Before my fake boyfriend reported for duty tomorrow.
“In his office.”
“No. He said in the meeting room—and that you’d know which one.” And then she winked at me and left.
Krista winked? Huh.
Since I’d probably go straight home after talking with Logan, I closed up my office and grabbed my things, carrying my coat over my arm. I passed Hector along the way, but I only waved in passing instead of staying to talk like I usually did.
When I got to the meeting room, Logan wasn’t there. The disappointment that stabbed at me told me all I needed to know about exactly how far I’d fallen down this rabbit hole.
For five minutes, I scrolled through email and messages on my phone. For another five, I gave up trying to act normal and paced back and forth along the length of the room. When the door opened, I flung around, hope and excitement rising inside me like a wave.
It was him.
Everything in me melted in relief—not the kind that comes after pain or stress, but the kind that you get when you arrive home at the end of a long day and take your heels off.
Logan closed the door and, without saying a word, pulled me into his arms. Without a moment’s hesitation, I nuzzled into his embrace, savoring every second I had with him.
“Sorry,” he said. “I didn’t think I’d ever get out of Dawn’s office. That woman is…thorough.”
I laughed, the sound muffled against his chest, then tipped my chin up to smile at him. “Then this is your reward for surviving.”
He kissed the end of my nose. “Well worth it.” But then the light in his eyes dimmed. “Tessa, I’m afraid you won’t see much of me the rest of this week—even in the evenings. I have to turn in my report by Friday, and I’m way behind. And I have some things to figure out. For that to happen in the most fair and rational way, I need to—”
“Stop collecting data?”
He smiled. “Not just that. I need to pretend it doesn’t even exist for a few days. But it will be waiting when we’re ready to analyze it, okay?”
“Don’t worry,” I said with a smile. “I won’t get my feelings hurt. I’d already thought that might be the case, and I want you to do what’s right for B&N.”
“Thanks for understanding. Now, tell me what’s causing the worry in your eyes.”
I sighed. “Apparently people are speculating that you’re the one who sent me the roses and teddy bear yesterday.”
“Ah. I see.” He frowned thoughtfully. “That will complicate a few things.”
“Don’t worry. I already have a solution?”
His eyebrows drew together. “What?”
“Krista has a good-looking guy who she can get to be my fake boyfriend. He’s going to come in and eat lunch with me tomorrow.”
“Exactly how good-looking?”
Chapter Twenty-Four
As it turned out, Krista’s friend couldn’t come until Thursday, so I spent all of Wednesday hiding out in my office with the door shut and my head down working, to discourage anyone from talking to me—and to keep from seeing the curious, judgmental stares I felt when people walked by.
It helped that Logan wasn’t in his office much. I was able to focus more without being tempted to look up and watch him. True, I kept wishing he would at least text me, but I firmly reminded myself that he was purposefully distancing himself from everything simmering between us. That made it all the more special, however, when just before I planned to go to lunch, a delivery came for me. Pad Thai, exactly the way I liked it.
As I ate it at my desk, I felt a glow of warmth all through me. It occurred to me then that he had an advantage over me with all the notes he’d been taking, so I decided to take some of my own. I created a note on my phone and put down everything I could remember about him. It wasn’t a long list. He drank coffee every morning, but only one cup. He liked leather-bound notebooks. He preferred conservative ties. From there I had to think hard.
By Thursday I had a list of a dozen or so things, but they all seemed insignificant, like his habit of chewing mint gum after lunch and that he wasn’t allergic to seafood. Still, it was progress. I smiled at my list and closed the notes app.
That’s when I saw the time and realized my lunch date would be arriving in five minutes. And since I’d meant to appear like I wanted to look good for him, I took a minute to brush my hair and touch up my lipstick. One minute before the agreed-upon time, I got a call from the reception desk downstairs that I had a visitor. Well, he was punctual anyway. Time to see if he was as good-looking as Krista said he was. Of course, he didn’t have to be drop-dead gorgeous. Any moderately good-looking guy would work.
