by Lia Lee
“It’s hard to be a kid in the house again, huh?” I laughed. I was trying to see the light side, but I couldn’t help but think about everything that was going on in my life. Somewhere out there was a woman who’d had triplets and wasn’t able to raise them. Staying with parents for a week or so seemed so small in comparison.
“What about you?” Holly asked. “How are things between you and Brent?”
I grinned when Holly said it. Her expression changed to surprise when she saw my face. She knew what it meant.
“You didn’t,” she said.
I laughed and nodded. I told her about my trip to Boston and how things had gone for us. She listened, enthralled.
“So, you’re living your fairy tale,” Holly said when I finished my story.
I shrugged. I left out the part about the condom breaking. There was no reason to tell Holly about it when there was no reason to. I wasn’t going to fall pregnant according to my calculations, anyway.
“I’m glad you did it. I guess because he’s such a rickety old man he’ll go for someone so young,” Holly teased.
I rolled my eyes and shook my head, but I was smiling. Holly supported my decision to be with an older man, but she didn’t understand it and she forever made jokes about it.
“Is it weird dating someone who’s old enough to be your dad? Imagine what your dad would say about it.”
I shook my head. “First of all, he won’t say anything because he doesn’t need to know. It’s none of his business. Second of all, Brent is not a rickety old man. He’s more than capable of giving me the best time.”
Holly laughed. “I didn’t need to know that last part.”
We laughed together about it and ordered our food and coffee before we continued talking.
“So, what is this expedition you’re dragging me on?” Holly asked.
“I need a desk for my new office. Brent gave me his credit card so I can choose whatever I want.”
“That’s deliciously dangerous.” Holly winked.
“I’m only going to get what I need, I’m not going to go mad. But I would love some company.”
“Of course. There’s nothing as fun as spending someone else’s money. Count me in.” She smiled. “So, tell me about what’s going on with the PI you mentioned to me. What was that all about?”
I hadn’t told Holly the full story yet, so I told her about how I’d met with Morgan Taylor. When I explained to her that I had asked to meet my sister, Holly looked shocked.
“Do you think that’s a good idea?” Holly asked.
“Why?”
“You have so much on your plate right now. And it’s a big deal.”
“I know it is,” I agreed. “But I don’t think I can just leave it. I spoke to my mom, and she’s okay with me possibly meeting my birth family.”
“Okay,” Holly said, but she sounded skeptical.
“I’ll be all right,” I said with a chuckle. “You’re more worried about my emotions regarding the sister I never knew I had than the sex I’m having with my boss.”
“Should I worry about your emotions with your boss?” Holly asked. I realized how it had sounded, and I shook my head. There was nothing to be worried about, I told myself. I was trying to convince me and Holly of the same thing. But it wasn’t something I was willing to think about right now. I had other things to focus on, like my new job and how things were going to go when I finally met Zoe. I had no idea what to expect, and it was nerve-racking. There were some things life just couldn’t prepare me for, and this was one of those things.
“I don’t know how you deal with this,” Holly said after we had talked about Morgan Taylor for a while longer. “I wouldn’t have been able to do all of this alone.”
“I wasn’t alone,” I said. “Brent went with me.”
Holly raised her eyebrows. “Brent, your boss?” I nodded. “He went with you to a personal meeting with a private investigator about a long-lost sister.” I nodded again. “Do you want to tell me again how there’s nothing I need to worry about?”
I laughed. “It’s not like that. He was just being sweet. He knew I was panicked, so he offered to come with me. When I started out, I hadn’t known Morgan was a woman, anyway. So he was being protective and gallant.”
“Oh, gallant. Well, that changes everything, doesn’t it?” Holly smirked.
“Stop teasing,” I said, but I was smiling and blushing. I hadn’t wanted to have this reaction when Holly asked me about him, but I couldn’t help it.
“Tell me you’re not in love with him,” Holly said.
“Of course not. He’s my boss. We have no-strings-attached sex. That’s all.”
“You’re a booty call.”
I laughed, but the last comment stung. I knew Holly was only joking, but that had hit a little close to home. I wasn’t a booty call for Brent. Even though I had flown all the way to Boston at his request. Even though he had had his way with me there, just as he had wanted it. But I had wanted it, too.
That didn’t disprove that it was a booty call, but I wouldn’t take it. It was consensual, and I was under no illusions about where Brent and I stood. Even though I might have felt differently. Even though I sometimes imagined there being more. Brent had made it all very clear. It was fucking, and when we were done, we were done. I had to keep that in mind.
After lunch, Holly and I headed out to the store to pick out a desk. As soon as we found the office furniture section, I realized how big a job it was to choose a desk. There were so many to choose from, different shapes and sizes and colors.
“What are you looking for?”
“Something simple and practical,” I said. I didn’t care how much it did or didn’t cost, all I wanted was something that would work in my office.
We worked through the desks. I had a size in mind and a color scheme that would work in my office. I finally settled on a desk that was larger than the one I had at the moment, a light brown with drawers and chrome handles.
