by Tara Sue Me
“You aren’t joking,” I said.
Not only was she not joking, she said Tenor felt very strongly about these meetings and you didn’t miss them unless you were in the hospital. I rolled my eyes because I thought that was overkill if I’d ever heard it, but I parked my butt in the conference chair at five minutes before nine every other day. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
The Friday of my two-week anniversary was no different. I took my seat and Tenor glanced my way and gave me a wink and a smile. I thought the wink was a bit much, but maybe he was trying to tell me he was keeping an eye on me and not to nod off like I had on Wednesday.
As always, I was bored out of my mind and by the time we were halfway through, I was snoozing or at least attempting to sleep with my eyes open. I’d given up any pretense of interest at all. In fact, I was trying to decide if I could block out the second half while still sitting in the room when I noticed that everyone was looking at me.
Fucking hell, had someone mentioned me? I turned back to Tenor, but he was watching me with a very amused expression.
“Can you repeat the question?” I asked him.
The corner of his mouth lifted in somewhat of a smile, but I had the feeling it wasn’t a question I’d missed. No, based on the way everyone around the table smirked, I’d missed something much, much bigger than a question.
“I was talking about the potential for expansion in other cities,” he said.
I nodded. At dinner the night I’d signed the contract agreeing to work for him, he’d touched on expanding the business. He’d sounded very excited talking about it and all the while, I was trying to wrap my head around a matchmaking company being a franchise. I had never even considered doing anything like that. Either way, I hadn’t expected it to come up again so soon.
“I had a call yesterday morning from a colleague in Atlanta,” he said. “He’s heard that the owner of The One For You Agency is thinking about selling. He’s set up a meeting for the beginning of next week.”
Again I nodded, but didn’t understand how this in anyway involved me. I mean, seriously, did he have to stop the entire meeting and repeat himself simply because I’d been daydreaming?
I needed more caffeine. Unfortunately, there was not enough coffee in the world.
“I was informing the group that I was going to ask you to travel with me to Atlanta, since you recently sold your own business and joined us,” he said as if it was nothing at all. “I’ll stop your office after lunch so we can discuss in further detail.”
I only nodded, why he hadn’t stopped by my office before the meeting? Wouldn’t it make more sense to do it that way than to spring it on me at a staff meeting?
Unless he knew that because I was relatively new, I wouldn’t question him in front of everyone. Perhaps he’d planned it to happen just that way. He’d smoothly by the way bring up in the staff meeting that he would be going to Atlanta and just so you know, I’ll be taking the new chick with me. Knowing, of course, the new chick wouldn’t say anything and when he stopped by her office after lunch, she’d agree because what else could she do?
I narrowed my eyes at Tenor as he closed the meeting. He thought he had me right where he wanted me. And maybe he did. At least for now, anyway. But I was onto him and I was going to keep my eye on him very closely.
Of course he was nothing but smiles when he stopped by my office after lunch. I’d finished a peanut butter sandwich at my desk and had just cleared the crumbs into the trashcan when he knocked on my half-opened door.
“Knock. Knock,” he said, entering with a grin.
Damn, he was much too handsome. I swore sometimes it hurt he looked so good. Especially dressed the way he was today. I’d been too bored and later distracted to take note of it during the staff meeting, but now…
The way he strolled into the room as though he owed it.
He does, I whispered in my head.
When paired with the suit I knew had to be custom and made from a blue material that somehow matched his eyes just right?
Oh, yes. I had a feeling Tenor Butler knew exactly what he was doing and that confidence shook me as much as it turned me on.
“Did you have a nice lunch?” I asked.
“Yes, thanks.” He pulled one of the chairs across from me close so he could place some papers on top of my desk. I noticed his fingers. Funny how I didn’t remember seeing them before even though I knew I had.
But I didn’t see how it could be possible for me to have seen them and not remembered. His fingers were so long and even though I knew he had a desk job, they didn’t strike me as idle fingers. They moved with a purpose. The way I assumed his entire body did and suddenly, I wanted to touch those fingers and have them touch me in return.
“Mia?” he asked.
“Huh?” But I was still looking at his fingers while at the same time calling myself an idiot for doing so.
“Are you okay? You seem to have drifted for a minute there.”
Several minutes actually, but I wasn't about to admit that. Nor would I ever tell him what I'd been thinking. I nodded.
“I wanted to apologize for springing the Atlanta trip on you the way I did.”
He came into my office a lot to apologize about one thing or another. I wondered if he realized that or if he even cared. I got the impression, although I could be mistaken, that he wasn't one to apologize often. Of course, I was pretty sure that had more to do with the fact that he was rarely wrong as opposed to not being one to admit when he was.
“No need to apologize,” I told him. “I should have been paying closer attention during the staff meeting instead of daydreaming the way I was.”
“Is it a problem for you to travel to Atlanta? If it is, you don't have to go. It was wrong for me to do go about it the way I did.” He glanced across the desk and met my eyes. “But I have to be honest with you, Mia. I do want you to go to Atlanta with me and I would very much like your impression of the business we'll be discussing.”