But when I got downstairs, my eyes widened at the sight of the man standing patiently in the small lobby under the blatant stare of the receptionist. He wasn’t as tall as Logan, but he was more muscular. It was rather nice to stand back and enjoy his looks as he stood holding a paper bag from a local deli. He had light-brown hair with sun-bleached streaks styled in messy waves on top and cut close around the bottom, and when he smiled at me, it lit up his whole face with a boyish sort of charm.
Dang, Krista. Why hadn’t she claimed this guy for her own already?
“You’re finally here,” I said, loud enough for the receptionist to hear us. “The morning lasted forever since I was waiting for you.”
“Hey there, beautiful,” he said, striding up to me and wrapping me up in a hug.
In those few minutes, my brain automatically made a comparison of being in Damien’s arms and Logan’s arms. Both were extremely gorgeous, but with Damien, I just felt sort of awkward and twitchy. Not that there was anything wrong with him…he just wasn’t Logan. It was no more than that, really, but it seemed important.
However, since the whole point of this was to make people believe that I was really dating this guy, I tried to look like I was enjoying it. Unfortunately, when I pulled back, I caught sight of Logan watching us from ten feet away. He was obviously headed out for a lunch meeting with Melinda, but now he looked firmly rooted to the square tile beneath his feet. There was absolutely no expression on his face, but it was the very lack of one that told me how he felt about watching another man hold me.
Relax, Logan. You know this is fake.
As if he’d heard my internal plea, he turned his head and stared at the floor. Melinda, however, came over to us.
“Who is this, Tessa?” she asked, coming closer.
“This is Damien…” I faltered as I realized that I didn’t know his last name.
“Little,” Damien said, jumping in and holding out a hand to Melinda. His beaming smile more than made up for my awkward pause.
Melinda smiled as she shook his hand, “I’m sure you get this a lot, but your last name doesn’t suit you.”
“I’ve heard every joke there is,” he agreed, his humor perfectly intact.
“Damien, this is my boss, Melinda Braswell.” Then I turned to Logan, wondering how he was taking all of this. “And this is Logan Jennings.”
The two men shook hands far longer than necessary, and both of their knuckles went white. Were they trying to crush each other’s hands?
“So you two are dating?” Melinda asked. As she spoke, Logan and Damien stepped back from each other.
“Yes.” I spoke in a rush. “He came to eat lunch with me, and I’m starving, so…”
“Of course. We won’t keep you any longer. Logan and I are just heading out.”
“Have fun parading your boyfriend in front of everyone,” Logan said softly, his voice sounding pleasant enough, as if he was joking. But I heard the annoyance behind it.
I gave him a flat look and forced a smile. Why was he acting so jealous when he knew what was going on? I watched as he and Melinda walked out the front entrance, then turned to Damien. “Let’s go eat.”
When we got to the elevator and had a second alone, Damien grinned. “So that was the guy, right? The one you’re secretly dating?”
I n
odded and bit my lip. “I’m not sure we’re actually dating. It’s all kind of complicated.”
“Well, he’s sure.” Damien laughed. “When you see him next, please assure him that I’m already taken, even if my girl doesn’t know it yet.”
The elevator opened then, and we stepped out. Damien looked around as if getting his bearings, and then his eyes fixed on Krista. It only took that one look for me to know he meant her.
I grabbed hold of his arm and pulled. It was like trying to uproot an oak tree. Trying not to laugh, I leaned in close to his ear and murmured, “Can you gawk at her later? You’re supposed to be in love with me right now.”
“Right,” he said, tearing his gaze away. He nodded at Krista, who looked glued to the floor as well, and finally allowed me to turn him the other direction.
