In My Office, Now.

by June, Victoria

  Both eyebrows shot up instantly. "Must you challenge me on everything, Emma?"

  I sighed. How was it that we could argue about anything and everything? Ethan's silver eyes glowered obstinately down at me. I sighed again.

  "Fine. I'll have waffles, please."

  "Thank you," Ethan drawled, holding out his hand for my empty mug. "You can have the shower first; there are clean towels on the counter, help yourself."

  Help yourself: two words I never thought I'd hear Ethan Anderson ever say. I smiled brightly; he was definitely softening up. "You need a shower too," I teased, wrinkling my nose at his post-workout aroma. "Want me to wash your back?"

  Ethan grinned broadly, sweeping his arm in a dramatic gesture towards the bathroom. "By all means." He slapped my ass playfully as I moved past him and I laughed loudly.

  It was shaping up to be an interesting weekend; we still had forty-eight hours before we had to be back at the office and I couldn't help but wonder with trembling anticipation what Ethan had planned for that time. Shooting a look over my shoulder I saw Ethan following my progress across the room with hungry eyes. I undid the belt of his robe and let the heavy terrycloth fall to the floor, flashing a teasing smile as I did.

  Ethan's blue-grey eyes widened at the sight of my naked body and he did nothing to hide either the grin on his face or the growing bulge in his shorts. Turning back, I made my way to the bathroom, wanting that hot shower very much. There was no doubt in my mind that Ethan was only a few steps behind.

  Chapter Five

  When Monday morning came I woke just after Ethan, slipping home to shower and get ready for work. By the time I arrived at the office Ethan's door was closed and I assumed he was already hard at work. We hadn't discussed what we were going to say and do at the office; I was too chicken to bring it up, and I assumed Ethan hadn't considered the consequences of our weekend debauchery on our working relationship.

  As I passed my own desk in the bullpen the phone rang. "Good Morning, Emma Kovacs speaking," I chirruped as brightly as I could considering my lack of sleep and the early hour.

  "Emma, thank God. Where the hell have you been all weekend? I must have left you like a million messages." My best friend Jill Andersen sounded positively panicked on the other end of the line. "You didn't show up for drinks on Saturday."

  "Ah shit, Jill. I forgot." I confessed bashfully.

  "You forgot? You never forget anything and you always check your messages," Jill's voice was edged with apprehension. "What's going on?"

  "Well, I...," I hesitated.

  "Oh my God, you met a guy." Jill laughed loudly.

  I couldn't help but giggle. "How'd you know?"

  "Come on, Emma; we've been friends for fifteen years, and it's only when you meet a new guy that you don't return my calls. We missed you Saturday night; I hope the sex was worth it."

  "It definitely was," I laughed, blushing at the memory of Ethan and all the wonderful things he'd done to me all weekend long.

  "All right," Jill cajoled. "Are you going to cough up the dirty details or what?"

  "Not too many details," I demurred.

  "Come on," she prodded with a laugh. "The sex was...?"

  "Amazing," I answered truthfully.

  "On a scale of one-to-ten?"

  "Fourteen."

  Jill laughed so loudly I had to hold the telephone receiver away from my ear for a moment. "Who is this wonder man?"

  "We work together," I said as quietly as I could without being overheard.

  "Really? I thought you said none of the other junior architects are even worth mentioning? Are you holding out on me?" Jill's teasing note held a small amount of hurt.

  "I'm not and they're not," I giggled. "But he's not a junior."

  "Are you going to make me drag it out of you?" Jill asked. "You stood us up this weekend, the least you can do is tell me with whom."

  "Ethan's an architect."

  There was a pause on the other line. "Ethan? Ethan? Oh my God, like, the Ethan? The mean one that everybody hates?" Jill's disbelief was tangible from across the city.

  My loud peal of laughter drew curious stares from the rapidly filling workstations around me. "Yes Jill, the mean one that everybody hates; but I can't talk about it here. Meet me for lunch and we'll talk."

  "You're such a tease," Jill muttered mutinously. "Fine. Same place, same time?"

  "As always," I laughed as she hung up.

  I settled back into my chair for a moment and watched the office come alive; there was still no sign of Ethan from behind his closed office door, but there were more than enough voicemails and emails to keep me busy until my lunch date with Jill.

  ********

  Jill was already stationed at our usual table on the patio at Bellini's when I pulled up. Clad in a white suit and bright pink blouse, she looked every inch the successful lawyer she was, from her pedicured toes to her perfectly highlighted blond head.

  "I ordered for you already," she beamed as I sat down. "You always get the same thing anyway."

  I laughed; it was hardly my fault Bellini's had the best spinach salad known to man.

  "All right, spit it out," Jill demanded. "All of it."

  "I'm not really sure what to tell you," I admitted bashfully. "I'm a little overwhelmed myself."

  "I thought you hated this Ethan guy." There was a confused look on Jill's pretty face.

