intend on letting myself fuck up like that again.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Alana

  To his credit, he did take the day off—six months later, for our anniversary.

  Well, at least the intention was there, until he was called in for a last-minute meeting. I frown at him as he hangs up the phone and rolls back over to face me. He winces when he sees my expression.

  “Shit, I know. I promised. Someone else can handle it,” he says, picking up the phone again. “You’re more important than anything—”

  I laugh and push him out of the bed. Honestly, I was surprised he even remembered the anniversary, because I sure as hell didn’t.

  “It’s fine,” I say with a laugh. “You can go into work for this meeting without upsetting me.”

  “I’ll make it up to you,” he promises.

  “By handing me your credit card so I can entertain myself shopping?” I ask sweetly.

  He rolls his eyes. “Since when do you even ask for it anymore?”

  I think about going shopping. I'm sure that there's a lot I can buy with this platinum credit card, but in the end, I'm too lazy and spend most of the day napping around his pool. That is, until he interrupts my sunbathing at around two in the afternoon with a phone call.

  “Can you come in for a little while?” he asks.

  I frown. “I thought I had the day off?”

  “You do,” he says, “but Peyton is sick and I’m way behind. I have a big meeting that I need—"

  “Calm down, I’ll come in,” I say as I roll my eyes. “But you so you owe me for this.”

  I get change into my work clothes and grab my keys and then make my way downstairs to my hail a cab. In the end, I decide to walk. It’s not that far from his place, and me being a few minutes late isn’t going to kill him. If he’d promoted me already like we agreed, then he’d have another assistant there, ready to kiss his ass. Hold on. I’m not sure I like that idea.

  Everytime I broach the subject of my internship, he promises me it’s happening soon. First, it was waiting until the latest mergers were settled before introducing me to the team, but then, we were so close to the next quarter that he wanted to wait until then. I trust him that it’s coming, but if it doesn’t happen soon, I might have to withhold sex. I chuckle. That will speed things up.

  I walk toward Chase’s office, I run into Peyton. I frown at her.

  “What’s wrong?” she asks, her eyes wide.

  “Nothing,” I mumble, confused. “It’s just that Chase asked me to come in because he was snowed under because you’d called in sick.”

  She laughs, looking at me like I’m crazy. “What? I haven’t called in sick all year. Come find me when you speak to him though, okay? I have to get this to the mailroom or he’ll have a stroke.” She rolls her eyes and rushes off, still laughing as she disappears down the hallway.

  I shake my head and walk through my small office, to Chase’s door, knocking gently on it. He calls out for me to come in, so I do.

  “What is this about? I thought you said that Peyton…”

  My voice trails off when I see Philip sitting on the other side of Chase's desk. They both stand up and smile at me.

  “Hi,” I say, feeling flustered.

  What the hell is this all about?

  Chase motions for me to sit down. I walk over and sit next to Phillip. I glare at Chase, because I hate being blindsided. He knows that better than anyone. I have no idea what’s going on, and if I don’t find out soon, I’m going to snap.

  “Philip asked me to get you in here,” he says.

  Well that confuses the hell out of me. Why would he want to see me?

  He motions for Phillip to talk, who nods and turns to me.

  “Chase came to me a few months ago with an interesting proposal. At first, I was ready to laugh him out of the room, but then I decided to hear him out. By the end of it, I was ready to take a chance on a company that was struggling and would appear to have nothing to offer.” He pauses and glances back at Chase.

  “I’m not sure if you know that we closed that deal two months ago.”

  I glance at Chase. “Why didn’t you tell me that?” I frown.

  “Hear Phillip out,” he asks me.

  I turn back to Phillip, who continues.

  “We redeveloped their entire marketing strategy, their manufacturing process and their management. We thought about what we should be highlighting about the product and went with it. Everything was overhauled, except for the product. Last month, that product alone produced one of our biggest profit months in our history.”

  “When I told Phillip the takeover was your idea, he didn’t believe me,” Chase adds.

  Phillip nods. “I struggled to see potential in that company, so I couldn’t see how someone with little experience in this field could. I’ve been looking into you, Alana. I know you graduated college majoring in statistics in business, and you have been working here ever since, right?”

  “That’s right,” I say.

  “What do you want to do?” he asks.

  I glance at Chase. “Well, I want to work for the analytics department here—”

  “Such a waste,” he cuts in, shaking his head. “I want to offer you a job with my company.”

  “You want me to work for you?” I ask, shocked. I glance at Chase.

  “No, not for me, with me,” Phillip corrects. “I’m offering to mentor you, Alana. Show you everything I know.”

  “I don’t know what to say,” I reply, too stunned to think of anything else. I glance at Chase, who smiles at me.

  “You can start with yes,” Phillip laughs.

  “It's an amazing opportunity. I wouldn’t be hesitating to say yes,” Chase agrees.

  “I guess there is only one thing for me to say, then,” I grin. “Yes.”

  “Fantastic. Call my assistant and arrange a meeting so we can go over the final details.” He nods. “Chase, I'll leave you to it.” I wait until Philip has left the room before I run around and throw my arms around Chase's neck. He laughs as I kiss him.

  “Did you have anything at all to do with that?” I ask narrowing my eyes at him. He shakes his head.

  “I wish I could take credit for it, but no. Do you have any idea how hard it is to get a job with that man?”

  I shake my head, still feeling overwhelmed.

  “That would mean leaving here,” I say, sitting down on his desk.

  “With what I can teach you, compared to what you can learn working for him, it's not even a decision,” he says. “You're taking the job, even if I have to fire you to do it.”

  “But how will you cope without me here?” I ask with a frown.

  “The man who's gonna fuck up my coffee, time and time again, he smokes us all,” I say sticking my tongue out at him.