I was positive I wasn't able to school my expression quick enough, but I didn't feel assured enough in his presence to question him.
“It surprises you that I want your opinion?” he asked. “Why?”
“Why would you care about what I think? What about me makes me so special that you would want me to travel with you? I'm nobody. I'm a has been business owner who lost her business because she didn't know enough about what her partner was doing.”
He closed his eyes and I got the feeling that I had touched on a sensitive subject for him. But why?
“I should never have made the loan with Dee,” he whispered. “Not without knowing you were totally onboard and knew about the entire deal.”
Was that what put the guilty look on his face? I found that hard to believe. It didn't fit in with the badass business man I thought he was.
Though I wasn't sure if that said more about him or me.
And it didn't escape my attention that he never actually answered my original question. But instead of bringing that up, I decided to continue with his line of conversation. “It wasn't your fault I didn't know and I can hardly blame you for that. That’s all on Mama. Not you.”
“Thank you for saying that, I appreciate it. But I'm not at that point yet. I'm not a completely good guy, you know.”
He was looking at me all playful like. “Oh, I never said you were,” I said matching his style. “I'm sure there are many things you should apologize for; that deal just isn't one of them.”
For a second, it appeared as if he didn’t know if I was being serious or not. To be honest, I wasn’t completely sure myself. But then he smiled and broke into a laugh and I found myself joining in.
Chapter Nine
Tenor
I decided we should leave for Atlanta on Sunday afternoon instead of Monday morning the way I had originally planned. If there was one thing I hated, it was flying out on the same day as a meeting. Experience had taught me when you did, you might as well beg for a d
elay because nine times out of ten that was what would happen.
I called Mia on Saturday morning and she didn’t sound as if she cared when we left. We would fly back home on Tuesday. Since she didn’t have a company credit card yet, I told her I’d pay for everything, but that if I didn’t happen to be around, she could expense it. That seemed to surprise her, but I couldn’t figure out why.
We flew out late Sunday afternoon. It was the first time I’d ever seen her in anything casual. I’d thought she looked hot dressed up for dinner the night she agreed to come work for me. But seeing her in a pair of worn jeans and a tee shirt that looked silky soft, she looked just as amazing.
“Thanks for agreeing to fly out early,” I told her as we waited for our flight to board. “I don’t like flying in the day of a meeting.”
“It’s no bother,” she said. “But if that’s the case, why didn’t you book us on Sunday flights to begin with?”
“I didn’t book them initially. I had Sara do it. I didn’t even see the arrangements she’d made until I got home on Friday night.”
She nodded and at that moment we are called to board. Once we were seated, we started talking about Atlanta. She’d never been, but had always wanted to. I told her we used to vacation in Georgia near Saint Simmons Island. For the rest of the flight we chatted non-stop.
It was refreshing talking with Mia. Unlike the women I went out with, she didn’t try to be anyone or anything she wasn’t. She was just Mia and you could either take her or leave her. She didn’t seem to care which.
I wanted to take her.
Repeatedly.
But I couldn’t because I was her boss. I could, however, take her out for a nice dinner and I had every intention of doing so. I planned to ask her as soon as we checked in and before we headed to our rooms.
We were standing in line to do just that and I was getting a bit impatient. Apparently, there was some sort of convention or something taking place at the hotel and a lot of the attendees were checking in at the same time we were.
Finally, the guy in front of us stepped up and we were next in line.
“Thank goodness,” I said. “There for a minute I was afraid we’d be in line until tomorrow and flying in early wouldn’t have done us any good.”
She chuckled at my weak attempt at humor and I was pleased to have gotten a reaction out of her.
“Mia?” Someone off to our side asked.
We both turned to see who it was. Mia squealed. Then she let go of her bag and ran to the guy, throwing her arms around him.
“Oh my, God, Benjamin Douglas!” She nearly yelled.
“Wow, Mia,” he said when she stepped away. “How long has it been?”
“Four or five years, I’m sure.”
I could say I watched them, but the truth was I studied them. Looking for any clues in their body language to tell me if they were old lovers or merely friends. I was leaning toward lover, but I really didn’t have anything concrete to base that on. Either way, what were the odds of Mia running into someone she knew in Atlanta?
“Sir?” the lady at the front desk said.
I waved Mia away when she took a step toward me. “I’ve got this. Don’t worry.”
I did my best not to be distracted or try and eavesdrop on their conversation. Once I’d secured our rooms and got us checked in, I walked to where the two of them were talking, bringing Mia’s bag with me.
“Tenor,” she said, her eyes sparkling. “This is Benjamin Douglas. We went to college together and he’s here for the cyber security conference. Benjamin, this is Tenor Butler. My boss.”
Benjamin and I shook hands and lied about how nice it was meet each other. Yes, they had definitely been lovers, I could tell now. It was something in the way he looked at her. Like he had some sort of personal or secret knowledge about her that he knew I didn’t have.
“If you don’t have dinner plans tonight, Mia,” he said, shutting me out of the conversation entirely. “I’d love to take you somewhere to catch up.”
