“What’s up?” I asked.
She crossed her legs. “I just wanted to come and check in on you.”
“Check in on me?”
“Yes. You’ve been a bit out of sorts since the holidays and I wanted to make sure you were okay.”
I smirked. “I don’t pay you to be my mother, Casey. You don’t need to worry about me. I’m fine.”
“I’m not coming to you as your employee, Max. I’m concerned for you as a friend.”
“You don’t need to be.”
“So you keep saying.”
“Then why aren’t you listening?”
Casey sighed and folded her arms. “Why are you being so evasive?”
“I’m not being evasive.”
“Yes, you are. Where’s Laura? What happened between you two? Things were great before Christmas and then all of a sudden she’s not coming around anymore and you lock yourself in your office every day. I’m not stupid, Max. I can see right through you.”
“Then you’ve already put all the pieces of the puzzle back together, Casey. What do you want? A gold star?”
“Fuck you too, Max.”
I blinked at her.
She pointed a finger at me. “Listen. Just because things aren’t going well for you does not mean you get to push me around. Now put your damn pen down and look at me while I’m talking to you.”
I put the pen down and flipped the contract closed.
Casey bristled under my gaze. “Thank you.”
“I’m sorry for acting so rude.”
“Good.”
She clearly wanted more from me, but I didn’t know what else there was to say. So I came clean. “Laura and I broke up on New Year’s.”
“Why?”
“Why? Because things weren’t working out, so I ended it. It’s personal.”
“Fair enough,” she said. But she was looking at me like she didn’t believe me—like she was analyzing me for a crack in the foundation she could squeeze through. “I only hope you didn’t sabotage the best thing that’s happened to you in years.”
I rubbed my forehead and shrugged one shoulder. “I don’t know what else you want me to say here, Casey. I ended things. They weren’t working. I had my own reasons and I don’t want to talk about it. I’ll be alright. You don’t have to treat me like a heartbroken teenage boy.”
“And you don’t have to push everyone away who’s trying to cheer you up.”
“Fine. I won’t.”
Casey stood up. “Good,” she nodded.
“Anything else?”
“No.” Casey moved toward the door.
“Oh, Casey?”
“Yes?” She said, turning back to me. Her eyes were lit up like she thought I might actually come clean and confide in her. It was almost cute.
But I wasn’t coming clean. I was being her boss. “For future reference, don’t ever say ‘fuck you’ to me again, alright? I’m your friend, yes, but I’m also your boss. And that behavior can’t be tolerated.”
She turned bright pink. “I understand. Sorry.”
“We’ll scratch it from the record.”
She bit her bottom lip before twisting the door handle and slipping out of my office. She was still a bright shade of pink when she went and sat down at her desk. I called her desk phone. She answered on the second ring. “Yes?” She wouldn’t look up at me through my office window.
“Thanks for giving me a kick in the ass. I needed the tough love.”
She smiled and finally lifted her gaze to me. “That’s what I’m here for. Let me know if you need anything.”
“Will do.”
We got off the phone and I went back to flipping through the thirty-five page contract in front of me. I initialed all the necessary points and finally slapped my signature at the end. Then I went out and handed it to Casey to scan into the computer and email back to the client.
While I was out of my office I made a point to wander around. I ducked into the kitchen where I grabbed myself a bottle of water from the fridge and made small talk with the few employees who were in there. I asked them about their holidays and they asked about mine. I kept my answers short and positive. They didn’t all need to know everything had fallen apart for me and Laura on New Year’s. That was our business.
After catching up with some people in the break room, I did a lap of the office and chatted everyone up to boost morale. People were sluggish after the holidays and the start of a new year was always a bit tedious at Nova Corp. We had to do a lot of maintenance work on the software for existing clients, so a lot of the excitement of writing code was eliminated while we went in and updated old lines and completed updates to meet the requests of the clients.
This would last until February.
I was making my way back down the hall and heading to my office when Casey called my name and nodded at a young woman standing in front of her desk with a manila envelope.
It was Ella.
I walked over to her. “Ella. Hi. Is everything alright?”
She nodded and handed me the envelope. “Yes. Just fine. How are you?”
“Alright.”
“These are from Laura. They’re the forms for you to fill out for the kids. Reference forms for potential future employers. This way the kids can start looking for new work and you can bring in other kids to keep the program running. That is, of course, if you plan to keep it going,” she added sourly.
I opened the envelope and pulled one of the sheets of paper halfway out to scan it. It looked straight forward enough, but I could probably write a better reference than what this step by step sheet demanded. I wasn’t going to tell Ella that. She already seemed pissed at me. I slid the paper back into the envelope and ignored her snide comment. “How is Laura doing?”
Casey was sitting at her desk looking back and forth between us. I could hear her bouncing her foot anxiously and willed her to stop.
“She’s struggling,” Ella said.
I nodded.
“You hurt her pretty badly, Max. And ruined a really good thing.”
“I never wanted to hurt her,” I said, but Ella didn’t look convinced. Her expression was as sour as her tone. I sighed. “She’s better off without me anyway.”
