by Vivien Vale
When I step in through the door, someone calls to me.
“Wes,” I hear, and when I turn, Leon is standing at the display case where they’re filling it up with freshly baked rolls.
“Hello,” I say. He’s the last person I want to see today – I’m in a good mood, and I don’t want it spoiled – but I can’t avoid Leon since he is an employee so I have to try to be pleasant.
“What are you doing here?”
I shrug. “Probably the same thing you are,” I say. I look at the rolls as they lay them out. The delicious aroma hangs in the room, and I can almost taste them it smells so good.
“I heard about this place from a friend,” Leon says. “I thought it would be nice to get Martha something.”
I nod. “I come here all the time. They have a great selection.”
We stand side by side, and the conversation is strained. Yes, I’ve known him the longest of all my employees, and I see him every day. But we’re not friends, and I know very little about his life other than what he shares in the office. I don’t have all that much to say to the man.
“My son said he comes here often, too.”
I nod. I remember he has a son.
“Of course, he’s not going to come here, today. He’s been out partying all night. He only came in at the crack of dawn.”
I chuckle, not knowing what to say.
“I think it’s good not to have your kids on too tight a leash,” Leon says. “Brad can talk to me about everything.”
I nod again. I don’t know what to say. I don’t really care about his son, but I must listen politely until he decides what he wants.
“Can I help you?” the woman behind the display case asks
“Four croissants, two eclairs and two coffees, please,” I say.
Leon looks at me. “Do you have company?” he asks.
I smile politely at him. “It’s Sunday. Don’t we all spend time with friends and family?” Who I’m entertaining is none of his business, even if it is someone I don’t care Leon knowing about.
Leon nods. “You should hear some of the things that Brad tells me about. He’s always meeting women in the bars he goes to. They’re always so eager to tell him their life stories. It’s so easy to talk to someone when they’re probably never going to see each other again.”
The woman behind the counter is taking too long to put together my order. I want to leave.
“Really?” I say. “It sounds like Brad really gets around.”
Leon shrugs. “He’s a man. Don’t we all go through a phase at one point? I remember what it was like before Martha. And I’m sure you’re on top of it all, too.”
I don’t like when he talks to me like this, but we’re not in the office. I may be his boss from nine to five on weekdays but I’m not sure how it works outside the office, and the man is just making small talk. I don’t have a good enough reason to tell him he’s overstepping the line because I’m not sure where it is, now.
So, I shrug, too, trying to look nonchalant. “I do know what it’s like,” I finally say. “But I don’t have the liberty to discuss any of it with my father.”
Leon laughs. He knows my dad. Wesley Wagner Sr. is good friends with Charles Hendricks, the owner of RidgeCo. It’s how I got to be CEO. And I know for a fact that I will never tell my father about any of the women I see.
“Well, we all have different relationships with our fathers,” Leon says. “I prefer he tells me what he’s doing so that I can give him advice when he takes a wrong turn or sees the wrong woman. You of all people can understand how badly it can blow up in your face if you’re fucking the wrong woman.”
Leon grins. I narrow my eyes at him. It sounds to me like he’s looking for trouble but I don’t know what to do about it. He’s having this conversation with me for a reason – Leon has an agenda – but I can’t call him out on it without looking guilty. So, I politely nod and smile.
The woman behind the counter hands me my order. I walk toward the cash register and produce my card. Leon follows me.
Leon carries on, “He slept with a woman last night that apparently wouldn’t stop bragging about how much game her friend has.”
“She didn’t brag about herself?” I ask, not really paying attention. I don’t care about this woman his son apparently slept with. The card machine is slow – just my fucking luck – and the transaction declines. She swipes it again, and I am anxious to get away from here.
“Yeah, it is interesting,” Leon says. “This friend apparently fucks her boss.”
I snap to attention when he says that. When I look at him, his eyes bore into mine, and he looks smug.
“Well, I guess morals vary from person to person,” I say, and I chuckle. I must be very careful about what I say next. I’m starting to panic. The card machine is working against me, and I feel like the bakery is suddenly too small for the two of us.
“I know who Brad’s talking about,” Leon says.