We could have eaten in my office, but I wanted to make sure as many people as possible saw us, so I headed for the break room. Along the way, we passed the cubicles for everyone in the marketing and accounting departments. Just as I’d hoped, we drew a lot of attention as we walked through—lots of eyes and lots of murmured conversation.
Just before we got to the break room, Angela came towards us with one of her assistants pushing a rack of samples. When she caught sight of us, she came to a dead halt, but her assistant kept pushing the rack, causing it to run into the back of her leg.
“Ouch—dang!” Angela limped around and reached down to rub the back of her ankle, grimacing in pain.
“Are you okay?” I ran over to her.
“Fine,” she said, straightening, though her voice was still tense with pain. “No blood or anything.” She tossed a glare back at the poor girl still holding onto the sample rack and then turned back to check Damien out. “Don’t tell me this is your boyfriend.”
“It is. Damien, come meet my friend, Angela.” As I spoke, I knew half the office was listening in, many of them standing behind the short walls of their cubicles to get a better look.
“Nice to meet you,” Damien said, shaking her hand.
Angela showed signs of wanting to keep him there talking, so I took his free hand and smiled. “We’re going to go eat now. You’d better go put some ice on your ankle.”
I hadn’t been worried about carrying on conversation with Damien during lunch, but it turned out to be more awkward since half the office decided to come eat in the break room even though it was normally practically empty. Talking with a stranger as if you know them very well and have your lives tangled up together was harder than I’d expected, so every time someone came up to talk to us and meet Damien, it was a welcome interruption. Still, after forty minutes of it, I could feel a major headache coming on and was relieved when Damien needed to get going.
We said our goodbyes, and I walked him out. I smiled to myself when Damien looked down the hall toward Krista’s desk as we stood waiting for the elevator to open, even though he couldn’t see her from the angle we were at. I was super curious what was going on between them—especially since their personalities were polar opposites. Well, Krista was ice and Damien was tropical sunshine with dancing eyes and ready smile. But the chances of her confiding in me were next to nil.
I walked him out to the main entrance like a good girlfriend sorry to say goodbye. He surprised me by pausing in the door and pulling me close to him, then bent to whisper in my ear. “I hope everything works out for you.” And then he kissed my cheek and walked away.
Well, at least Logan hadn’t been around to see that.
But when I turned around and headed for the elevator, Logan appeared out of nowhere, grabbing my hand and towing me behind him.
“What are you doing?”
He didn’t stop to answer, striding ahead, winding between dollies stacked with boxes and racks full of clothes. The ladies who worked in shipping and receiving had already gone home for the day, so no one was around, but anybody coming in for lunch might come through the back door any second and see Logan dragging me through the warehouse.
But while my eyes focused anxiously on the door, Logan turned into one of the stock rooms and shut the door behind us. He didn’t say a word of explanation or give me a chance to react as he pushed me against the wall, cupped his hand around my neck, and claimed my lips in a fiery kiss. For a moment, the sheer shock of it kept me still, but there was no denying the insistent question in the way his lips moved over mine. Despite the risk, despite the fact that all my effort to create a smokescreen with Damien might end up being for nothing, I gave him what he was looking for.
Sliding my hands up his chest and around his neck, my fingers played over the soft linen of his collar, over the back of his neck and up into the silk of his hair as I gave him kiss for kiss. My heart raced even as time itself slowed down. For just a moment, he pulled back, his eyes piercing mine, and then he bent again and pressed his lips to mine. But this time, with infinite gentleness, moving slowly, as if he had all the time in the world to hide out with me here among racks of sheer black negligees and red, lacy bras.
“I’m sorry,” he murmured, his sweet, minty breath tickling my sensitive lips. “I think I went crazy for a minute.”
I had to smile. “I like the way you go crazy.”
“Yeah?” His eyes glinted with humor. “But maybe you should get a short bald guy with a beer gut to be your next fake boyfriend, or I might do more than drag you into a stockroom.”
