“Well that’s not like you.” Lily pursed her lips. “Feeling okay? You look a little…flushed.”
Sidney couldn’t even look her friend in the eye. “Maybe I’m coming down with something.” Terminal lust. She swallowed. “I barely got out of bed all weekend.” She grinned the truth of her statement. Lily knew about her childish crush on her boss. She’d send Sidney teasing text messages during meetings with obnoxious comments about the man’s physique. She and Lily shared everything. Every. Single. Thing. There were things that Sidney couldn’t even admit to herself, but she’d blab to Lily no problem. This once, she’d have to keep her mouth shut. No one can know.
“Maybe you should go home.” Lily rounded the desk to touched Sidney’s forehead.
The lie ate at her gut like bubbling acid. Sidney forced a smile. “I’m fine. Some Tandoori Chicken should clear me right up.”
“Hope you’re not contagious. I don’t want whatever it is you have.”
“I’m not contagious. I promise.”
“Drink lots of water. That should help.”
“You say that for every ailment from flu to hangnails.”
“Water is the miracle cure. Prove me wrong.”
“Sidney?” Grant’s voice came through the speakerphone.
She spun around before her expression gave her away to her best friend. She pressed the reply button with a shaky finger. “Yes?”
“Did I have any messages?”
“I just emailed them.”
The pregnant pause made her smile. “Thanks.”
“You got it.”
That set the tone for the weeks that followed. Sidney teetered between staying on opposite ends of the building from Grant, to searching her inbox for any simple reason to seek him out. She only slipped up once, during their Wednesday meeting. She’d been daydreaming about their previous night together, and Lily sent a text message across the boardroom table.
wipe ur mouth.
That night she and Grant laughed about it, but agreed to keep their eye contact to a minimum.
“I’m not very good at hiding the way I feel about you. I hope it gets easier.”
“Hmm, how do you feel?” She nibbled on his collarbone.
“For years? Frustrated. Lately? Exhausted.”
“Exhausted is good.”
“Much better than frustrated.”
Hours later, she woke up snuggled against his chest as they lay entangled on his big leather couch. His deep, even breathing was what had lulled her to sleep during the late news. She propped her chin on his breast bone and stared into his sleeping face, half-tempted to drag him to his bed to sleep the rest of the night away. She couldn’t, of course. Already she’d be dragging all day tomorrow.
Okay, five more minutes wouldn’t hurt. With a sigh, she settled in to stare at the man she’d once avoided direct eye contact with for more than five seconds. Though she still couldn’t openly admire him in public, here in his home, as they both lay sleepy and replete, she could look her fill. She loved the way his face relaxed in sleep, making him look like less of a hard-ass boss and more like a loving, caring man. The lip that disappeared at the office when she got under his skin was the same lip that rubbed against hers when he kissed her breathless.
She admired his sharp cheekbones, his angled nose, and his jaw, now already rough with whiskers. As much as she loved kissing those cheeks fresh out of the shower, this rough-faced look had its own appeal. His dark lashes fluttered slightly as he dreamed.
The man had the most amazing eyes. She’d spent an hour one day counting the gold flecks in them. Although she knew nothing could come of this affair, she longed to spend some real time with him outside of work and his apartment. Maybe a movie. Dinner somewhere. And then back here, where he had a sinfully opulent king-sized bed and a doubly sinful whirlpool tub.
Sidney could almost smell the candles he’d lit the first time he undressed her in that bathroom and led her into the steaming bubbles.
“Keep staring at me like that and I’ll start feeling self-conscious.”
She jumped a bit at his voice. “You scared me. I thought you were sleeping.”
“I’ve got a naked woman staring at me with lust in her eyes, how could I sleep?”
She crawled up his body until they were nose to nose. “Your eyes have been closed all this time. How would you know if there is any lust in mine?”
He smoothed his hands away from where they rested on her back to slide between their bodies enough to cup her breasts, his eyes still closed. “These ladies started poking me about three minutes ago. Makes me wonder what you’ve got on your mind.”
She didn’t try to hide her smile. Instead she buried her face in the crook of his neck and let him feel it. “I was just wishing I didn’t have to go home.”
“Stay. I’ll set the alarm early enough for you to get home before work.”
“Mm, don’t tempt me. I doubt we’d get any sleep if we shared a bed.”
“That’s okay too.”’
“I already struggle to stay awake during your business meetings.”
He released her breasts to swat her rump. “Maybe if you and Lily didn’t spend the entire time texting from across the table…”
“Don’t be jealous. I text you too.”
“Ah, yes, you do.”
She’d sent him some naughty pictures that he grumbled about having to delete. They couldn’t risk having someone pick up one of their phones and find incriminating texts or pictures. Sidney sighed and reached for her phone on his coffee table.
“Don’t call a cab tonight. I’ll drive you.”
“You’re exhausted. You said so yourself.” She dialed, but didn’t move from her spot on his chest. “You haven’t even opened your eyes.”
“I hate that you have to take a cab.”
She gave the dispatcher the address and then hung up. “Well, I hate that we have to be so sneaky, but I’ll take what I can get.”
“Regrets?”
