by Timms, Lexy
“What are you thinking about?” Matt asked later, as we cleaned dishes next to each other in the kitchen while Leanne put the kids to bed.
I gave him a surprised look, but really, I should have expected that he would notice how introspective I had been that evening. He knew me better than anyone, excluding Leanne. How to tell him, though, that I was starting to wonder if maybe Leanne was right? Maybe I would never find the fulfillment I craved through my job. Maybe I needed to try something different.
But I didn’t want a family. I was happy being the fun and crazy Aunt Abby. And surely there was some sort of job out there that was perfect for me. I just had to find it.
I shook my head at Matt and smiled. “I had a couple job interviews,” I told him. “I’m just wondering when I’ll hear back from any of them.”
Matt reached over and squeezed my shoulder lightly. “You know that if there’s anything you need from us, all you have to do is ask,” he said, smiling at me. He was my big brother, and I knew he would always be there to lookout for me, to protect me.
I smiled at him. “Thanks,” I said, even though I hoped I could find something before I had to ask him for any sort of help. As much as I loved being a part of his family with Leanne, I was also independent and strong-willed and didn’t want to feel like I was reliant on anyone else.
I’d find something, I told myself. I had put my career first since I had graduated. That sort of drive always paid off in the end. I just had to be patient.
Chapter 3
Daniel
THE PARTY WENT LATE on Friday night. I didn’t want to leave the office before everyone else; I was the boss, and that wasn’t the way I worked. So I hung around, sipping at some rum that I kept in my office and steadily working my way through the pile of paperwork that I had hoped to do back home, in the comfort of my apartment. My office was plenty comfortable anyway, I reasoned with myself. No reason to leave just yet.
One by one, the rest of the employees began to trickle off home to their families. When there was only a small group left, I headed out to grab some food and drink for myself.
“It’s the boss-man!” Jimmy crowed, throwing his arms in the air. “We thought you weren’t going to join us.”
I gave him a grin, feeling a bit tipsy myself by this point. Not drunk, because regardless of what the media liked to say about me, I tended not to let myself get to the point where I would do anything too spontaneous or stupid. But tipsy enough that maybe I could blur the line between boss and employee just for a little while. It had been a while since I had had drinks with anyone that I actually knew, outside of bland business dinners.
All the people who were still left—Jimmy, Brian, Tom, Sarah, and Ella—were the younger crowd who didn’t have families to go home to at the end of the night. They wouldn’t see any sort of impropriety in my hanging out with them for a little while anyway. It was the older guys that I had to worry about. Get too close to them and they started to think that they had more authority than me. These guys knew where the power lay, though.
I perched on one of the desks, balancing my plate carefully as I shrugged. “Just wanted to get a few things finished up tonight before heading home for the weekend,” I told them with a martyred air.
Brian shook his head. “See this is what I love about working for you,” he said. “You’re always the first one in the office and the last guy to leave. My last boss barely did any of the work for himself. But you don’t micromanage, either.”
“I try not to,” I said gravely, trying not to smile. I couldn’t help but feel flattered, even though I knew exactly what all of them thought about me. “Got any fun plans for the weekend?” I asked the group at large, magnanimously deflecting the attention away from myself.
We chatted for a while, working our way through the rest of the drinks that the catering company had brought. I finally looked at my watch as I realized I was getting pretty tired and that they were getting pretty drunk. It was already after midnight. Probably time to shut this little party down and get everyone home.
Everyone seemed to notice me looking at my watch, and the gesture was echoed by Jimmy and Tom. “Shit, almost one in the morning?” Tom said in surprise. There were a couple winces around the group, and everyone seemed in accordance that it was time to head home.
“Why don’t I call a cab for you two ladies?” I suggested to Sarah and Ella.
“I can walk,” Sarah protested. “I don’t live that far away from here.”
I shook my head. “You know I can’t let you do that,” I said grandly. “I wouldn’t want anything to happen to you. We need you here in the office.”
Sarah snorted. “Tell that to Haddox,” she said, then clapped a hand over her mouth, giggling a little in embarrassment.
I let the comment slide. “Come on,” I said, looping my arms around them, one on each of the women’s shoulders. “Let’s find you ladies a cab.”
The guys filed out in front of us, going their separate ways on the street as I waited for a cab with the women. Now that we were outside the building, I started to pull my arms away, aware of just how this might be construed. Not that I thought anyone would catch us here. By all rights, we should have been home from work hours ago. The media wouldn’t have known about this impromptu office dinner.
But both the women pressed in closer to me, and I realized belatedly that neither of them were dressed for the chilly night air. I fought the urge to roll my eyes and comment on that. It was September in Chicago; what did they think the weather was going to be like when they got off work? They should have at least come prepared with an extra layer just in case. Apparently neither had thought of that, though.
Fortunately, the cab pulled up in front of us after not too long. “I’ll see you both on Monday,” I said to the two women.
Suddenly, a flash bulb went off, and I realized that we weren’t as alone as I’d thought we were. I peered at the man with the camera. Press definitely, if the size of that lens was anything to go by.
