Sex, Lies and Dirty Secrets

by Jamie Sobrato

  “Is there anything I can do to help repair things between you?”

  “No, we’ve just had a differing of opinions, that’s all.”

  She said goodbye to Carson and hung up the phone. Then she sat on the couch staring at the instrument, half wishing tomorrow would hurry up and get here so she could see Griffin again, and half wishing she’d never have to see Griffin again.

  11

  “DAMN IT,” Griffin muttered to himself as he thumbed through his presentation notes.

  He didn’t feel as though he was at the top of his game today, when he most needed to be, and it was obvious why. He’d partied hard all weekend instead of conserving his energy and staying focused on the goal at hand. He had a presentation to do this morning for a major account, presenting the creative team’s concept for the company’s revamped Web site and print media campaign.

  He took a long drink of coffee—his fourth cup—but caffeine wasn’t going to erase the effects of the weekend completely.

  Or the effects of Macy.

  Damn it again. He should have known better than to think that one hot weekend with her would dampen his desire for her or eliminate his tendency to be distracted by her at the most inopportune times. Having her in his bed had only amplified her effect on him.

  “Hey, Griffin? You okay, man?” Carson was standing in front of Griffin’s desk wearing a perplexed expression.

  “Yeah, sure,” he said, snapping out of his daze.

  “You looked like you’d been hypnotized—you were just staring at your coffee mug like you’d never seen one before.”

  “I’m in a funk from this weekend. Partied a little too hard, I guess.”

  “I hear you—Lauren rocked my world. Wasn’t sure I’d be able to walk upright today, to be honest.”

  “You think you’ll see her again?”

  “I sure as hell hope so. She’s one wild party girl.”

  Griffin downed the rest of his coffee and set the cup aside. “Guess we’d better get this presentation rolling, eh?”

  “I’ve already got the multimedia set up and ready to roll. From this point on, you’re the man.”

  “Let’s hope so,” Griffin said, surprised at his own sudden lack of confidence.

  “Dude, you’re not sounding like yourself.”

  “I don’t know what it is. It’s like, I’m wondering if maybe it was a huge mistake to let things get so out of hand with Macy.”

  “I’m not arguing with that, but what’s done is done. Macy’s a cool chick. She’s not going to let things get ugly at work.”

  “But pretty soon, I’m going to be her boss. How’s that going to look?”

  “It’s going to look fine so long as you don’t let anything else happen.”

  “Right,” Griffin said without totally feeling it.

  Not having Macy again sounded about as appealing as bringing lobster to lunch every day but never being allowed to eat it. Macy was his forbidden lobster.

  He walked with Carson to the meeting room, dominated by a gleaming mahogany table with clean modern lines. On the far wall was a large plasma TV for video presentations, and on the opposite wall was a large white board for note-taking and brainstorming sessions. This was the one place where Griffin always felt most in his groove.

  He loved having all eyes on him as he laid out ideas, loved the synergy that came from creative minds working together on a project, and he’d known up until today that he was the man for the job of creative director.

  So what had changed?

  He didn’t have to consider the question. Macy was what had changed—changed his perspective, that is.

  Was she any less capable than him? Any less deserving of the job?

  Probably not. But he’d been with the firm longer, had always made a point of being visible to management, and those two things gave him an edge she didn’t have.

  Mostly, though, she’d softened his competitive edge. He didn’t want this to be a competition between them. He just wished they were after different goals entirely.

  As he set up his presentation materials on the table, the clients and the rest of the creative team began trickling into the room. He said hello to the clients and shook their hands, then glanced up and caught sight of Macy. He’d been so busy all morning, this was the first time he’d seen her since the airport yesterday. She didn’t look nearly as tired as he felt.

  In fact, she looked amazing in a lavender suit with her hair pulled back in some kind of French-twist thing. She caught him staring and offered a little smile, then tilted her head toward the presentation materials and mouthed the words, “Good luck.”

  After their conversation on the plane, he wasn’t sure if she was being sarcastic or sincere. Probably the former, which seriously pissed him off.

  The senior partners, Gordon Bronson and Louis Wade, entered the room, probably sitting in on the presentation to get a better handle on Griffin’s recent performance. He took a deep breath and exhaled. He’d figured they’d be here, but seeing them drove home the fact that this was probably his final chance to impress them before they chose a creative director.

  He had nothing to worry about. The very fact that he was the de facto team leader in the absence of a creative director meant he was pretty much guaranteed the job. All he had to do was stand here and not screw up.

  Which normally wouldn’t have been a problem. But this morning, with his brain operating on low-power mode, he had a feeling not screwing up was going to be a challenge.

  “WHAT THE HELL, man?” Griffin said as he closed the door to the conference room and turned back to Macy and Carson, both still sitting at the table now that the room had cleared out.

  “What?” Carson said.

  “I’m off my game. Did you see me up there stammering and stumbling like a dumb ass? It’s like my brain’s moving through quicksand this morning.”

  Macy shrugged as she fiddled with her pen. “I didn’t notice. I thought the presentation went pretty well. Didn’t you, Carson?”