“Nope. Other than having to get up right now.” She gave him a smacking kiss and slipped out of his arms.
He rolled onto his side and propped his cheek on his hand to watch her get dressed. She tried to be sexy, but it’s a lot easier when taking the clothes off.
“I’ll miss you tomorrow.”
Her heart skipped a beat and she shoved aside the panic. “Where will you be?”
“That emergency meeting in the district office. So don’t text me unless you hear from me first.”
“Yeah, that would be bad.” Fully dressed, she slipped back onto the couch to soak in a little more of him before she went home to her lonely bed. She snuggled against him, his naked chest warm against her cheek. “I’ll miss you. Try to think about me whenever Harold Price goes off one of his monologues.”
His laugh shook her. “I’ll be thinking of you a lot then.”
“Good.” She trailed one middle finger around his coppery nipple. “So I heard rumors about this meeting.”
His pause stilled her movements. “You did?”
“Yeah. Everyone’s talking about it. Jose thinks they’re restructuring.” The Mega Corporation that had purchased P and R six years ago had up until recently allowed them to continue producing smartphones and tablets under their own Oasis brand, working alongside their own company’s force—the Northwest Facility. This year’s line had emerged with a new brand logo, leaving the Oasis name as simple subtext on the box. The software, though a separate division, had also been transformed, and while it was admittedly better than before, Sidney missed the old Oasis family feel.
He took a deep breath. “I’d heard that too. Try not to worry about anything until I get back from the meeting.”
She shot up. “Think I should be worried?”
“I just told you not to.” He tried to pull her back down, but she pushed herself upright, straddling his hips. “Come on. You know how these things are. They’ll call it restructuring, usually all it means is they’ll star
t calling regional managers ‘multi-facility supervisors’ or some damn thing. They just bought out Klein Industries. Who knows, maybe they’re going to integrate those employees—”
“So that sale went through? When did that happen? You didn’t tell me.”
His gaze dropped to her waist, concerning her even more. “The other day. I planned on announcing it on Monday.”
“Oh.” This was big news. The only thing bigger would have been if Pepsi bought out Coke.
“Look. This is the whole reason I’ve kept this quiet. I knew everyone would start speculating and worrying about things they have no control over.” His lip disappeared. “Just relax, okay? We’ll see what happens tomorrow and go from there.”
Feeling properly chastised, she lowered her chin. “Okay.”
He tugged on her arms, and this time she let him pull her back down against his chest. “I don’t like talking about work when I have you in my arms.”
“I can think of a few much more pleasurable things we could do.”
Her phone ringing was enough to kill that thought. Sidney groaned, but gave him a clinging kiss before letting the cab driver know she’d be right out.
As usual, he pulled on his boxers and walked her to the door. “I’ll try to text you during a break, but don’t worry if I can’t.” He tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. “Try to keep the rest of the crew from freaking out. This could be nothing.”
His serious tone told her he didn’t think it was nothing, but she pasted on a smile and nodded. “Have fun tomorrow.” After one last chaste kiss, she bid him goodnight and quickly scanned the neighborhood before slipping out his door and into the cab.
She chewed on her lip the entire way home. Restructuring was never a good thing. She wasn’t afraid she’d lose her job, she had more seniority than most of the other managers, and her performance evaluations were always several percentage points above average, but reorganization could change all the rules. She could very easily be back on the low end of the totem. And she was mere months away from being promotable. Her five year plan was at risk.
They could change the whole organization and split up their team. She might not get to work with Grant anymore. Or Lily.
Her stomach churned. P and R couldn’t do this to her. Although Grant had told her not to worry, that’s exactly how she spent the rest of the night and all day at work.
She was staring into her computer monitor when Lily cleared her throat from the door.
“Oh. Hey. Sorry I haven’t sent you that proposal. I can’t seem to focus this morning.”
Lily snorted, then crossed the room to sit in the chair in front of the window. “You’re not the only one. Half of the employees are gathered around the coffee pot with their heads together. I’ve received two letters of resignation already.”
“What? Who?”
“John and Charles in Tech Support. I asked them to hold off. They can wait to hear the final verdict like the rest of us.”
“Jesus.” Sidney rubbed her temples. She’d been checking her phone every thirty seconds, hoping for an update from Grant, but she dared not check again now. Not that he’d deliver any kind of news via text. As worried as she was about her own job, she had to remember that Grant, Lily, and even John and Charles’ futures with Pritchard and Redland were at stake. Grant’s request that she keep the place from freaking out niggled the back of her mind. Here she was, hiding in her office staring at Klein Industries home page instead of doing as he’d asked. Straightening in her chair, she punched the button on her phone to make an overhead page.
“I need all employees to the bull pen immediately. Once again, all P and R employees to the bull pen for a quick meeting.” She slammed the phone down and stood.
“What are you doing?” Lily followed her to the door, straightening her skirt.
“All they want is some information. They wouldn’t be freaking out so much if they just knew what was going on.”
“But we don’t know what’s going on.”
“Exactly.”
“Huh?”
“Do me a favor.” Sidney checked the big clock on the wall. “Call that pizzeria down the street and order thirty large pizzas. Tell them to rush it.”