Ella rolled her eyes. “That’s just a bullshit excuse and you know it. We all know it. Hell, I’m sure this girl knows it, too. What’s your name?”
Casey, who Ella was gesturing at, stammered, “My name is Casey.”
Ella nodded. “Yeah. Casey knows it. Don’t you?”
“Uh, I don’t think I should get involved,” Casey said.
Ella looked back up at me. “I barely know you, Max, but I know your type. It’s easier for you to hide behind this mean guy exterior you’ve not so expertly crafted than be vulnerable with a woman who is in love with you.”
Casey sucked in a breath.
I barely heard her. My ears were still ringing with that four letter word that had just fallen from Ella’s lips.
“In love?” I asked.
Ella’s eyes widened as she realized what she’d just said. “Shit. Forget I said anything. Just fill out the reference forms and give them to the kids. They’ll bring them to Laura. Okay?”
I nodded. “Alright.”
“See you around, Max,” she said, and then she hurried out the glass doors to the elevator.
Casey and I stared after her until she got on the elevator and disappeared. Then I looked down at my receptionist, who was looking up at me with a cheeky and all knowing smile.
“Shut up,” I said, trying to sound grumpier than I was. My heart was fluttering. My cheeks were straining to stop me from smiling.
“I didn’t say anything,” Casey giggled.
“You thought it.”
“So did you,” she said with a wink.
Chapter 38
Laura
I planted my hands on my hips and looked at the disaster of my living room.
Loose papers were scattered all over
the place. Some were pages from my calendar for the New Year. Others were sheets detailing leftover gifts from the Christmas Eve Dinner that I had to do an inventory count on and find somewhere to store. There were forms to sign for the start of the year for my foundation too, and I just couldn’t seem to find the motivation to get any of it done.
I blew a loose strand of hair out of my face and let out a groan, tipping my head back to the ceiling. “Come on, Laura. You can’t pine away over him forever. You have to get shit done.”
But I didn’t want to get shit done. I wanted to spend the day moping around my place feeling sorry for myself like I’d been doing. Ella had been coming over almost every day to check on me, and despite her best efforts, she’d been unable to pry me from the couch or my bed.
I was committed to the horizontal position.
Max had done a number on me. My heart and mind had been blown to smithereens and I had no idea how to pick myself up and start over. I didn’t want to start over. I thought I’d found something that was going to last a long time—maybe even forever.
In hindsight, I knew how idealistic that line of thinking was. Max was unpredictable at best. I should have seen his jumping ship coming from a mile away. But I hadn’t. I’d believed him when he told me he was glad I was back in his life.
I’d fallen for it—hook, line, and sinker. Like a sucker.
I padded across my living room floor and into the kitchen. My socks were bunched up around my ankles and I didn’t bother fixing them. I was wearing loose cotton shorts and a baggy sweater that I hadn’t washed all week. I was a fucking mess.
At least I’d managed to shower this morning. That was my one victory of the day and my nod to Ella’s tireless efforts on my behalf. After all she’d done, the least I could do is not smell bad.
I filled a cup with water and drank the whole thing. Then I refilled it and walked around my kitchen aimlessly. I was about to head upstairs and get back in bed when someone knocked on my door.
I stopped and hung my head. I couldn’t see Ella right now. She’d give me shit for my socks and my sweater and my hair. She’d ask if I’d eaten. She’d make me a sandwich, even if I told her I had. I didn’t have the energy for any of that.
“Go away!” I called, knowing full well she would not.
She knocked again.
“Ugh,” I groaned, dragging my feet to the front door. I unlocked it. “Ella, I can’t do this today. I just want to go to—” I stopped when my eyes fell upon the person on my doorstep. “Max?”
Max was standing before me. He was dressed in blue jeans and a white button up. His leather belt matched his shoes, and he had a black leather jacket thrown on top. He looked good with his hair slicked back. His stubble was short but thick and nicely trimmed.
“What are you doing here?” I asked. I tried to sound angry but I couldn’t muster the energy for it. Instead I sounded weak and tired.
He slid his hands in his pockets. “I was hoping we could talk.”
“About?”
“Everything.”
“My place is a mess. I’m a mess.”
“I don’t care,” he said simply.
“Fine,” I said, stepping aside and opening my door. “Come on in. Welcome to the shit show.”
Max slid past me and waited as I closed and locked the door. I turned back to him, suddenly self-conscious of what I was wearing and how I looked, forget about my place. He looked me in the eye. “I owe you an apology.”
“Really? I can’t imagine what for.” There was the anger I’d been trying to muster only seconds earlier.
He didn’t back down. “For how I treated you at the party, and how I walked out. I should have just told you what was bothering me when you asked, rather than acting like a child. I fucked up, Laura. And I’m sorry that I hurt you. That wasn’t what I wanted. I thought I was doing right by you.”
“Somehow you thought ripping my heart out and stomping all over it was doing right by me?” I asked incredulously.
“I know how it sounds.”
“Yeah, it sounds mental, Max.”
“I know.”
I sighed and rubbed at my temples. “Why did you come here to tell me this? It doesn’t make me feel better.”