  “Now that you mention it, you did seem a little like you didn’t know what the hell you were talking about a few times.”

  “That’s what I mean—I just blanked out and had to make stuff up to cover. You could have jumped in, you know.”

  “Sorry, dude. I didn’t want to steal your thunder,” Carson said. “I know it’s all about the promotion this week.”

  “I did jump in when you were dealing with something I could speak knowledgably about,” said Macy. “And really, I think you did just fine.”

  “After today, they’ll probably think they’d be better off giving a monkey the promotion.”

  “Or Macy,” Carson added in his oh-so-helpful-asshole voice.

  “Ha-ha,” Macy said, shooting him the look of death.

  “I’m serious,” Carson said, edging out of the range of her fist. “I think you’d be more capable than a monkey for sure. Griffin, I’m not so sure about.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Why don’t we focus on what went right here? You sold the clients on our idea for the Earth Clean campaign, and that’s all that matters, right?”

  Sure, promotion aside, they had at least accomplished that. In spite of his fumbling presentation, the campaign had pretty much sold itself.

  Carson glanced at his watch. “I’d love to stick around for a Griffin-ego-boosting session, but I’ve got a meeting in twenty minutes. I’m outta here.”

  As Carson got up and left, Griffin pulled out a chair next to Macy and sat. When the conference-room door closed behind Carson, it was their first time alone together since they’d left the hotel, and he only realized now how badly he was missing the crazy-intense relationship that had sprung up between them in a matter of days.

  “Thanks for not making me feel like such a dumb ass,” he said.

  Macy watched him with a half-lidded gaze, the sort he associated with lazy after-sex mornings. “I thought you did fine. Really.”

  “You have time this afternoon
to work on the Golden Gate presentation with me and Carson?”

  “Sure, I think my schedule’s clear. Is our deadline still Wednesday?”

  Griffin nodded. “I think we’ve got solid ideas. We just need to fine tune and lay it all out to present.”

  Macy said nothing for a few moments. A peculiar expression played on her lips, and then when she finally spoke, her voice was low. “This isn’t awkward like I thought it would be.”

  “What, you mean us?”

  “Yeah. I just thought… I don’t know. I thought I wouldn’t like you, and that I’d have to work with this guy I’d slept with but couldn’t stand.”

  “Gee, thanks. Nice to know I give off such great vibes.”

  She laughed. “You know how it’s been between us before this weekend.”

  “Competitive.”

  “Exactly.”

  “That’s just me. I don’t know how not to be a competitor.”

  “So everyone’s your opponent, including me.”

  “Well, except when you’re not.”

  “So we’re on the same team now?”

  “Something like that.” He leaned in a little closer, one elbow on the table, conscious that anyone could look in the conference-room window at any moment.

  All they’d see were two colleagues talking. They wouldn’t see how badly he wanted to lay Macy out on the table and bury his cock deep inside her, strip her out of that stiff suit and lick her tits until his tongue ached, grab hold of her soft, round hips and hold on for dear life. Nor would they see the attraction that nearly hummed in the air between them.

  Or at least he hoped they wouldn’t.

  But so what if they did? That wouldn’t be so bad.

  “You know,” Macy said, “I’m sorry about what I said on the plane yesterday. It was just me trying to gain the competitive edge, I guess.”

  “Really?”

  “I didn’t mean it.”

  Notice she never said that she hadn’t faked it.

  “Don’t give it another thought. I’ve already forgotten it. I mean, that was all the way back in Vegas.”

  “And you know what they say,” she said, smiling.

  “What happens in Vegas—”

  “Stays in Vegas.”

  “Guess it never really works out that way, huh?”

  She shrugged, then looked down at her notes from the meeting. He followed her gaze and saw that she’d scrawled a few words, but most of her page was covered with indecipherable doodles.

  “Was I that boring?”

  “Oh, the scribbling? I always do that. Bad habit. Guess it comes with being in the art department.”

  “So are we declaring an official peace treaty?” Griffin asked.

  “Us, work together in peace? I guess anything’s possible,” she said, her eyes twinkling.

  “Seriously. I want us to have a good working relationship.”

  She nodded. “Me, too. I think we can handle that.”

  “Does that mean we can have friendly office-buddy sex?” He blurted, only half joking.

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea, and I really doubt you do.”

  “Oh, trust me, I do. I mean, it’s not like anyone has been promoted yet, and until then…”

  “We’re free to be sex buddies?”

  “That’s my theory, yes.”

  She smiled then, a smile he wasn’t sure he could trust. “I’m tempted to say yes, but you already seem like you were adversely affected by this weekend. I don’t want to make you any worse off than you already are.”

  “Hmm, good point. And rather selfless of you, being worried about my job performance this of all weeks.”

  She shrugged. “I wouldn’t call it selfless.”

  “But I thought you said I did fine in the presentation. Are you implying otherwise now?”

  “Oh, um…no. You just seem a little less sharp than usual. Or something.”