“What?”
“Call two places if you have to. We’re not going to get any work done around here anyway, so we might as well enjoy it.”
She grinned.
“Did you get some news?” Jason and Jose flanked her as she made her way to the bull pen.
“No. Did you?”
“No, but I didn’t call a meeting either.”
“Well, someone’s got to get the troops in line. They’re all over the place today.”
“Can you blame them?” Jose shoved his hands in his pockets, and looked like a pouting little boy.
Sidney resisted rolling her eyes. “I can’t really blame them, no, but as management, we should be setting the example out there, easing their minds. Even keeping them busy. We still have a job to do.”
Jose pulled his hands out of his pockets and stuck his chest out. “Yeah. You’re right. Let’s go.”
Feeling marginally better about facing the hundred and twelve employees now that she had Jose and Jason beside her, she stepped into the bull pen amid the low murmur of speculation.
She waited for Lily to return before calling the meeting.
“First of all, if any of you have lunch plans, take a few minutes right now to cancel them.”
As expected, the grumbles took over the crowd. She let them bitch for a full fifteen seconds.
“Lily, when is lunch supposed to be here?”
Lily smiled. “Salad and breadsticks from Louie’s should be here in twenty minutes, pizza in an hour.”
The cheers silenced the grumbles pretty quickly. Now the ball was in her court. “Good. Because we’ve spent enough time this morning worrying over things we can’t control.” Was she channeling Grant? “I’m giving you all the next ninety minutes to bitch, whine, cry, wring your hands, beat up Jose…whatever it takes.”
More cheering, and Jose had the grace to hold his hands up in surrender.
“We’re going to get through whatever corporate has planned for us. We just launched the new tablet to critical praise.” She didn’t mention that the sales of the month-old device weren’t up to projected. “Our facility has the highest rate of customer satisfaction of all of P and R centers. Think about it. Each one of us has a severance clause. Even if,” —she held up a hand— “worst case scenario—we’re laid off, we’ll be well compensated. Each and every one of us has the qualifications to go out and pick up another job in no time flat. And that’s the worst case. Best case would be that we’re all just worried over nothing. Think about it. How many times has the corporation restructured its field team? I can count three times in the last five years. All that meant for us was that we got new office furniture and I had to change the signature on my email.”
The hum of agreement washed over the group. She went on to enumerate every positive quality of P and R, their regional office, and even pointed out some individual achievements in the crowd. “And then there’s Orson, who just received his one-hundredth five star rating.”
Sidney joined the applause, as Orson took a dramatic bow. By the time the pizza arrived, there was a celebratory mood to the crew, and even Sidney felt better. Of course the pizza didn’t hurt.
At one o’clock on the dot, she’d ordered everyone back to work. She was pretty damn proud of the fact that they all marched away like good little worker bees, and looked particularly diligent at their desks.
“Bribery with carbs.” Lily chewed on a leftover breadstick. “Pathetic but effective.”
“No, pathetic is the fact that I’ll wait until Monday to submit that lunch tab.”
“Rush jobs cost ya.”
Sidney checked her phone. Still nothing. “Shit.”
“Nothing from Grant yet?”
“Uh…” Sidney hid her phone under
the desk. As if that would hide her guilt. “No. No word yet.” She swallowed. “Not that he’d tell me before anyone else. I doubt he even knows my phone number.” God, it sucked lying to her best friend.
“I think he’s got your number all right.” Lily tossed the rest of the breadstick in the trash and leaned over Sidney’s desk. “I’m not as stupid as I look.”
“What—what do you mean?”
“I mean….either you’re screwing Grant Porter’s balls off, or I’m the next American Idol.”
Sidney rushed to find a way out of this conversation. Her mind whirled with responses and explanations. She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out.
“That tells me all I need to know.” Lily moved from leaning over her desk to sitting on the edge, her arms crossed.
Sidney buried her face in her hands. “How did you know?”
“I didn’t. I just guessed. A good guess if I do say so myself.”
“Shit. No one can know.”
“Don’t worry.” Lily reached over to pull one of Sidney’s hands away. “Nobody knows. I would have heard through the rumor mill.”
“You figured it out though. This is bad.”
“Only because I know you so well. You wouldn’t have forgotten our date for Indian food unless you had a damn good reason.”
Sidney smiled. Thank God Lily figured it out. She was tired of hiding from her friend. “That was the first weekend.”
Lily held up one finger as she crossed the room to close and lock the door. “Okay. Although I’m a little pissed at you for keeping this big news to yourself, I do understand why you had to. But now that I know…spill it girl. I want all the raunchy details.”
Giggling like a teenager in the throes of a crush, Sidney left her chair to drag Lily to the couch in the corner. “Remember all those things I imagined about him?”
“Yeah?”
“Better than that.”
Chapter Four
Sidney arrived at work a few minutes early on Monday morning still chewing on her bagel. She had her regular mug of coffee in hand, but she wasn’t about to drink any. Her stomach was already tied in knots, she didn’t need to add any more acid to the mix.
Olivia Brynn Collection Volume 1 Page 18