Max surprised me by stepping toward me and grabbing my hands in his. He squeezed firmly. “I have more to say.”
I stared into his bright green eyes. His beautiful eyes. Then I swallowed. Being this close to him was torture. “Say it then.”
“I was scared. That’s why I said all those things. I was scared that things between us were real, and the thing about caring for someone this much is that it hurts too fucking bad to lose them. I didn’t—I couldn’t wrap my head around taking that chance. But it’s worth it for you, Laura. It’s always been worth it for you. I’ll risk it all. I’ll suffer all the pain in the world if it means I can be with you. I’m in love with you. I’ve been in love with you since that night in the damn library where you helped my pathetic ass find a textbook. And I’m sorry it took me such a long damn time to say it.”
“You’re in l-love with me?”
Max nodded and lifted my hands up to his lips. He kissed my knuckles. “I am.”
My brain stuttered to a halt. He loved me? Those were the words I’d been hoping to hear from him on New Year’s Eve when everything had gone terribly wrong instead. And now here he was, being honest with me and more vulnerable than he’d ever been in all the time I’d known him.
Some women may have turned him down. Some might have held onto the anger and grief he’d caused them.
But I was in love with him, too. And I’d missed him terribly. And all I’d wanted for this whole past week was to have him back in my life.
And here he was.
He let go of my hands. “I understand if you don’t want to see me anymore, Laura. I can’t take back what I said but I—”
“Shut up,” I said, then threw my arms around his shoulders and pressed my lips to his.
Max remained motionless for a millisecond. Then he wrapped his arms around me and lifted me off my feet. I giggled, and his chest rumbled as he laughed, and he set me down on the kitchen island.
I held his face in my hands and kissed him desperately while he sunk his fingers into my hair and pushed it off my face. He pulled away and looked into my eyes. “I’m so sorry,” he said again.
“Hush. It doesn’t matter. None of it matters. I have you back.”
“I’ll never hurt you again.”
“Max.”
“Yes?”
My smile was so big it hurt my cheeks. “I love you, too.”
He devoured me with more kisses and pushed me down on my back on the counter. He pushed things out of my way, knocking loose papers and my purse to the ground. I didn’t give a damn. He slid his hands up the inside of my sweater and ran them up my stomach.
His palms on my bare flesh felt magical. He cupped my breasts as our kiss deepened. I moaned into his mouth and lifted one knee. Max pushed my sweater up and over my head. My hair got caught up in the tag and we had to break our kiss so he could untangle me. Both of us laughed, already out of breath, and while he pulled my hair free from the tag I began unbuttoning his white shirt.
When my hair was free he shrugged out of his leather jacket and let it fall to the ground. I got his last button undone. His chiseled torso filled my vision as he leaned over me. I traced every muscled ridge of his stomach with my trembling fingertips.
Max kissed my breasts and rolled his tongue over my nipples. I moaned and arched my back. He ran his tongue down the middle of my stomach until he reached the waistband of my shorts. Then he tore them off.
I yelped with surprise. He balled them up and threw them over his shoulder. He left my socks on. I wrapped my legs around his waist and pulled him back to me for more kisses.
It turned out that neither of us could wait much longer. He began undoing his jeans after pulling out a condom. I teased him about being prepared to have s
ex even though we weren’t together when he’d come over here.
He put a finger across my lips. “Hush, pretty girl.”
I parted my lips and drew his finger into my mouth. He watched with fascination as I sucked his finger. I smiled, amused by the fixation of his gaze. His cock hardened immediately, I could feel it pressed against the back of my thigh.
Max ran his other hand between my legs. I flinched when he grazed my pussy and he chuckled. His finger was still in my mouth when he swirled the finger of his other hand around my clit. It felt so fucking good.
I moaned softly around his finger in my mouth.
Then he entered me, pushing two thick digits into my wet pussy.
“Oh God,” I mumbled, my voice muffled by his finger in my mouth.
He pulled his finger away from my mouth and plunged his hand into my hair, holding me down as he fucked me with his fingers.
I writhed under his grasp but he held fast as he fucked me until I came.
“I can’t wait any longer,” Max grated.
“Me neither.”
He opened the condom wrapper and rolled it on. I propped myself up on my elbows and watched as he eased the tip of his cock into my pussy. He gave it to me nice and slow, letting my body adjust to his thickness, and then once I had all of his length inside me he worked me over with short deep thrusts.
“Fuck,” I whispered, letting my head fall back and closing my eyes. It felt so good. And so right.
Max fucked me on my back until we knocked more things off the counter. Then he pulled out, lifted me up, and sat me down on one of my barstools. I looked back over my shoulder at him as he grabbed me by the hips and pulled my ass over the edge of the stool.
“I’m going to fall off,” I giggled, reaching in front of me to grip the edge of the counter.
“I won’t let you fall,” he said. His voice was thick and hoarse with need. He took his cock and bent at the knees to slide himself back inside me.
This angle was delicious. He buried himself deep, and I let out a gasp of pleasure and hung my head. “Holy shit.”
“You like that, baby?” He cooed, resting his chin on my shoulder.
Brand New Man Page 23