  Or something. She’d screwed him within an inch of his life—that was the problem. And if he didn’t know better, he’d have suspected she did it just to make him look bad this week.

  MACY DUCKED INTO the restroom and peered under all the bathroom stalls. No one here. Thank God. She was not in the mood to engage in restroom chitchat.

  She paced back and forth across the tile floor, her conscience battling with her ambition. It had been painful to watch Griffin fumbling around during the Earth Clean presentation, clearly operating at reduced capacity. She felt like a horrible, horrible person for having put him in that condition on purpose.

  But then again, it had been a tiny bit enjoyable, too, to see Mr. Always Perfect screwing up in front of everyone. Minor screw-ups, but still. It was something.

  And the fact that she was even pleased with his minor failure made her an even more horrible person.

  She stomped into a stall and closed it, then put down the toilet-seat lid and sat on it, while her brain whirred with warring thoughts.

  On the one hand, she wanted that creative director promotion so badly she could taste it. She wanted the challenge, the responsibility, the chance to show everyone the extent of her creative talent.

  On the other hand, she might never be able to live with herself if she got the promotion unjustly.

  That whole sexing-Griffin-out-of-his-brain-power thing had only sounded good to her because—she had to face it—it was an excuse to have sex with him. And maybe she’d wanted that almost as badly as she wanted the promotion.

  Which was really pitiful. Total nerd-girl decision making at work there.

  Part of her wanted to even the playing field now by sleeping with him again, this time letting herself lose her own share of IQ points. That way, they’d be on equal footing at work.

  But she knew in her heart that was just further justification for sleeping with her adolescent-fantasy guy.

  And so the fair thing to do, the right thing to do, would be to make up for what she’d done by helping Griffin look good at work.

  Maybe she owed him even more than that, though. Maybe she had to step out of the running for the creative director job if she really want to make up for her crappy behavior. But that thought made her stomach lurch and sweat break out on her upper lip. She nearly lost her balance on the toilet and had to brace her hands against the walls of the stall.

  She couldn’t go that far right now. But she had to consider it seriously. And soon.

  “Damn it,” she muttered.

  Sometimes doing the right thing really, really sucked the big one.

  12

  EVEN THOUGH they’d called that truce, Griffin had still been surprised at how cooperatively Macy had worked with him ever since. It had almost been as if she were trying to make him look good in front of everyone else.

  It was bizarre, given their history.

  They’d sailed through two days without the slightest bit of tension, and by Wednesday, his foggy-headed stupor had gone and he’d been feeling sharper than ever for the Golden Gate presentation, which, with Macy’s and Carson’s help, they’d aced.

  If he hadn’t been mistaken, he was pretty damn sure they’d blown away the senior partners, too.

  All in all, a good week’s work. But now it was Friday afternoon, and still no announcement had been made regarding the promotion.

  Griffin answered some e-mail, filed some papers, then glanced at his watch. It was almost five o’clock. His gut twisted at the notion that another day—or another weekend—would pass without knowing he’d gotten the promotion. At that thought, he looked across the room to where Macy stood talking to the receptionist.

  How would his getting the job affect their relationship? He’d always imagined Macy as a fierce competitor in the workplace, but now that he knew her in her off hours, she didn’t seem so fierce. In fact, she was hardly the woman he’d built her up to be in his head. Gone was the image of a coy vixen using her charms against him, replaced by a soft, funny, vulnerable, intelligent woman whom he was falling for harder by the day
.

  No denying it. He didn’t want to play it casual with Macy. She wasn’t his idea of a weekend fling. She was the kind of woman he wanted to spend more time getting to know. Not that she was interested, but still. A guy could dream.

  As if she could feel him watching her, she glanced in his direction and smiled when their gazes met. She was wearing a sexy pink suit today, with something silky and white peeking out from between the jacket lapels. Probably one of those lace camisoles she so often wore, the ones that made him want to strip her naked and lick her all over.

  He smiled back, and it occurred to him only then that she was probably just as anxious as he was to hear the decision about the job. In fact, she’d been pacing the office all day, making trips to other people’s desks, to the copy machine, to the break room, as if she couldn’t sit still—

  His phone rang. He picked it up and said hello.

  “Hey, Grif, can you come down to my office right now?” It was Gordon Bronson’s voice, and he didn’t sound like he had bad news.

  Exhilaration shot through Griffin’s body. This was it. The news they’d all been waiting for.

  “I’ll be there in a sec,” he said.

  He hung up the phone and caught Macy’s eye again as he stood. He wanted this good news to be something they could celebrate together, but it would only be good news for one of them. Not exactly the recipe for relationship bliss.

  Macy looked back to the receptionist, who was talking about something exciting judging by the wild flailing of her hands, and Griffin headed for the senior admin offices. Through the window of Gordon’s office, he could see the partners talking, and he fought to keep his smile from showing too soon.

  The admin assistant waved him straight into Gordon’s office.

  “Please have a seat,” Louis Wade said.

  No sooner had Griffin taken a seat on the plush visitors’ sofa than both men said, “Congratulations.”