My day wasn’t all that great either bud, but I would never tell you both that. I just keep it to myself and then break it down when I get home that I have to go out again for work. They won’t be thrilled.
Once we settled in, I got dinner cooking on the stove, and rushed to switch clothes in the bedroom. Getting another glimpse at the papers from Clint, I exhaled out a breath. I tugged on a more casual shirt, but a step up from a T-shirt, pinned my hair up in a bun, and matched my shirt with some jeans. It was a sports bar from what I read about the place. It seemed a bit unnecessary I had to attend, but boss man gets what boss man wants.
Bre knocked at the door and I realized I hadn’t told my kids yet, they ran to open the door before me.
“Mom, your work friend.” Jared groaned like he was a tad bit disappointed.
“Hey, Bre, come on in.” Her petite self, chocolate hair, matched with her hazel eyes, strutted into the house.
“I’m so happy to see you. How is the new job! Believe me the old one ain’t worth shit.”
“It’s going ok. Different atmosphere and I have a kick ass private office. These evenings are killing me though.”
“It’s no trouble at all, really,” She reassured.
“Hey, Jared, Liv!” I shouted.
They came pounding back into the kitchen.
“This is Bre, she’s going to be here tonight while I go to another work meeting.”
“Hey! If you’re good, I brought pudding!” She flashed the pudding pack before opening the fridge and putting it in. It was a cute approach, but they’d probably eat the pudding anyway.
“Aww, mom, again?” Jared whined.
“Yes, I’m sorry. I won’t be back until you’re in bed. Finish homework, both of you, baths and then bed. Don’t give Bre any problems. Of course I’ll have my phone on me for anything. I have to go, I’ll be late. Hugs!” I demanded and they happily gave me.
“Chicken and pasta is simmering on the stove and should be done! Thank u so much Bre!”
I hurried out of the house.
The last thing I wanted to be was late. Battling my severe ability to be awake this evening, I rolled down the windows to hopefully give me that fresh air to keep me going. Seeing everyone’s cars parked there, I knew I was the last to arrive.
I straightened my shirt and strolled in. Glancing around the bar, I noticed Cage right away. Can’t help noticing a bald man sticking out like a lion in a fish tank.
“Hello, sorry I’m late.” I approached the table where they all sat drinking beers. Cage smiled and pulled my seat out. Delaney nodded, and Van grinned his pearly whites at me.
“We just got our beers. What’s your poison?” Van added.
“I’ll just stick with water. I think if I drink anything it’ll just put me right to sleep.” I giggled trying not to seem lame I chose h2o.
“Did you get a chance to look over the papers fully?” Cage changed the subject.
“Oh, I’m sorry, for which case?”
“Yours.”
Awkwardly, I glanced around the table seeing their eyes meet mine before looking away realizing the topic seemed odd for meeting material with both bosses and their assistants. It made me a tad bit uncomfortable.
“Sorry, I haven’t.” I looked at Delaney and Van. “What are you guys having tonight?”
“Well, you should, we want to get a head start on this as soon as we can. I mean the guy’s a prick.”
I swallowed hard, my lips forming a thin line as I tried to reign in the emotion. I just didn’t think I could let this slide. It was inappropriate to be talking about my custody case at the meeting table, and more importantly inappropriately bashing my ex-husband.
“No offense, Cage, but you don’t know my ex-husband to have such harsh words for him. And I also don’t find it appropriate to talk about this publicly. If you don’t mind.”
“I’ll be getting the wings and fries, it’s my cheat day.” Delaney stretched her arms over her head and slapped the menu down on the table.
My eyes darted to Cage who just stared at me, relaxed back in his chair like he envisaged my response. He made this extremely awkward and uncomfortable for me, exactly how I shouldn’t feel working for my boss. Throwing up a red flag, I decided to tuck it away and ignore it. The job was too new, he was too new, I didn’t know him well enough to pass judgment on his character. After all, he was doing me a huge favor by offering to even take me on as a case as he must know the income he pays me, definitely can’t afford his hourly rates.