  "I do. I did." I shrugged. "I don't know; it's weird. One minute we're yelling at each other and the next second we're..."

  "When? Where?" Jill leaned over the table, blatant curiosity evident on every line of her face. Laughing, I filled her in on the intimate details.

  "You're crazy," Jill giggled once I'd told her as much as I comfortable sharing. "It's not like you to do something like this."

  I toyed with the straw in my iced tea. "I know, but with Ethan I just can't help myself."

  "Do you think there's any future with this guy?" Jill asked earnestly. "I mean, where is this going?"

  I buried my head in my hands, ignoring the waitress as she slipped my spinach salad in front of me. "I don't know. He's such an ass sometimes I could kick him, or throw something." I smiled weakly. "But in the bedroom things are..."

  "Earth shattering?" Jill supplied as I hesitated.

  "To say the least," I conceded with a sign. "What the hell am I going to do?"

  "Well, as I see it you have two options," Jill smiled brightly as she waved her fork about dramatically. "You can acknowledge there's no hope of a future with this guy and break it off now and try to salvage some kind of working relationship; or you can throw caution to the wind and expect nothing from him but great sex."

  I sighed heavily, picking at my salad and tasting nothing; uncertainty was not my style and every aspect of my relationship with Ethan was rife with it.

  "I haven't been much help, huh?" Jill asked as I stared unseeingly into my salad.

  "What would you do?"

  Jill considered for a time before she answered. "Personally? If the sex is that good I'd stick it out. It's not every man on the planet who can give you the kind of weekend you just had. I'm jealous." Jill's laughter was contagious and we both giggled like freshmen. "I say enjoy it while you can."

  I lifted my water glass in a toast, unable to keep the wicked grin off my face. "All right then, to great sex!"

  Jill clinked her glass enthusiastically against my own. "Long may it last!"

  ********

  The first thing I saw when I waltzed back into the office from lunch was Ethan with his arms crossed over his broad chest and a threatening scowl on this handsome face. He was leaning against the receptionist desk and all three of the administrative assistants were cowering behind it, looking frightened.

  "Where the fuck have you been?" Ethan asked coldly.

  "I spent the morning catching up on my messages and then I had a lunch date with a friend," I said as blithely as possible i
n the face of Ethan's ire.

  The answered look on his face stunned me with its coldness and I fought to keep my temper down.

  "My office, now," Ethan snapped before striding away through the bullpen; he didn't even look over his shoulder to see if I followed.

  I chanced a look at the admin assistants, all of whom were smiling weakly but still looking scared. I hoped Ethan hadn't been nasty to them, but I doubted it.

  There was no hope of my matching Ethan's long, aggressive stride across the room, so he was able to stand at the top of the stairs and watch my approach. Around me every pair of eyes watched with trepidation as I passed; vaguely I wondered if that was how it felt to walk to the gallows. I lifted my chin another notch and tried to remember to breathe.

  Ethan held his office door open with a sinisterly expressionless face, and I didn't look him in the eyes as I entered; I half expected him to slam the door but instead he shut it softly. The quiet was more ominous than I could have thought.

  "If this is about the crooked line in my drawing Ethan, I had every intention of fixing it this afternoon; I had some messages to attend to first. I've really been neglecting the rest of my work for this project," I admitted, hoping I sounded braver than I felt.

  Ethan sat at his desk, leaving me standing across from him. "It's not about the drawing, Emma," he said stonily.

  Once again he'd left me wondering what was coming next; I didn't like the feeling of uncertainty, but nothing in Ethan's expression gave his thoughts away.

  "Is this about the weekend Ethan? Because I don't feel I have anything to apologize for," I stammered.

  Ethan ran long fingers through his greying hair. "Jesus Emma, this isn't about the fucking weekend either; it's not always about you."

  I stood speechless, watching Ethan's façade crack slightly and a small modicum of apprehension seep through; getting him to open up was akin to pulling teeth. "What's going on Ethan?"

  "I spent the morning on the phone with City Hall. They're not giving us a building permit for the Kendall project." Frustration rang off every word.

  "Building permit? Ethan, we don't even have the plans done," I said with a sigh.

  "I submitted with my preliminaries; I hate waiting for the bureaucratic bastards to make up their minds. They know a final set is coming, but still they said no."

  I sat with a thump in one of Ethan's executive chairs. "I don't get it, why would they say no? It's a heritage building, for Christ sake!"

  "That's what I thought, but it's more complicated than either of us supposed. Mrs. Kendal owns the building, but the city owns the land. Not entirely sure how that works, or why she failed to mention that little fact to either of us, I guess the previous owner deeded the house to her and the property to the city trust. At any rate, we're not getting our permit for construction; no permit, no renovations."

