by Tyler Grey
“It’s no crime to care for someone,” Jim said defensively. “I happen to care about Alisha. There’s nothing in your policy about caring for your co-workers.”
“You’re right about that. I do, however, know that pursuing a romantic relationship on company time is not allowed. Remember that policy? You signed it when you were hired here.”
“I remember it. Do you remember writing that policy?”
The question slapped me hard in the face. I gritted my teeth to keep control of my already short temper. I was tempted to punch the smug smile right off of Jim’s face. It was also tempting to let him know that after eating lunch with him, we spent quality time in my private suite because she wanted me. Not anyone else.
“I do in fact,” I said crisply. “Excuse me, Mr. Chambers. I have more work to do. Please exit the building if you still want a job come tomorrow morning. I really don’t have the time to find another employee to fill your position, and I don’t want the headache of looking either.”
I pushed past Jim into the breakroom. The door shut behind me with a soft click. He had taken the warning for what it meant exactly. I didn’t need Jim poking his nose into Alisha’s business anymore or questioning my authority. I paced the break room moodily while I waited for the coffee to brew.
The sex had been fantastic. The best I’ve ever had in my entire life from what I could remember. It had been everything I hoped it would feel like, and afterward, Alisha had just gone back to work like I wanted her to. No questions asked. Work hard. Play hard. Work even harder.
Why didn’t it feel right though? There was a sinking sensation inside of my chest the more I tried to process why I no longer felt satisfied with what had happened a few hours ago.
There was already chatter about me bringing Alisha into my office, and none of it was flattering. There were also other suspicions going around as well. No one had said anything to Alisha yet from what I gathered, but it was only a matter of time before she caught wind of the rumors. It would only solidify her reasons to keep clear of any sort of relationship with me. She had enough to worry about at home with her son having problems at school, too. I sensed that her ex-husband wasn’t involved in their son’s life, which seemed to be a very sore subject as well. Whatever had happened beyond the small details I knew, it had left a scarring impression on Alisha. She didn’t trust men at all, and I could sense it from the way she shielded herself from me at all times.
I didn’t even feel confident in maintaining a serious relationship. Managing this company on my own required my undivided attention. Alisha needed a man that could be there at all times. Unlike me. There were meetings to attend to. There were phone calls to take at all hours of the day and night sometimes. There were business trips that took me away from Boston for weeks at a time. I was hooked on the way that Alisha’s thighs had felt when they were wrapped around my hips so tightly. It had felt so right to press myself into that heat between her legs, but also the way her hands had grasped me tightly in the process, too.
I rubbed the back of my neck to ease the tension there. The only problem I sensed was that now that I had a taste of what Alisha was like between the sheets, I had no intention of letting her go that easily. I wanted her even more, and it was going to take even more effort to win her trust if I wanted this to keep going.
Chapter 18
Alisha
The next three days passed by me in a surreal blur. We were finally close to the completing this damn disclosure. So close that my eyes burned in relief when I looked up from the last stack of the papers that Seth wanted me to go over one last time. I found Seth seated on the small couch with a stack of papers in front of him as well.
He leaned back against the couch cushions with one strong arm draped across the back of it. He had tossed off his suit jacket hours ago to reveal his cream-colored shirt. He sat there casually with one muscled leg crossed over his knee while he held up a paper to scan it with a frown. The fabric of his dark trousers hugged his bulging thigh muscles. I found my eyes following the trail of his inner thigh to the place I still dreamed about at night.
No matter how hard I tried to convince myself that it hadn’t been that amazing, I couldn’t deny that the sex between us had been fucking incredible. I couldn’t get it out of the back of my head.
A shudder went through me at the memory of it before I forced those inappropriate thoughts away. I couldn’t afford to relive it any more than I had already over the past couple of days.
Things had shifted between the two of us since then. I could feel it in the way that Seth glanced at me at times through hooded, darkened, and sometimes puzzled eyes. He couldn’t place what changed either aside from the fact that something entirely different now simmered between us. It was a change of pace compared to the cold shoulder of earlier of the week before I had caved into my desires.
It can’t happen again. Never again. I repeated that to myself resolutely as I tidied up the stack of papers in front of me. I couldn’t afford to let myself cave into my desires again. All week long I had tiptoed across a tightrope when it came to dealing with Seth, but being alone with him proved to be surprisingly easy. He didn’t approach me again. The conversations between us only related to work.
He had gotten exactly what he’d wanted though. The entire arrangement had been about having a casual encounter before going back to work. My stomach knotted in guilt all over again. For years, I had done everything I thought I could to avoid these types of situations where emotion might cloud my judgment. I had prided myself on never being one of those women who slept with their bosses to get perks and raises. I never once asked Seth to give me anything throughout the years that I worked for him.
I had given him what he wanted though. The worst part about it was that I couldn’t decipher if he felt satisfied with himself, or if he regretted it like I did. Work was the center of Seth’s universe. It was neatly organized there as well, especially compared to the chaos that mine was currently in.