The waitress slid up to the table with her small notepad, taking all of our orders. If Delaney was getting wings, I planned on a buffalo chicken wrap.
“Alright, girls, get us up to speed on things due this month. We’ll cross off what has been done and what literally won’t happen.” Van swigged his beer.
“Clear my schedule for tomorrow, I won’t be in.” Cage added, glaring at me.
“Ok, will do.”
My phone vibrated in my pocket and instead of answering it at the table, I excused myself to the restroom.
“I’ll be right back. Ladies room calls.”
I stood up and hurried to the back of the restaurant and into the ladies room. Grabbing my phone out of my pocket it vibrated again. It was Tate.
“Hey?” I answered.
“Hey, when are you coming by?”
“Um, hopefully soon.” I looked at myself in the mirror above the sinks. I couldn’t help the grin on my face thinking of Tate as I heard his sexy voice.
“Tell the boss man you got to go. Come on, I need to see you.”
I laughed, “oh yeah? How bad do you need to see me?”
“Pretty damn bad.”
I giggled bringing out my playful side that I haven’t felt in so fucking long.
“I’ll be there soon. We just ordered our food. Like an hour?”
“I miss you, Paisley.”
“I miss you, too.” I admitted. “I have to go, bye!”
I ended the call. I freshened up with my lip gloss and shoved it back in my pocket unable to wipe the smirk I had off my face. Tate made my heart flutter.
I stepped out of the ladies room and Cage cornered me, pinning me to the wall. His eyes bore into mine with an angry side I had yet to see from him. Immediately my body went into a defense mode and started to shake from the abrupt move from my boss.
“Do not embarrass me again in front of my partner and his assistant. You do not regard me in that way. Ever. I’m helping you with my patronage.” He spat, glaring with anger into my eyes. My heart dropped, beating a mile a minute as it felt like I couldn’t move or breathe.
“I’m so sorry, Cage.” I shook my head now scared of the man cornering me. This was my fucking boss. Who had me scared like a child caught doing something bad. When I just simply said it wasn’t appropriate.
He lifted his arm from the wall and walked away without a word, heading back to the table. For the split second, I felt I could breathe again as I held my heart, feeling my heart beat out of my chest. Once I returned, I sat and studied the notebook I had laying out in front of me. The rest of them chatted and I half smiled nodding when the food came out, I picked but couldn’t stomach to eat. As soon as the bill came, I said my goodbyes as calmly as I could and high tailed my ass out of the restaurant to my car before I unleashed the tears. I have never felt so low, like scum under someone’s shoe, like I had tonight. By my boss by all means. It wasn’t like I could file some claim against him at work with HR, he was part owner, my word against his, no witnesses, and off work property. He held the control from that moment forward. My job at Oakley and Bennet officially sucked. Maybe I read into things too much. He certainty felt embarrassed, and maybe I shouldn’t have said what I had. I gathered myself and my courage, and drove off toward Tate’s.
Parking the car outside of the apartment complex, I peeked in the visor mirror fixing my hair and touching up my makeup from when I cried. Unable to hide the wet streaks stained into my foundati
on, I shrugged my shoulders and got out of the car. He wouldn’t notice.
Taking deep breaths walking up to his door, I knocked gently. Within a second he had the door swinging open.
“Hey.” He grabbed my hands pulling me into his chest and hugging me tight to him. His hard rock chest reminding me how built he was underneath his army shirt. The smell of his fresh shower and Irish spring soap filling my senses. His soft hand lifted my chin to meet his eyes, studying me for a moment. Then his lips came crashing down to mine. Breathing him in, pressing my body to his, his hands roamed my back under my shirt. Not stopping what felt so damn natural, I kissed him back just as hard. After the night I had, this was the medicine I needed.