  I shook my head in disbelief. "This doesn't make any sense Ethan. Why wouldn't the city want Mrs. Kendall to improve the building? It's a freakin' eyesore and she wants to turn it into a museum! She's doing this to benefit everyone, not herself! I wouldn't be surprised if she turns around and donates the building to the city in the end anyway."

  Ethan looked haggard and it aged him. "I don't think they care about the building, Emma; the property is worth more than the building ever would be."

  "But they can't just say no without a motive Ethan. There has to be a legitimate reason why they are denying us a building permit; they can't just say no!" I leaned across the desk in earnest; Ethan had to have the answers, he always did.

  "They're claiming the building is derelict and unsafe; they want to have it condemned." Ethan sighed heavily and reached for his cup of tea.

  "The house needs a lot of work, but it isn't unsafe!" I cried. "The foundations are astoundingly well preserved; sure, the roof needs some love, but structurally it's fairly decent. I had Wesley Burch out there last week, he's the best damn structural engineer in the city, and he says that with a little work it'll be fine!" I knew I wasn't saying anything Ethan didn't already know, but he listened impassively.

  "City Hall could care less about what Burch says, especially if he's our man," Ethan grumbled roughly; the stony, cold expression dropped like a veil again over his face. "They have their own engineer and he says no."

  "This is fucking ridiculous," I jumped up and began to pace, all the while feeling Ethan's steel grey eyes follow me. "They can't do this to us! This is a heritage building, it deserves to be restored. This is the city's architectural past we're preserving here. We're doing them a favor and it's not costing them a penny!"

  Ethan's voice dropped an octave when he spoke. "I have a friend at City Hall; he can't do anything to help us with the permit, but he did tell me the city has a land developer all lined up for the property. Emma, they don't care about the significance of the architecture, all they care about is the money," Ethan said in a defeated tone.

  I stopped my pacing to watch him warily; I'd never heard him sound like that before, like he'd lost. "What are we going to do about it?"

  Ethan shrugged. "What can we do about it? It's Mrs. Kendall's house so she can do what she pleases. But we can't renovate without a permit, and if we can't renovate I don't know what she'll decide; probably to sell."

  "And then they'll tear it down! We can't let them do that, Ethan! The city wants Mrs, Kendall to give up and hand the house over; it's a game they're playing with us."

  Ethan's eyes looked so tired. "Of course it's a game, Emma; life is a fucking game."

  I stopped mid-thought and just stared across the desk at him. "Is this really about the project?"

  He fairly growled. "Of course it is."

  "Then why did you need me? You're the project manager, you're supposed to handle it; why were you angry when you couldn't find me this morning? I'm just the junior, what does it matter what I think about all of this? What did Maddock say when you told him?"

  "I haven't told Maddock yet, and I haven't spoken to Mrs. Kendall yet either. I wanted you to know first," Ethan hesitated and for a moment I caught a glimpse of the man who I'd spent the weekend in bed with. "I thought maybe you could help me."

  My legs gave out from underneath me as I sat down again. "P-pardon?"

  "Help me, Emma?" Ethan asked quietly. "I want your help."

  Uncharacteristically I was at a loss for words.

  "You have a better rapport with Mrs. Kendall than I ever could," Ethan said, trying a faint smile on me. "We need to convince her not to sell, no matter how much pressure the land developer might put on her; it's not like she needs the money."

  "But without a permit we can't proceed," I reiterated. "We'd just be running in circles. City Hall has the power to put this project on hold for so long the building will fall down on its own."

  Ethan nodded, his dislike for the ignorant bureaucracy evident on every line of his handsome face. "They can't tear it down," he rumbled menacingly. "It's a fucking crime if they do."

  "Then we need to find a way to prevent it," I said determinedly; I could feel my mind clear a little and suddenly I was excited. I always relish a challenge. "If we have the building officially designated as historically significant they can't tear it down."

  "We'd have to go over City Hall's head, right to the Provincial Architectural Conservancy," Ethan reminded me. "Without the city's support it'll be difficult; it would be much easier to apply for designation after the renovations, but since our hands are tied..."

  "Know anyone up there you could call?" I asked hopefully.

  "A few, I suppose," Ethan said thoughtfully. "We'll have to have one hell of a pile of research for them. They don't just spend the money and effort to designate any old building."

  "Then we'll have to convince them!" I cried. "This is a significant building to both the architectural history of this city and this country. Whoever built this place had a unique vision and a great deal of skill; he ingeniously combined multiple archite
ctural genres; hell, for all we know he invented a few! If this building is torn down we'll never have the answers!"

  "And that," said Ethan with a wry smile, "is why I wanted you working for this firm."

  "You?" My shock was palpable. "But Maddock head-hunted me from my last job."

  Ethan chuckled, "Yeah, but who do you think put him up to it?"

  I sat back in my chair in disbelief, my brain wildly trying to process what Ethan was saying. "Are you kidding? You don't even like me; you said I was a threat to your job."