“I think this is the one,” I said, running my hand over the tabletop.
“This one? Why don’t you get something bigger and better? More expensive?” Holly asked.
“Because it’s not about the money. A more expensive desk won’t do more than this one can. I need something functional, something I like, and this is it.”
“I would have used his cash while I had it,” Holly said.
“I know. But it’s not about the cash,” I said again. “It’s about getting what I need.”
I wasn’t about to give Brent the satisfaction that I spent more money than I needed. He already wanted to pay for everything and throw money at me. I wasn’t going to let him think I might want it. I wanted to be as sensible with his money as possible to prove to him that it wasn’t about that for me. Sure, Brent was loaded. But money meant nothing. I knew of rich men that were still horrible people. Money didn’t buy goodness.
I would be as attracted to Brent even if he weren’t a billionaire. Again, it wasn’t about money to me. It was about a connection—however physical—and that was the end of it.
I found a shop assistant to help me and arranged for delivery, paying with Brent’s card. When we were done, Holly and I left the store. She headed home after she had taken the afternoon off to spend with me, I went back to the office to give Brent the slip for the desk.
Brent wasn’t in a good mood. I had asked if he wanted to come desk shopping with me before I’d left. But he’d given me his card with a scowl and dismissed me in a way he hadn’t done in a long time.
I knocked on his office door and stepped in.
“You’re back,” Brent said.
I nodded and walked toward him, slip in hand. “I found a desk.”
Brent took it from me and glanced at it.
“What’s this?” he asked.
“It’s the money I spent on the desk.”
“I know, but why didn’t you take more money and get yourself something bigger and better? You weren’t on
a spending limit.”
I was starting to get irritated with everyone telling me I had to spend more of Brent’s money.
“Because I didn’t need anything bigger or better,” I said. “I found something I liked at a reasonable price, and I paid for it.”
I handed Brent his credit card.
“It’s not a sin to spend money, Rena.”
“It's not my money to spend.”
“In this case, it was. I said you could.”
I shook my head. Why was money such an issue? I was getting angry.
“I don’t want to spend your money. I don’t care about your money and how much I can have. I needed that amount”—I pointed at the slip—“and that’s it.”
Brent looked angry, too. What the hell was he so upset about? I was sick and tired of Brent assuming I was here for his money.
“If you want I’ll give it back to you,” I snapped.
Brent sighed. “That’s the opposite of what I want. Now you’re just being difficult.”
“If you’re going to keep pushing this, I can show you how difficult I can be.” I stormed out of the office. I wasn’t some kind of gold digger. I wasn’t here for Brent’s money. It had never been about that; I had more than enough. Whatever was going on between us was above materialism. Holly had never said it to my face that she thought I was there for his cash, but her comments about spending all his money today made it seem like she thought that way.
And now Brent was upset about it, too. I wasn’t here for the damn money. I was tired of it being an issue. I was glad I’d gone shopping alone, without Brent badgering me to spend more. He might have won me over with those sky-blue eyes and that charming smile of his.
I was seething. I could barely think straight. I had to take care of work, but I couldn’t concentrate through my annoyance. Holly should have known better; she was my best friend. I understood if Brent didn’t get it. But someone should have understood.
Chapter 20
Brent
I was in a shitty mood. Something was irritating me, and I couldn’t figure out what it was. I trained hard at the gym, harder than ever before. I was sore all over, pushing myself past my limits all the time, trying to get rid of whatever I was feeling. It wasn’t helping. All it did was make my muscles ache, and that pissed me off more.
At work, I had my hands full with the investors, and we hadn’t gotten around to getting another secretary yet. My company was doing well. We were releasing new products every other week. Market surveys looked great, the feedback and reviews were positive, and our beta testers had come back with positive criticism. Nothing was wrong.
So there was no reason for me to feel the way I did.
I had a feeling it had to do with Rena, but I didn’t know what it could be about. Lately, we hadn’t been spending a lot of time together. Since we’d arrived back from Boston, we’d both been working ourselves to death and there hadn’t been time for even a short conversation, never mind something more.
Maybe I was sexually frustrated. That could be it. Maybe I needed a good fuck to get it out of my system.
I wanted it from Rena. I wasn’t going to go looking for someone else just because Rena and I were too busy to get around to each other. When I’d told her I expected to be exclusive, I had set that same rule for myself. I was a bit of a womanizer, I was willing to admit to that, but I wasn’t a dick.
I had to make a plan to get Rena alone again. Now that she wasn’t my secretary it was harder, but I knew where she lived and I could make things happen. I was Brent Hooper, for crying out loud. I could do whatever I wanted and get away with it.
With that little fact in mind, I started working. I pushed through, focusing on what needed to be done. When I felt I had been working for hours, I glanced at the clock. It had to be nearing lunchtime.
Only a half hour had passed. I groaned. What was going on with me today? I felt so fucking unfulfilled, and I had no idea how to fix it.