He lifted me up off the ground and I wrapped my legs around him while he carried me backward through his apartment. His sweet lips tasting like sugar as he molded them to mine. Devouring the man I missed so much. I felt the bulge in his pants press into me while he intensified the kiss. He slammed me into the wall, his kisses trailing down my neck. Feeling the similar pin from earlier, all I could think about was Cage. Holy fuck. Not the image I wanted in my head or the feeling.
“Stop.” I pushed back away from him and Tate immediately dropped me to the floor gently and backed up.
“Are you ok? What’s wrong? I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have just—“
“No, I’m not ok. No, it wasn’t you.”
“I don’t understand…”
“I think I should go. I’m so sorry, Tate, but my mind, my heart, I feel my anxiety starting.” I started to breathe heavily, my chest constricting, my throat now dry.
“Paisley, what is wrong? Talk to me baby, please, I leave on a mission tomorrow. Please don’t go…”
I lunged into his arms and melted to his shoulder, my tears unable to stop.
“Ok, I’ll stay.” I cried.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
M aking his finger do soft circles to calm me down, Tate massaged my back. His old trick, that apparently worked still, finally settled me. Sitting on his couch, I slumped forward with my head in my hands trying to wrap my brain around what really happened.
“You need to talk to me,” he said.
“It was just a rough day, that’s all.” Not wanting to worry him before he goes off on a mission.
“I can see you been crying. Must have been rough. What happened?”
Fuck.
Tate saw everything. His calming voice made me want to scream my anger over Cage. Realizing I didn’t want to lie to him, I thought I’d offer the small truth.
“Boss made me a little uncomfortable that’s all.”
His body froze, stiffening like solid wood. “What do you mean uncomfortable?” His eyes focused on mine.
“Nothing, it’s no big deal. Really.” I said in my most convincing voice.
“Maybe I’d believe that any other time, but you legit freaked out on me like something I did made you upset. Almost like a trigger.”
Was the damn man in my head? I didn’t want to go in detail with him, but somehow I figured he wasn’t letting me off the hook until I did. These Watson brothers could be pretty fierce.
“I stupidly called my boss when I got served the other day, insinuating I needed help, and he offered to take it on. But, he started it immediately without discussing it and then when I dismissed it, he brought it up in front of everyone at dinner, awkwardly, and I said it wasn’t appropriate and he cornered me out of the bathroom and basically told me to never do that again.”
Tate stood, “Um, what? He cornered you? Did he hurt you, Paisley? Just say the word, that man is gone in seconds. Wait is this the man I saw at dinner? Cage?”
“No, he didn’t hurt me. Just…cornered me. You can’t say anything to him, Tate. That’s my job.”
“Please be more specific.”
“His hand slammed the wall next to me, cornering me to it, so that I couldn’t get away.”
“What the fuck? Your boss did this? You have to go to HR, Pais. I’d fucking kill him, baby. That shit is beyond fucked up.”
“I can’t do that. You can’t do that either.”
“Why the hell not? You can’t let some asshole just get away with it!”
“Because he’s the owner, he owns the fucking company.”
“I don’t care if he owns the world, submit a harassment report. Or I’ll pay him a visit myself.”
I shook my head. “I shouldn’t have told you, you’re not understanding.” I fidgeted with my hands in my lap. Regretting the move I made at the restaurant, and now telling Tate about it. He didn’t need to fight my battles, and this wasn’t even a battle to fight.
“Help me understand this better, your boss, fucking Cage, got mad because you confronted him in front of the others saying something was inappropriate, and then he cornered you where I assume nobody could see, and threatened you to never do it again. Am I missing something here?”
“Not really.”
“Wait, you got served? Who the hell served you that you need his help?”
“Clint.”
He began to pace, anger setting his tone. “What?”
“He’s taking me to court for a full custody battle.”
“I’ll fucking murder him! Are you kidding me? For what? Let me guess it’s because of me?”
“I’ll handle it.”
“Jesus, Paisley, this is so fucked, I’m sorry I ever left. I am so sorry I left you.”
“Clint does this every single time he has a new fling hanging around his neck. I have so much shit on him, it won’t happen.”
