The One of Many

by M. Jane Early

  “Good morning,” I heard behind me and froze.

  I looked over my shoulder and wanted to crawl under the table. I squeezed my eyes tight while my mouth hung open.

  “Morning, Mr. Powers,” Trevor said happily.

  “Hey, Trevor. Ms. Hallston.”

  My stomach dropped to my shoes. “Morning,” I said to the ground.

  Once Powers grabbed something from the fridge and walked out, I put my head on the table and lightly banged it. “What are the chances he didn’t hear that?” I asked, wanting to die.

  Trevor chuckled. “Slim to none.”

  I groaned and lifted my head, rubbing the sore part that had met the table.

  I walked back to my cubicle and found a half dozen long-stemmed, red roses sitting on my desk. I took the card out of the bouquet and opened it.

  Thank you for a perfect weekend.

  C.

  I exhaled and smelled the flowers. I hadn’t made things any easier by sleeping with him, and maybe that was on purpose. I loved Crew, I couldn’t deny it, but things were different between us. Even during sex, I was there physically, but not mentally. I had to figure out what I wanted. Our relationship pros and cons list heavily favored the cons side. But for now, I would take all the pampering he would provide.

  Seven

  The next morning, I waited for the elevators on the first floor and scrolled through social media on my phone. Crew had continued to post pictures of us together, proclaiming he had gotten back the woman he wanted all along. It would have been a grand gesture if it didn’t look like he was doing it for show. The last time I’d talked to Crew was when he left my apartment Saturday afternoon. Other than the flowers, there had been no contact. I grimaced at the screen and put my phone away.

  A figure stopped next to me. “Ms. Hallston.”

  I tried not to smile at the way he said my name. “Mr. Powers.”

  I stretched my neck to one side, trying to relieve the tightness my body automatically displayed when David Powers was near. He glanced in my direction. I kept my head forward, not wanting to find his perfect hazel-green eyes, fearing I wouldn’t be able to tear myself away from them.

  The bell above us sounded, and the double doors slid open. He motioned with his hand for me to go in first. I prayed there were people behind us. I didn’t want to be alone in an elevator car with him. I was still reeling from the embarrassment in the break room the day before, not to mention the scene at Gianelli’s. I had daydreamed about him touching me more often than I’d liked.

  When I turned to look behind me, there was no one. I silently cursed.

  I took a deep breath getting into the car and held it so his scent I randomly caught—even when he wasn’t around—wouldn’t floor me. I tried to move as close to the other side as I could without looking like it was on purpose.

  The doors closed. “How was your weekend?” he asked, staring straight ahead.

  “Good. How was yours?”

  He nodded. “Busy.”

  “No sleep for the wicked?” I replied.

  He laughed. “You think I’m wicked?” His eyes fell on me.

  “No,” I glanced at him. “I don’t know why I said that. It was the first thing that popped in my head.” I paused, then asked the second thing that came to mind. “How was the rest of your date?”

  He hesitated. “It was fine.”

  I looked down and shook my head. That was an inappropriate question to ask your boss, let alone the CEO of the company, Farren.

  “Sounds like yours went pretty well too,” he said, and I deadpanned to him. He didn’t look at me. I twisted my mouth and closed my eyes, facing forward.

  “Nice flowers, by the way,” he added.

  “What?”

  “On your desk.” He peered at me.

  I took a long breath. “He’s trying.”

  The elevator stopped, the doors slowly slid open, and Powers stepped ahead of me. When I tried to follow, he pivoted, sending me back into the car.

  He leaned his hand against the doors and stared at me. “I hope that’s not all it takes to win you back.”

  I met his eyes and joggled my head, dazed by his proximity.

  “Half a dozen roses and a date?” He scoffed. “Seems like you’re worth more than that.” We watched each other until the elevator buzzed at us. David Powers slowly removed his hand, then sauntered away while I watched him incredulously.

  What does that mean?