My phone buzzed from inside the pocket of my sweater. I slid it out to find that it was my grandmother calling from the house. Concern shot straight through me, so I rose quickly from my desk with my phone clutched in my hand.
“I have to take this call,” I said when Seth looked up from the document he was reading. “It’s my grandmother. She never calls unless it’s an emergency of some sort.”
“Of course,” Seth said, frowning. “Take it. Don’t even take time to ask.”
“Thank you.”
I grabbed my purse and coat before hurrying out of Seth’s office. I reached the elevators a few seconds later before I accepted the call. “Nana? Everything okay? Are you hurt?”
“I’m fine,” she said. The anger in her voice caught me by surprise. “It’s your ex-husband that is about to be hurt.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, hitting the elevator button. “What are you talking about, Nana?”
“Todd just swung by with a few presents for Christian. He said that he has been talking to him about this bully situation at school, so he decided to come hand-deliver these gifts to Christian as a way to cheer him up.”
“You’re shitting me!”
The elevator doors slid open. I stepped inside to quickly hit the close button before anyone else could overhear the conversation. My hands trembled with suppressed anger. I leaned back against the elevator wall with a sigh.
“Unbelievable,” I said flatly. “I just texted him a few days ago about this. He had the balls to not only disregard my feelings, but also to show up to be father of the year.”
“That’s what I told him when I answered the door. He left the presents here for Christian, but I’m tempted to chuck them out into the rain.”
The elevator stopped on the bottom floor. I stepped out to walk past the receptionist desk into the marble lobby. The cold air did little to calm the anger inside of me as I walked along the sidewalk in the direction of a small corner coffee and deli shop to pick up Seth and I f
ew sandwiches for lunch.
“Don’t chuck them out into the rain,” I said, pinching the bridge of my nose in frustration. “He’s doing this on purpose to piss me off, but we can’t let Christian be the one to suffer the fight.”
“Why would he even show up here in the middle of the morning? He knows that Christian would be at school.”
“I don’t know, Nana. I can’t tell what you Todd is thinking.”
“Maybe he was hoping you would be here instead of me,” she suggested. “He did appear a bit surprised when I answered the front door.”
“That’s a possibility. Do those packages feel a bit heavy?”
“A few appear a bit big.” She exhaled into the phone. “One is heavy. They look expensive, too, judging from the big bows and fancy paper.”
“I’ll come home to help you get them inside,” I said. “I don’t want you to lift them if they are heavy, so just keep an eye on them. I’ll be home in a few hours.”
“Bitch Todd out for me,” she said. “I didn’t get a chance to do it fully because he took me by surprise.”
“I will, Nana. I love you.”
I hung up after she returned the sentiment. Fucking bastard. I had no idea what sort of game Todd wanted to play, but it was a cruel one. He knew that Christian was starved for his attention. It wouldn’t take much to pull Christian away from me if that’s what Todd convinced him was best.
Heart pounding, I lingered outside with my phone clutched tightly in my hand while I debated on whether to call Todd. It would spark a war of much-needed words.
“Fuck it,” I growled under my breath. “You want to start a war, let’s start a war.”
Blood pounded in my eardrums. I half expected the call to go straight to voicemail as it usually did on the rare occasions I ever called. To my surprise, and complete fucking horror, it was a female’s voice on the phone.
“Stephanie Marlow speaking.”
A ball of emotions clogged my throat.
“Hello?” Stephanie said. “Is anyone there?”
“Yes,” I managed to choke out. “This is Alisha Townsend. I realize you might not really know who I am, but—”
“I know who you are,” she interrupted with a definite chill in her voice. “You’re my husband’s ex-wife. Why are you calling his phone?”
“I need to speak with him in regards to our son,” I said. “There are a few things that Todd and I need to get cleared up.”
“Todd isn’t available right now. I’ll leave word that you called though.”
Yeah, I’m sure he’ll call me right back. I rolled my eyes. There were only a handful of times over the past twelve years that I had gotten a full sense of what type of wife Stephanie was. It never ended well.
“That would be appreciated,” I said. “Thank you.”
She hung up without uttering another word. I stuffed my phone into the pocket of my coat. A stab of smugness went through me. There was no doubt where Stephanie planned on heading within the next few minutes—right to Todd to give him a piece of her mind. They probably made a nice little trip of this birthday drop-off. The lengths Todd went to in order to undermine me were just astounding.
Seth’s office was empty when I arrived back with lunch in hand. He was gone for the next few hours as well, so I placed his sandwich in the little fridge he had in his office. It was four-thirty-five when he finally stepped into the office with an apologetic look.
“I’m sorry that took so long,” he said. “I had a meeting that I couldn’t back out of. It took a bit longer than I thought it would.”
“It’s fine,” I said and powered down my computer. “I hope you don’t mind, but I have a few things that I need to take care of before I pick my son up.”
“Are we close to finishing the disclosure?” Seth asked.
“Close. Maybe by next week.”
“Ahead of deadline,” he said, with a flash of a pleased smile. “That’s fine. Have a good weekend, Alisha.”