“Did you hear me?” He sat on the old wooden coffee table in front of me and placed his hands on my lap.
“Life happened, ok? This is just what it is now.”
“And what exactly is that?”
I released a breath. “It’s whatever we want it to be.”
“The water is treacherous, Paisley, and I have no idea how to tread here. I felt all those things and then bam the worst news of my life, and I wasn’t mad at you. Not for, the obvious, I was mad because I left and never made you the wife I should have. He stole that from me. He stole so much from me. And it’s my fault, I know that. I just, I don’t know how to do this.”
“I don’t know how either, Tate. I just know how the room lights up when I’m in it with you. I know how the butterflies stir my stomach to love knots. You do things to me, dangerous things, and you make me feel a way that makes me alive.”
“Tell me what to do, Pais.”
“I don’t have the magic answer. We’ll see how it goes. Date me, let us try to reconnect and get reacquainted.”
“And what about the kids?”
I sighed. “Well, I don’t want to lie to them.”
“I would never expect you to.”
I pulled him to the couch with me. “Tell me again how much you miss me?”
He tugged the collar of my shirt, his soft lips pressing into mine. Straddling me on the couch, I lifted his shirt up and over his head, seeing his stunning six pack. Sliding my finger along their crevices, he laughed taking my hand to his lips giving them a tender kiss. “I never stopped loving you, Paisley Connor. And I’ll do everything to make sure I never do.” His sexy southern drawl spoke to me enough to make my toes curl. Any woman would dream of hearing those words, and even though they sounded blissful, they felt it, too. That’s exactly what this man did to me. He made me feel. Truly feel. This time when his lips came crashing to mine, I let the intoxication of this man sew any injured wounds I had in my heart of him. I dreamt for the ten years he was gone, that he finally came back, and he definitely came back into these arms alright.
●・○・●・○・●・○・●
I rolled over and felt the cold sheets beside me startling me awake.
“Tate?”
I rolled to the edge of the bed and thanked myself I left my pants close by. I reached into the pocket and yanked my phone out. Clicking the side button, the screen illuminated to life to remind me that
it was fucking two am. Shit! Fuck! I swiped up on the phone and saw I had ten missed calls, all from Bre. Oh my God! I fell asleep! How the hell did I let myself fall asleep! Where the fuck was Tate? I practically fell out of the bed and crutched the bed standing up and tugging my jeans on, not even worrying about where my panties were at this point. I reached for my bra and then my t shirt and stumbled into the living room grabbing my purse. I saw Tate sprawled out on the couch, and knowing I needed to leave right then and there, I also knew I wouldn’t see Tate for a while because he said he was going on a mission tomorrow. Not wanting to skip saying goodbye I quickly shook his arm and he shifted upright right away.
“What? What’s wrong?” He looked around rubbing his eyes.
“I fell asleep! I have to go! My sitter has been blowing up my phone. I wasn’t supposed to be gone this long at all.”
“Come here.” He stood up and pulled me into a bear hug. Smelling my hair he inhaled it for a moment and pulled me back at arm’s length. “I love you. I will call you when I know I am back.”
“Be careful, Tate. Call me!” I kissed him quickly before jetting out the door. Fumbling for my keys I got in and started her up before blasting back home.
I dialed Bre on speaker phone, praying to God she answered.
She yawned, “Long meeting, huh?”
“I’m so sorry, Bre. I will be home in like twenty minutes. I owe you big, big, big time!”
“Yeah you do, sweetie.”
I ended the call and focused on the road. Flying down the street, obeying the speed limit to an extent of going the whole five to ten over but still in the safe zone usually. The streets were empty which was making it easy. I rounded the corner of my street and slid into the drive way slamming my car in park.
I unlocked the back door and quietly snuck in tip toeing to the living room.
“I am so sorry, Bre.”
“I was worried sick something happened to you.”
“I know, it’s completely my fault, I am really sorry.” I handed her a one hundred dollar bill. “Please take this for the inconvenience.”
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