I got up and walked to the break room to make myself a cup of coffee, stretch my legs, and get away from my computer for a while. Maybe all I needed was a change of scenery. Maybe I had to get out of the office altogether. When I’d been in Boston, I had been able to concentrate so well. But Rena had been with me for most of the trip. Maybe it was what had kept me on track.
I groaned. I couldn’t get her off my mind, and I couldn’t help but think she was the reason things either went really well or really terribly. And it irritated me because it wasn’t who I was. I had never allowed someone to affect my mood so much before.
When I returned to my office with my coffee, my phone rang.
“I have a furniture delivery for you here, Mr. Hooper,” Margaret said, calling from the front desk.
“Right, I’m expecting them,” I said. “Send them up.”
I put down the phone and walked to Rena’s office. She sat at the small desk she had at her disposal, the whole thing covered with papers.
“Your new desk is here,” I said, knocking on her open door twice so that she looked up at me.
“Oh, great,” she said, jumping up. She started cleaning up her desk, neatly stacking the papers in piles before putting them in rows on the floors. This was why she had been such a good secretary. Rena was extremely organized. She’d been away from my office for a week now, and I had already drowned in pure chaos.
“Let me help,” I said. I stepped toward the desk, but I had no idea what to do with the papers. She had a system, and I didn’t want to mess with it. So I started packing ornaments and picture frames into a box that stood empty next to the desk.
I couldn’t help but glance at the photos as I packed them away. There were photos of her and some friends out on the town. She was the most attractive of the lot of them. She had photos of what I assumed to be her parents, too. She appeared to be a sentimental person. It made more sense to me now why learning she had a sister and having to meet her could be difficult. Rena struck me more and more as the kind of person that could allow herself to become very attached to someone.
I would be lucky to have someone like her feel so deeply for me.
What was I thinking? I berated myself for wandering down the road again and focused on what I was doing.
It didn’t take very long for us to clear the desk. We carried it out of the office together. We were a good team. Rena wasn’t scared of physical work, which was admirable.
When her office was cleared, ready for the new desk to arrive, Rena looked at the empty space with her hands on her hips.
“I think I need to rearrange a few things in here before they come so I can adjust the flow of the office.”
“Let me help you. We’ll do it in no time.”
She nodded, and together we moved filing cabinets and plants until Rena was happy. When she stood back and looked at the office again, she nodded, satisfied. “Much better,” she said. “What do you think?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. I had no idea what the desk she’d ordered looked like, and I wasn’t the type of person to visualize things like offices when I was more goal driven and logical. I liked how we complemented each other.
Of course we complemented each other, I scolded myself again. I’d looked for someone who had been able to help me out with what I needed in the office, and I’d hired a woman who had those qualities. It had been Rena.
It hadn’t been love at first sight or anything like that; it had been a logical decision following an interview process.
I glanced at Rena, who stood patiently waiting for the desk to be brought upstairs. So much had happened since I’d hired her. Maybe it was more now than just logic.
“Here they are,” Rena said when the men finally rounded the corner with her desk. We watched as they wrestled the desk through the narrow office door, making something fit that should never have been able to go through. They worked their magic. I’d thought we should take the desk apart and reassemble it in the office when I’d seen it, but I’d been wrong.
>
“What do you think?” Rena asked as we watched the men struggle with the desk for a while.
“I think you chose well,” I said. I had to admit she had made a good choice. I would have liked for her to spend more of my money, but the desk she’d chosen was neat and sleek but sensible, too. And it wasn’t too large. Thank God for that.
Rena stood close to me while she watched them maneuver the desk around the office, and I felt the heat radiating off her skin. Desire hit me like a truck. I had missed Rena. It’d been a full week where we hadn’t been together the way we’d always been, working in adjacent offices. Having been so intimate in Boston, the divide seemed even worse than it would have been otherwise. Rena was still right here, in the office, doing what she needed to do and finding me to ask her questions, but it wasn’t the same. She was distant, and we were so far away from each other I felt it like a physical ache.
I looked her up and down again. She wore dress pants with a blouse and low heels. She looked professional and sexy. It didn’t matter what she wore, she would always look sexy. She was the kind of person that oozed sexuality, but it was subtle, and it made her magnetic in a way I hadn’t experienced before. I just couldn’t stay away from Rena.
I didn’t want to.
The guys finally had the desk in where it belonged. They walked to Rena with a clipboard, but she suggested they hand it to me, seeing as I was the one who’d paid. I took it and signed off on the desk while Rena checked that it hadn’t been damaged at all. When she was happy, the delivery men left, and it was just the two of us in the office.
The desk was clean and empty. I wanted to lay Rena out on it, undress her, and climb on top of her on the desk. I wanted to christen it. It took a hell of a lot of self-control not to do something drastic. Rena’s office had two glass walls, and it was located where the open offices could all see us. I would have to order blinds for her windows, in case she needed some privacy, I thought.
Even if the privacy was only for a meeting and not to fuck her boss.
Rena started putting her things back on the desk, arranging them neatly.