My name rolled of Seth’s lips sensually. A shudder went straight through me all over again. I turned quickly to hide my reaction as I gathered my things. I didn’t want to spoil the now peaceful air between us by bringing up what had happened a few days ago. I was walking a tight-rope between keeping my job and crossing back over into temptation again.
“You too,” I said quickly. “See you on Monday.”
I hurried in the direction of the elevators to find the doors sliding shut. A hand stuck out just in time to open them for me. I stopped with an inward groan when I saw that it was Jim holding the elevator doors open with a smile. I briefly considered faking that I forgot something at my desk, but I was already running late. I needed to get back to my house as quickly as possible before picking Christian up from his academic study group that met on Friday afternoons.
“Thanks,” I said, stepping inside the elevator. “I thought I was going to be using the stairs for a minute.”
“Long flight of stairs,” Jim replied, chuckling. “Any fun plans this weekend?”
“My son turns thirteen tomorrow,” I said. “So, that’s my fun plan for this weekend.”
“All weekend?”
“All weekend.”
A few seconds of silence stretched on between us. I pulled out my phone to pretend to scroll through messages in the hopes it would deter Jim from asking me out. He had already tried once since I’d stepped into the elevator.
“I don’t feel right keeping this from you,” Jim said abruptly. He turned to look at me with a guilty expression. “There are things going around about you that I think you need to know before you hear it from someone else.”
I stiffened in surprise at hearing those words. “What things are going around?”
“Well, there are a few women calling you the boss’s pet,” he said. “There are actually a lot of things going around. I just wanted to let you know that people are talking about what is going on behind those closed doors.”
“Nothing is going on,” I said while tears burned my eyes. I hated lying. It went against the grain of who I was as a person, but I didn’t want Jim to see a glimmer of the truth. I didn’t want him to see that this was the reason why I had wanted my distance from Seth in the first place.
The elevator doors slid open, and I hurried out of them, hoping to leave the conversation behind. That hope was crushed when Jim caught up to grab my elbow gently.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to upset you. I just thought you should know about it.”
“Thanks,” I murmured, pulling my elbow out of his fingers. “I have to go. I—”
“And I sort of believe it, too,” Jim said. “I believe that the reason you turn me down all the time is because of Seth.”
“That isn’t true, Jim. He’s my boss. I don’t feel anything for him beyond a professional relationship. Why do you keep pressing this question?”
“Because you have a thing for him,” Jim stated. “I can see it. Everyone in the office can see it too. It’s true, huh?”
I bit the tip of my tongue from spilling out the truth. I stopped short of a reply though when I spotted Seth lingering behind a marble pillar near a private elevator that he used.
Chapter 19
Seth
“That isn’t true, Jim. He’s my boss. I don’t feel anything for him beyond a professional relationship. Why do you keep pressing this question?”
“Because you have a thing for him,” Jim stated. “I can see it. Everyone in the office can see it too. It’s true, huh?”
Alisha opened her mouth to reply but stopped short when she caught sight of the reflection of me in the glass window. She turned around quickly to gaze at me with wide and surprised eyes.
I stepped out from the pillar I had been shadowed behind. I had been on the phone making a private call when Alisha and Jim’s voices had tumbled out of the elevator in front of me. A part of me had been curious to hear Alisha’s response, and I wasn’t left disappointed with her guarded remarks. T
hey weren’t entirely truthful. I could see that she struggled to keep her composure and emotions from surfacing.
Jim also turned to look in my direction. His face visibly paled with dread when I stepped out from behind the pillar, tucking my phone into the pocket of my shirt.
“Clearly you don’t remember our conversation from yesterday, do you, Mr. Chambers?” I asked coolly while I approached the two of them.
I glanced over at Alisha, who immediately averted her gaze to the marble floor. She shifted anxiously on the balls of her feet while I waited for a response from Jim.
“I remember it,” he said, nerves evident in his voice. “I didn’t mean to intrude in Ms. Townsend’s business—”
“Yes, you did,” I cut in harshly. “I heard you pestering her again. I won’t tolerate harassment in my office. Do you understand?”
Jim’s face tightened in displeasure at that word. “Harassment? That’s what I’m going to be pinned with here?”
“I wouldn’t argue my word choice,” I said, fixing him with a cold and calculated stare. “Your review is coming up soon, and I’d like to remind you that your performance last time wasn’t stellar.”
“Right,” he muttered and took a step back from Alisha. “I’ll see you around then, Alisha. Have a good weekend.”
I watched while Jim scampered away through the swinging doors. Anger seared inside of me again thinking of our conversation earlier this week.
“You don’t have to threaten his job,” Alisha spoke up. Disapproval flickered in her eyes. “It really doesn’t help my case when you act like this. He’ll be telling everyone in the office about this.”
“They can talk all they want,” I said, shrugging indifferently. “This is my business. I don’t have to have certain people in my business if I don’t feel like they fit the company. It’s that simple, Alisha.”
“You can’t fire every single person who tells you something you don’t want to hear. That’s unethical.”