Mia’s eyes grew wide with excitement but all at once she sighed and dropped her shoulders. “I'd love to, but I can't leave Tenor alone.”
By the way Benjamin glared at me, it was clear he wouldn’t care if I fell off the face of the Earth and never came back. I purposely chose not to pay him any attention, deciding instead to focus on Mia. It was obvious she wanted to go with him, but if I asked her, she’d stay with me.
As much as I wanted her, I wanted the feeling to be mutual, and if she stayed and had dinner with me, it would be out of duty. I couldn’t do that. I was going to be the bigger person and I would let her go.
I shot them both a smile I didn’t feel and lied. “Yes, you can. You two haven’t seen each other in years, there’s no way I’m going to stand in the way of that. I’m a big boy, I can do dinner alone. Besides.” I gave a fake yawn. “I’m really tired and I was thinking of turning in early anyway.”
“Are you sure?” Mia asked, raising an eyebrow just a touch.
“Absolutely.” Because what difference would one more lie make?
“Mia,” Benjamin said. “Why don’t you go drop your things in your room and meet me back down here in about forty-five minutes?”
Mia beamed at him. Fucking beamed. “That would be great. It’ll give me time to freshen up. I don’t know why traveling always makes me feel so dirty.”
She couldn’t have meant for it to sound hot, but somehow it did. Benjamin obviously thought so too, I saw the way he tried to shift himself without anyone noticing. But I noticed and if I hadn’t already decided I didn’t like the man, that would have done it.
He smiled at her. “I’ll see you in forty-five.”
She didn’t move, so I held out her room key. “Mia, here’s your key. I’ll get the elevator.”
“What?” She blinked a few times. “Right. My key. See you in a few, Benjamin.”
I turned toward the center of the lobby to where the elevators were located. Once again feeling the press of the crowd around me. What were the odds that with all the people present for the conference, that the date of the conference just happened to occur on the same day that we took an unplanned trip to Atlanta, and that Mia and Benjamin would run into each other in the hotel lobby?
“Wow,” Mia said as we piled into an elevator with a horde of people. “Talk about your small world. I can’t believe I ran into Benjamin. It’s been years.”
I knew that, of course, since I’d been standing right there when it happened. It wasn’t like I needed a replay. But I didn’t say anything of the sort. I shook my head and muttered something about a small world.
We were staying on the twenty-fifth floor out of thirty and if we didn’t stop at every floor on the way up to our room, it certainly felt like we did.
“Are you sure you don’t mind?” She asked somewhere around the eighteenth floor.
“I’m sure. You go have a wonderful evening catching up with your old friend. I’m going to order room service and call it a night.” The elevator stopped on the twenty-second floor and we were the only ones still on. “Let’s meet for breakfast tomorrow in the restaurant downstairs around seven-thirty.”
She nodded and the elevator stopped on our floor. When Sara booked our rooms, she asked for them to be close together and adjoining if possible. Of course that meant Mia was in the room right next to mine. And of course, I could hear her door close as she stepped inside. Which meant I’d be able to hear what time she got in later that night.
Because I knew I wouldn’t stop listening until she was safely back inside.
It wasn’t until about an hour later it hit me: what if she brought him back to her room?
I didn't allow myself to dwell on the fact that Mia was out with an ex-lover who appeared to be much too interested in reconnecting and reigniting their past. I was her boss, her employer, the man who signed her check, and as such, I had no business even thinking about her love life or who she had dinner with. It had nothing to do wi
th our relationship. Nothing.
Yet, it didn't matter how many times I repeated that to myself, I wasn't able to get my mind to accept it.
I eventually ordered room service the way I told her I would. I tried to pretend it was because I was really tired but I wasn't. The real reason was I didn't want to leave the room. And also because I secretly hoped Mia’s date was horribly awful and she'd run out of wherever he took her. Instead of going to her room, she'd knock on my door. I'd let her in and we'd walk to the couch. I would be quiet and let her take charge of the conversation.
In my mind, I planned it all out. Eventually, she'd tell me what happened. I wasn't sure exactly. Sometimes I made Benjamin an utter and complete ass from the very beginning. But as much enjoyment as I got out of those scenarios, I didn't head in that direction the majority of the time because I didn't think Benjamin would act that way. Nothing on him but more to the fact I didn't think Mia would be attracted to a man like that.
I'm honestly not sure how many different paths I went down trying to picture how Mia’s date was going. In retrospect, I knew it wasn't a healthy way to spend my time. But then again, I was holed up in my hotel room, basically stalking my employee in an effort to eavesdrop on her date. So yeah, healthy wasn't on the menu.
I jerked awake at the sound of the door to her room opening. I sat up and looked at the clock. Half past midnight. What the fuck? Where had she been so long and when had I fallen asleep? I didn't move from my spot on the couch though because it was the best place for me to hear if someone was with her.
Was he?
“Are you sure I can't talk you into staying with me tonight?”
Fucking, Benjamin.
“No,” Mia said and her voice was stern and almost angry with maybe a hint of fear. “I've already said no and I let you walk me to my room, so now I think it's time for you to leave.”