“Like what? Maybe I should get Damien to come back tomorrow.” I paused while Logan released an irritated breath. “I’ve missed you.”
“And I missed you. It’s been even harder than I thought. How did I get so addicted to you so fast?”
“At least we’re both suffering.”
He kissed me again. “I wouldn’t call this suffering.”
I wrapped my arms around his waist, clinging to him. When his arm encircled me, I closed my eyes, already regretting the inevitable. We’d have to walk away from each other again. Soon.
Honestly, I would have ignored the world for as long as possible, but my phone rang in my pocket. Since it could blow our cover, I panicked and yanked it out. Angela was calling me.
“Hello? What’s up?”
“Bree just quit. She left an envelope on your desk, and Rian told me that Bree said she was going to take you down on her way out.”
What on earth? My pulse picked up again, this time with worry. “Thanks. I’m on my way.”
“What’s wrong?” Logan asked, frowning.
“I’m not sure yet, but I have to go.”
As I walked away, Logan caught my hand, pulling me back for a moment. “Tessa, I’m going back to my hotel to finish my report, so I won’t see you again today. I’m turning it in first thing tomorrow morning.”
I stared at him, feeling the shift in our lives. The only problem was that I didn’t know what came next. “And then we can talk?”
He nodded. “And then we’re going to talk.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
When I got to my office, I felt a strange foreboding as I went to my desk and saw the white business envelope with my name on it. It came as a twisting nausea in my gut. My fingers shook as I picked it up, so I sat down and took a deep breath before opening it. Inside was a formal letter of resignation, effective immediately, and another sheet with some kind of list on it that had clearly been photocopied out of a notebook, judging from the lines on it.
But it didn’t take that to know this was a page from the notebook Logan always carried around with him. I recognized his distinctive handwriting.
At the top of the list he’d written “Positions that will need to be filled.” And then followed a list that lined up with my own opinions about who in the company needed to be let go and replaced with more capable people. There was significant position on the list, however, that caught me by surprise—the obvious reason Bree had given it to me. At the bottom of the list, Logan had written “HR Director.”
I dropped the paper on my desk and stared at it, hoping that someho
w the letters would rearrange themselves into something else—anything else. But no, there it was, in black and white—the truth of what Logan thought of my ability to do my job.
There was no doubt he wanted me as a man wants a woman. He enjoyed my company and probably hoped as much as I did that we’d figure out how to make our budding relationship work after his consultation had been completed. But apparently he didn’t think I was a competent HR Director. No wonder he’d wanted to separate himself from me for a few days so he could make his final report. It must have been hard to suggest to Melinda that she should fire me while flirting with me.
My chest ached, and the back of my throat tightened with the desire to cry, but I tried to hold back the tears. I wouldn’t fall apart here. I wouldn’t.
But why didn’t he at least warn me? Give me a heads-up that I was going to get fired? At the very least, he could have done that.
As I sat and stared at it, the shock and hurt and questions nearly overwhelmed me. And then came the anger. What exactly had he based his conclusions on? Was it because I’d hired a ‘hitman’ as his secretary? Well, she’d done an amazing job. Truly, she was the perfect executive assistant.
Maybe it was because he’d known precisely how distracted I’d been in my job lately, since he’d been the one distracting me. Then another thought occurred to me. I went down the rest of the list and felt a fierce pride that none of the people he considered a detriment to the company had been people I’d hired. It made it even more perplexing to understand what had made him form such a poor opinion about me and my work.
I grabbed my phone, determined to call him and find out directly from him. But as I pulled up Bossy Man in my contacts, my eyes blurred so much with unshed tears that I ended up calling Bob, my landlord instead. I hung up quickly before the guy answered, hoping Bob wouldn’t call me back. On the second try, I managed to call Logan, but his phone went straight to voicemail. I couldn’t bear to leave a message—what would I even say?—so I hung up again.
A Man Worth Shaving For: A Sweet Romantic Comedy Page 14