  The doors started to close. “Shit,” I said and quickly leaned over, trying to punch the open button repeatedly, remembering that was the floor I needed too.

  Later that afternoon, I had my first one-on-one with Powers about the presentation. Still going over what he said both at the restaurant and the elevator, I walked to his office and knocked on his open door. He was on his phone, standing by the floor-to-ceiling window overlooking the city.

  “I know, Ally. I know he’s mad at me. I just want to make sure he’s okay.” He paused. “I’ll be there soon, don’t worry.” His tone turned frustrated. “What was I supposed to do?” Another pause. “Allison, I didn’t have a choice. You can’t do it. It’s my responsibility.”

  I knocked again, a little louder, causing him to turn in my direction. I gave him a slight wave. He motioned for me to come in with his fingers.

  “I have to go. I’ll call you when I’m on my way. Okay.” He hung up. The look on his face was bothersome. “Sorry about that,” he said and focused on his phone again while walking towards me.

  He pushed a button and raised it to his ear. “Bethany, good afternoon. Could you move up my departure this evening? Thank you.” He ended the call, then finally made eye contact with me as I stood in front of his desk.

  He cleared his throat. “Sit, please.” He moved his tie as he planted in the chocolate color leather chair. His expression was both confused and angry.

  “Everything alright?” I asked in a hushed tone.

  He looked at me abruptly and took a breath. He nodded and tried to focus.

  I didn’t like the stress in his posture or the pained look on his face. “We don’t have to do this today. I could meet with you tomorrow or Friday,” I said.

  “I’m going out of town for a few days. I won’t be back until next week. We probably should just do this now.” He gave me a hollow smile. “Remind me what we were meeting about.”

  I continued to watch him. “You wanted to talk about the presentation and do a check-in.”

  He nodded. “Right, right. Okay.”

  His body was there, but his mind was not. “David?” I kept my voice soft.

  His eyes met mine, and he smiled at me. “You called me David.”

  The shift in his features made me return the smile. “I did.” I leaned forward. “Listen, it’s all under control. I’m exactly where I need to be, and I’m meeting with Nick over the next few days to start the logistics.” I paused. “We don’t have to do this.”

  He took a moment. His face read he was unsure of what to do next. “I’m sorry,” he whispered and closed his eyes.

  “Don’t be,” I answered.

  He exhaled. “If it’s okay, then yes, we can skip this meeting. Could you send me your notes just so I can be up to speed when I return?”

  “Of course.” I picked up my phone to type a reminder, then stood.

  “Damn it,” he whispered again.

  I looked at him.

  “I haven’t had time to get new phones for you and the rest of the team.” He looked at me apologetically.

  “It’s okay. These work for now.” I held it up and smiled.

  He exhaled and nodded. A silence passed between us as we gazed at each other.

  “What I said in the elevator…” He shook his head. “I’m sorry. That was inappropriate.”

  “You apologize to me a lot.” I smirked.

  He took a breath. “I just don’t want you to think—”

  “I don’t,” I interrupted. “Whatever you were going to
say, I don’t.” I walked to the open door, looking back at him. He watched me. “I hope whatever’s going on works out okay.” I gave him a slight smile and walked out.

  Eight

  Over the next several days, Nick and I tried to see eye-to-eye concerning the presentation. He was hell-bent on keeping the company in the dark ages. I had to remind him continually that this was what the CEO wanted. He finally saw my side on a few of my ideas, but we would need David in the room to accomplish the rest.

  Crew texted me with more frequency. I tried to respond, but sometimes the day got away from me. He continued to persuade me to get back together, as much as I still wasn’t sure. I needed to focus on this presentation—I’d deal with Crew later.

  My apartment in the city held too many disruptions for me to concentrate. That Sunday, I went back to the office where there would be nothing to sidetrack me. I took my computer into the conference room with a cup of coffee and started to work.

  As I began another page later that afternoon, someone behind me said, “Farren?”