I swore under my breath and hustled both of the women toward the car, pulling open the door and ushering them quickly inside. I slammed the door shut before the photographer had time to take another photo of the three of us. Likely the one that he already had was damning enough.
Because he wouldn’t tell everyone that we had just been outside the office building. His caption would be something like “Daniel McGregor, Caught in an Illicit Office Tryst.” Technically, it wasn’t a lie. I should never have had my arms around the two women; I knew exactly what that looked like. Everyone would assume that we had just been coming home from a club or something like that, and there was me with a woman under each arm; how many times had they seen that in other circumstances?
And if anyone really connected the dots, which any of the people I worked with were bound to do, they would realize that these weren’t just two floozies. No, these were two women from the office, my employees.
I could feel a headache coming on already. I wanted to chase the photographer, to smash his camera to bits and drop his memory card into the river. I wanted to drop him into the river if I was being honest. I wondered if Gerrard had tipped him off to the fact that I was going to be at the office late tonight. One final act of revenge.
I shook my head and my lips pursed sourly. There was no point in trying to cover things up; I had realized that long ago. Nor was there any point in trying to tell my side of the story. No one wanted to hear that. If I didn’t know any better, I would think that everyone just wanted to believe that I was a player and a terrible guy.
It didn’t matter, though. As long as the business flourished, my life was whatever I wanted to make of it.
I headed to my car, a shiny new Maserati I had treated myself to just recently. I still hadn’t had a chance to take her out on the highway and see what she was really made of. I knew that engine would purr no matter what speed I pushed her to. Maybe I’d find some time this weekend to take a little joyride. I had a bit of
work that needed to be finished up by Monday, but I could probably sneak away for an hour or two.
Of course, I wasn’t going to get to fly along the road the way I really wanted to. I knew just what would happen if I got another speeding ticket. The media would be all over that, and it could affect my business. Getting caught with a woman under each arm was one thing. But having to go to court, even traffic court, was another thing; that made me look reckless and irresponsible.
It wouldn’t do for the CEO of McGregor Enterprises to look irresponsible.
I slipped into the car, drumming my fingers along the edge of the steering wheel for a moment. I didn’t really want to go home to my empty house, not just yet. But now that I had a train of photographers following me, I knew there wasn’t really anything else I could do. Sure, the good clubs around the city would keep out the piranhas with cameras. They’d still be waiting outside at the end of the night, though, and they’d be just as happy to write a story on my drunken night out in the club as a story on my supposed threesome with two women from my office.
Because they were still following me, I was sure. The guy who got the earlier picture had run off, but where there was one, there were others. They were like fucking cockroaches, the lot of them. And they somehow seemed to always sense when one of their brethren was about to get the scoop on something that I did. That brought them all out of the woodwork.
No, it was best that I just call it a night and head home.
For the second time that night, I found myself fighting down an unexpected wave of loneliness. Did I want something more to my life than this? Maybe. Damn the paparazzi. Sometimes I wished that they would just leave me the hell alone. But that was an empty prayer, I knew. There was no way to get them to stop. Firing Gerrard might give me a slight reprieve, a chance to go out to clubs without being followed on the way there. But the press would find me anyway. I’d have to be a total hermit to avoid them.
I went home, despising the sour mood I was in and wishing that I could go back to earlier in the office with the younger crowd, chatting easily in the privacy of the secure building and forgetting for a moment about all my responsibilities as a CEO.
But this was my life, and in spite of everything, my pride in what I’d been able to accomplish with my father’s company made it so that I didn’t really wish for anything different. Except for maybe a little worry-free companionship at the end of the night.
I wouldn’t get that now, though. Instead, I grabbed a glass from the cabinet in the kitchen and poured myself a couple fingers of rum. Then, I headed into the spacious living room and stared out over the lights of the city.
Chapter 4
Abby
I WAS GLAD TO HAVE Leanne come along with me to the gym on Tuesday morning, but when I’d let her pick the class that she wanted to go to, I had really been hoping beyond hope that she wouldn’t make me suffer through another hour of hot yoga. It was Leanne’s favorite type of workout, I knew, and she swore that it was the only way that she could ever have lost all that weight after Layla was born. But as for me, I hated hot yoga and would much rather have done, well, any of the other classes that were offered today. Even the spin class with Jeremy, who pushed his clients relentlessly.
Still, I was glad that Leanne was there with me, and I had offered to let her pick the class. It had been a while since I’d had to suffer through one of these classes with her.
It wasn’t so much the heat that bothered me, or an inherent dislike of yoga. No, it was just moments like this: everyone else looked comfortable and strong in their warrior pose, and I was on my back again, not even sure how I had gotten there. As I rolled to my feet and tried to get myself back into position, my flaming face had nothing to do with the temperature of the room.
Balance was just so not my thing.
To be honest, I never would have realized how much balance went into yoga. After all, for this pose, I still had two feet on the ground. I should be able to keep from falling over backward suddenly, shouldn’t I? But then again, I had always been a klutz.
“You okay?” Leanne asked quietly, leaning toward me, a small grin on her face. I knew she wasn’t laughing at me, though.