  “Hey,” I ask, grinning. “You’ll be looking for a new executive assistant, right?”

  Chase frowns at me. “Yes, why?”

  I race out of the room and straight over to Peyton to share my good news. “That's amazing,” she gushes, throwing her arms around me.

  Chase sticks his head in the door.

  “Peyton can I speak to for a moment?” he asks.

  She stares at me, her eyes wide. I shrug and play innocent, but I know exactly what he’s doing, and if anyone deserves this, it’s her.

  I leave the office calling Dad on my way home. He's happy to hear that I'm finally moving on away from what he still considers a hostile work environment.

  “You do remember that he’s my boyfriend, right?” I ask with a laugh.

&n
bsp; “Right,” he says, sounding embarrassed. “I guess I should think before I speak, huh? How long have you two been together now?”

  “Six months today.” I say, my smile widening.

  “I’m proud of you,” he says, “and glad you're happy. That's the most important thing to me.”

  “Hey, maybe we can double date?” I burst out laughing.

  “What! I've been trying to find a way to tell you about Macy.”

  “Macy...” I say with a grin, “She sounds cute.”

  “She is that,” he says sounding flustered. “We’ve been seeing each other for two months now.”

  “You've been holding out on me!” I say with a laugh. “Is this the same woman you were trying to tell me about nearly six months ago?”

  “What?” he gasps. “You knew what I wanted to talk to you about? Why didn’t you say something and put me out of my misery?”

  “Because I figured you’d tell me when you were ready.”

  “No, that was June. She fizzled out after a few weeks. Macy though, she’s a keeper.”

  I laugh. “Poor June.”

  “Yeah, yeah. Just call me to arrange dinner, okay? I want you to meet her. Now, go out and celebrate or something. Make that boyfriend of yours buy you dinner.”

  “I will,” I say, with a giggle.

  I hang up, then decide, what the hell, I will go shopping. I want to buy myself something nice, but after a foot massage and a day at the spa getting my nails done, I’m exhausted, and all I want to do is get home to Chase.

  As I walk back through the mall toward my car, I see Jade. I duck behind a row of jackets, so she doesn’t see me. I cringe. What am I doing? Surely, I can say hello to her without diving for cover? Just as I’m about to approach her, I see her slip a scarf into her handbag and walk off. I stare, wide-eyed, shocked at what I’ve just witnessed.

  I’m still thinking about Jade when I arrive back at Chase’s apartment, but that’s soon forgotten when I walk in and find him preparing dinner. I put my bag down on the hall table and wander into the kitchen, wrapping my arms around his waist. I kiss the back of his head and then sit down on one of the stools on the other side.

  “You’re home early,” I say with a grin.

  He shrugs. “I told you, I was only going in for that meeting.” He sets down his wooden spoon and wanders around the counter and kisses me roughly on the mouth. His brow creases. He leans closer again and breathes in deeply.

  “You smell…floral.”

  “I had a massage,” I say, casually handing back his credit card, my cheeks glowing, “Thanks for that. Oh. You’ll never guess who I saw shoplifting today.”

  “Who?” he asks, soundly mildly interested.

  “Jade,” I grin.

  He raises his eyebrows. “As in Jade who used to work for me?”

  I nod. “I still can’t believe you fired her to get closer to me.”

  He chuckles. “Is that what you thought? I fired Jade because she was stealing from my company. I’d been noticing the books weren’t balancing for a while, but I didn’t have any proof until I saw the sheets for that month.”

  “Oh,” I say, flushing.

  “But I think it’s cute that you thought that.” He raises his eyebrows. “So, I guess I’m not shocked by the shoplifting. And while I’m glad you enjoyed your massage, I already got you a present.”

  “Really?” I say raising my eyebrows.

  He walks back over to the stove to stir his sauce, then wanders into the living room to retrieve a small, flat box.

  I take the box from him and open it, pulling aside the white tissue paper to reveal a red lace, very sexy bra and matching thong. I stare at him, my mouth hanging open. He laughs at my reaction.

  “I was thinking,” he murmurs, his eyes twinkling as he pulls me into his arms. “That we could recreate that time when you tried to break in here?”

  “I wasn't trying to break in,” I scoff.

  “Fine, whatever.” He smirks. “Now let me help you put this on so you can get that ass of yours outside.”

  I stand on the balcony wearing the sexy, red underwear, tapping on the window. I laugh, because I can't believe I'm doing this. Didn’t I learn from the first time? He finally slides open the door…wearing no shirt. Okay, so maybe this isn’t all bad…

  “Hey,” he says, looking me up and down. My heart races as he leans closer to me.

  “Hey,” I say back, biting back a smirk.

  He takes my arms and pulls me inside, kissing his way along my neck. He lowers the straps on my bra, his tongue sliding along my collarbone. He reaches behind my back to unclasp my bra. Then he stops. He frowns, his brow creasing.

  “What’s this?” he asks, pulling his hand back.

  “What…” I stare at him, my gaze dropping to the massive princess cut diamond he’s holding in his hand.

  “No,” I say, shaking my head. He nods.

  “Will you marry me?”

  “Yes,” I whisper, throwing my arms around him. “God, I love you.” I kiss him on the lips and then hug him again, tears welling in my eyes.

  “I love you, too,” he says, his voice serious. Then he chuckles, a cheeky gleam flashing in his eyes.

  “What?” I say suspiciously.

  “Nothing. I was just thinking how much you're going to blush when everyone asks you to describe the moment when I proposed.” He chuckles.

  “You’re an asshole,” I say with a gasp. I step back and narrow my eyes at him. “You planned that, didn’t you?” I accuse him.

  He kisses me and takes my hand, leading me inside the bedroom.

  “You fucking bet I did.”