  I looked over my shoulder to find the CEO standing at the door of the conference room. His leather jacket, gray T-shirt, and jeans made me stare longer than I should’ve. Just once, could he not look like he walked out of an issue of GQ? I thought.

  “Hi,” I said, surprised.

  He walked in farther. “What are you doing here?”

  I paused. “Working.”

  “It’s Sunday.” Confusion colored his tone.

  “Um, there’re fewer distractions here.”

  He smiled. “What exactly is distracting at your home?”

  I shrugged. “My home.”

  He chuckled and pulled out a chair next to me.

  “There’s TV and books and cleaning I need to do,” I defended.

  “Are you hiding from someone?”

  I hesitated. “No.”

  “You don’t sound very convincing.” He eyed me.

  I leaned back and watched him. “I thought you weren’t coming in until tomorrow?”

  He nodded past me. “I left my laptop here. I wanted to see if there was any progress from you.”

  “You mean I’ve been sending emails to no one this entire time?” I laughed.

  He let out a chuckle. “Sorry.”

  “How was your trip?” I asked and leaned on the armrest closest to him.

  His face fell, and he stared at the table. “I’m going to have to go back after the presentation on Friday.” He brought his hand up and rubbed his forehead, then looked at me. “It’s family…”

  I furrowed my brow. As much as I wanted to talk to him about what was going on, I couldn’t. We weren’t friends, and I couldn’t treat him as if we were—it wasn’t my place.

  Frustrated, I blew out a held breath. “So, I got Nick to work with me a little. But I think you’re going to need to mediate. He thinks I’m crazy. I finished the rest of the presentation. But I’m pretty sure he’s going to fight me on it.”

  He looked at me and laughed, then moved his body towards me. “Okay, show me what you’ve got.” He took off his jacket, displaying his muscular chest and arms.

  I tried not to look away from his face. “Oh, I-I didn’t mean now.”

  His presence interrupted my bubble. “We’re both here. No time like the present, right?”

  “Don’t you have to be somewhere?”

  He shook his head and watched me. “No.”

  I took a breath. “Okay,” I said as I turned to my computer. The way he looked at me caused my insides to stand at attention. It wasn’t awkward, but it made me self-conscious.

  We went through what I had written front to back. Where I had gotten stuck, he had an immediate fix. There was no idea David wouldn’t listen to, even when I babbled because of exhaustion. I welcomed his thoughts and became grateful he’d shown up. We worked well together, sharing the same vision and trying to find the best way to make this launch successful.

  “The first round of commercials needs to be bold. We can’t be afraid to piss off some people,” I said.

  He looked at me confused.

  “You know, make a statement. The world has changed, America’s changed, we need to reflect that.”

  His eyes rested on my lips, then traveled upwards. “Troublemaker,” he said in a low voice.

  My skin prickled. I returned my gaze to my computer. “If you want to be noticed, you have to take risks.”

  He moved closer. “Do you typically take risks?”

  I paused. “Depends on the situation.”

  “Personally,” his voice turned smoky.

  I leaned in closer to him. “What are you asking me?”

  “If you would be part of something…nontraditional.” His eyes blazed into mine.

  A warmth grew from my belly and into my chest. The abundant tension between us had hit a new level. I suddenly forgot how to breathe.

  His focus left me, and he closed his eyes. “Never mind. I’m sorry.” He faced forward again and pulled his computer to him.

  I continued to watch his profile, hoping he would explain further.

  “I have meetings with production companies this week. I’ll give them your ideas about what we’re looking for.” He still wouldn’t look at me.

  I nodded and let it go.

  It was around eight, and we were still working. Not nearly satisfied with where the project was, David reminded me we had the rest of the week to get it finished. I rested my head in my hands and gave a long blink, staring at the same word for the last ten minutes. David stood and stretched. I caught sight of the hem of his shirt, revealing his perfect V. I shook my head and tried to control the slight shiver that ran through me, concentrating on the screen again. The new logo stared back. I tilted my head to the side and furrowed my brow.