I envied how relaxed and graceful she looked as we flowed into the next pose. Belatedly, I rushed to catch up to the rest of the class’s movements and found myself having to catch myself with a hand on the floor before I toppled over again.
“I am terrible at yoga,” I announced to Leanne, as though that were any real surprise.
“You’ll get better with time,” Leanne assured me. “When I first started, I wasn’t flexible at all. But it’s gotten a lot easier.”
I resisted the urge to point out the fact that increasing flexibility was a bit different than undoing a lifetime’s worth of clumsiness. I was predisposed toward failure at yoga, as far as I was concerned. I forced myself to concentrate on moving my body into the next pose, though, glancing at the clock and refraining from groaning when I saw that we still had another twenty minutes of this torture to get through.
After yoga, we headed next door for coffee. “I really like that gym,” Leanne gushed as we got our drinks and found a table. “I might actually need to get a membership there. I like doing yoga at home, but that teacher is so great. I haven’t felt this relaxed in ages.”
I grinned and shook my head. “Does that mean you’re going to drag me to hot yoga every week?” I asked.
Leanne laughed. “Maybe,” she said, her eyes gleaming.
She grabbed a copy of the paper as we passed it on our way to a table in the corner. “What’s going on in the world today?” she murmured, spreading the paper out where we both could see it. She snorted. “Daniel McGregor’s up to no good again.”
I shook my head. “Not surprising,” I said, staring down at the image of the man with his arms flung around two attractive women as he walked down some Chicago street. “Wonder where he picked these ones up.”
Leanne groaned. “You’re not going to lecture me again about how they should know better than to be caught with someone like him, are you?” she asked.
“That was one time, Leanne,” I said, laughing. I paused. “But they really should know better. Everyone knows that Daniel McGregor is a playboy. They should hold themselves to a higher standard.”
Leanne rolled her eyes. “Cut the crap,” she said. “You and I both know that if someone as hot as Daniel McGregor wanted to take you home with him, you’d go. Hell, I love your brother, but I probably entertain the idea too!”
I giggled, looking down at the picture of the man in question. The newsprint didn’t do his strong features justice, but I had seen other pictures before and was able to fill in the details that the low quality of this picture obscured. The man was tall and strong, with broad shoulders that made him look more like a football player or a UFC fighter than a businessman. His black hair was longer on the top and slicked carefully back, not a strand out of place, and even though you couldn’t tell it from this picture, his eyes were an icy glacier blue that I imagined could pierce through a person’s layers as easily as a fish could cut through water.
But I wasn’t the kind of woman to moon over celebrities, and Leanne knew that. There was that one picture of Daniel in one of the tabloids that Leanne had left at my place. He’d been shirtless, his abs and strong arms on full display. So what if that image had popped into my head once or twice while I worked myself over into bliss? I didn’t have a thing for him. And even if he ever showed interest in me, well. I was better than that. I didn’t need a one-night stand with someone like him.
Leanne shook her head, grin still firmly in place. She flipped through the paper aimlessly. “So how’s life anyway?” she asked, mercifully changing the subject away from sexy celebrities.
I shrugged. “Same as last week, I guess,” I told her. “I’m kind of disappointed, honestly. I thought for sure I was going to get the job that I interviewed for on Friday, but I talked to the hiring manager this mornin
g and she said, get this, they decided to go with someone younger for the position.”
“What!” Leanne said in shock. “She didn’t actually say it like that, did she? Like, implying that you were too old to work for them?”
“She did,” I said grimly. I shook my head and took a sip of my drink. “I guess they’re looking for someone with less experience, same as everyone else. And someone more impressionable maybe.” I paused. “Maybe that’s why I’m having such a hard time finding work, though. Everyone’s looking for someone younger than me.”
Leanne gave me a look. “You’re only twenty-eight,” she reminded me. “It’s not like you’re over the hill.”
“Yeah, but the business world changes so much every year. There’s probably a huge difference between what these kids are learning in school and what I learned before I graduated.”
“Nah,” Leanne said, shaking her head. “Like I said before, I’m sure the perfect job is out there. You’re just going to have to be patient until you find it.” She suddenly jabbed her finger at something in the paper. “What about this one?”
I turned the paper toward me so I could read it better. Then, I giggled. “Leanne!” I said, even as I read through the rest of the ad. It seemed that none other than Daniel McGregor was looking to hire a new financial advisor.
“Come on, it would be perfect for you,” Leanne said innocently.
I shook my head. “You’re just hoping that I’ll find myself in the middle of some awkward office romance,” I said. “Not going to happen. The last thing I need is to never get another job in this industry because I got caught sleeping with the boss in a position like this.”
“So you admit that you would like to sleep with him,” Leanne said triumphantly.
I rolled my eyes but didn’t respond to that.
I wondered what it would be like, working for McGregor. Oh, I knew all about his reputation. He was in the tabloids and the papers and splashed all over the online gossip columns so frequently that it would have been impossible to not know who he was. Half the women in this city wanted to marry him. The other half wanted to sleep with him.