  David sat again and glanced at me. “Stop thinking about the color of the graphics—they’re fine.”

  “I can’t help it. Something’s off,” I answered.

  “You’re a perfectionist.”

  I glanced at him. “You say it as if it were a bad thing.”

  “It’s not bad. Just a bit…”

  “Obnoxious?” I smiled.

  “Yeah, obnoxious.” He looked at me, smirking. “Sorry.”

  “You’re doing it again.”

  He chuckled. “I can’t help it. There’s something about you that makes me say things I shouldn’t. Then I have to turn around and apologize for it.”

  “Well, look at that,” I smiled, looking at the screen, “I have some influence over you.”

  “More than you know,” he mumbled.

  My mouth fell open as I turned in his direction. He kept forward and typed on his keyboard, ignoring my stare. I quietly inhaled and turned back to my laptop.

  David’s cryptic remarks were confusing, but my girlie insides went into cartwheels whenever he’d let them slip. Or was this who he was? Making comments to get under my skin. He wasn’t desperate for dates by any means. I was his employee, not some model with zero body fat and legs up to her neck he was trying to sleep with. I shook my head out of the fantasy I had slipped into. The one where David Powers looked at me like a woman and not his marketing manager.

  Breaking the silence, I spoke, “Can I ask you a question?”

  He glanced at me. “Yeah.”

  “It’s personal.”

  He paused. “Go on.”

  “Aurora Gianelli.”

  His brow furrowed. “What about her?”

  “Are you together?”

  He glanced at me again and let a few beats pass. “Not officially, no.”

  I leaned forward on the table on my forearms. “Why not?”

  “I’m not interested in having a relationship with her,” he answered, amused.

  “Is there something wrong with her?” I smiled.

  He chuckled. “No.”

  “I mean, she’s beautiful. You obviously don’t mind being seen with her. Why not commit?”

  He sighed. “
I’m not one for relationships, and Aurora isn’t the type to be tied down either.”

  I tried to grab his eye by leaning forward. “When was your last relationship?”

  “Five years ago. I almost got married.”

  Married? The thought of Powers having a wife stung. My playful banter relapsed. “What happened?”

  “I broke it off.”

  “How come?” I pushed.

  “Obviously, I didn’t want to marry her.” He chuckled. He peeked at me, and I raised my eyebrows at him. He turned back to his computer and exhaled loudly. “I wasn’t ready to be committed.”

  “You wanted to continue to see other people?”

  He shrugged. “I suppose that was part of it.” He looked at me, reading the lack of satisfaction in his answer. “It just wasn’t a suitable match.” He turned back to his screen and typed.

  I paused, wondering if this line of questioning was going too far, but he didn’t seem bothered by my prying. “How do you feel about commitment now?”

  “I don’t think anything has changed.”

  “So, you…don’t think you’ll ever just be with one woman?” I obviously had never learned the art of subtlety.

  He didn’t answer, but his eyes narrowed at his screen.

  As absurd as it was, his decision aggravated me. “Wow. You really are a Leo,” I mumbled as I leaned back and began to type again.

  He stopped and turned his entire body to me. “What?”

  I glanced at him. “Leonardo DiCaprio. Never comes close to marriage, only dates models. Doesn’t seem to want to settle down.”

  He leaned his forearm in front of his computer. His furrowed brow and annoyed posture read he was ready to put this issue to bed, and it was clear he no longer felt comfortable discussing this subject. “Relationships aren’t really my strong suit. I don’t know if I was ever any good at them in the first place. I figure I’d cut my losses.”

  I turned towards him. “That sounds like a fear of commitment.” I couldn’t keep the disappointment out of my voice.

  His tone changed to defensive. “How do you figure?”

  We were close enough where I could see the flecks of green in his eyes. I considered not continuing, but keeping him in my vicinity made my rational mind nonexistent.