I don’t respond. What am I going to say?
“He’s talking about Kylie.”
When I glance up at him, I try to keep it as light as I can. I make sure I’m smiling, at least.
“Don’t be ridiculous, man. You heard from your son who heard from a one-night stand who heard from a friend? It sounds like everyone has been drinking too much.”
The card finally goes through, and I’m relieved. I take it from the woman and put it in my wallet.
“I have to get going,” I say to Leon. “I’ll see you in the office tomorrow. Send my regards to Martha.”
I turn around. Leon calls after me, but I don’t want to talk to him anymore. I can’t keep a smile on my face for that long when I’m everything but happy. I’m starting to panic. There’s no way Leon could know. His source is terrible. And he’s pissing me off. I can’t believe he won’t let this go. It’s like he has something against Kylie personally, which is not only unfair toward her but it’s making my life more difficult, too.
When I finally get back, Kylie is wearing one of my shirts and nothing else. She’s hot as hell but my mood has evaporated.
“I hope you don’t mind,” she says, tugging at the shirt.
I think I should take her into the bedroom and fuck her brains out, but I don’t. I shake my head and walk through to the kitchen. “Help yourself,” I say. Kylie follows me.
I start unpacking the food, putting it on plates.
“Oh, a French breakfast,” Kylie says behind me. I don’t respond. After a while, she asks, “is something wrong?”
I sigh and turn away from the food that I started putting on plates.
“I ran into Leon in the bakery,” I say.
Kylie’s face falls right away. She might not know what I’m going to say, but I know she has an idea.
“And?” she asks.
I take a deep breath and tell her what Leon said. She listens before she closes her eyes and blows out a long breath.
“Tell me you weren’t with one of your friends last night before you came here,” I say.
Kylie opens her eyes again. “I wish I could. I was with Paris. We went to a bar, and she met a guy named Brad. I did tell her.”
She swallows hard and looks apologetic. I’m suddenly angry.
“I told you I wouldn’t tell anyone,” I say. “I thought you would keep it a secret, too.”
“I tell Paris everything. She’s my best friend, and she would never do anything to harm me,” she says. She sounds apologetic. I squeeze my eyes shut and count to ten in my head. When I open them again, Kylie is chewing her bottom lip, and it makes her look extremely young. I am angry with her for talking about it, but fighting with her now will be pointless. Yes, she fucked up, but now we need to get ourselves out of this mess. But first, something that has nagged at the back of my brain refuses to be ignored any longer. I have to know.
“Kylie, I have to ask you something. And I want you to be completely honest with me.”
I can almost see the shields go up.
“What is it, Wes?” she asks carefully.
I drag my hand through my hair and huff out a breath. “I know your plan.”
She freezes. “Plan?”
I almost feel bad bringing it up. But I can’t deny any longer how much I crave her. I don’t want to give her up. And if we’re going to risk breaking the no fraternizing rule, I have to be completely sure about her.
“Are you only fucking me to try to take me down? As part of your plan to fuck over RidgeCo?”
Kylie gasps. She looks stricken. “What? How? Who?” She stops and draws a deep breath. “I mean, where did you hear about this?”
I walk toward her and grab her hands. “It doesn’t matter, babe. I just need to know the truth.”
She shakes her head, but that doesn’t tell me anything.
“Look, I know I should be mad that you’ve had this plan all along. But I just can’t. Partially because I had my own plan to take you down first.”
“You what?” she interrupts, her agitation turning toward anger.
I hold up my palms. “Hang on. Hear me out. I never got around to that. Because the minute you started working for you, you consumed every thought I had. Yeah, I originally wanted to get the upper hand and have the luxury of firing you and making sure you never worked in the tech industry again—”
“If this is your way of explaining what’s going on,” she says, shaking, “you’re doing a really shitty job.”
She’s right. I’m massively failing at this. I run my hand over my jaw and try again. “Look, Kylie. None of that matters. That’s not what I’m about anymore. All the time we’ve spent together has shown me that if you were planning on doing something, you must have had a good reason. But I also don’t believe you’re going to go through with it. And I have no desire to go through with my plans. I just want to be with you. However that has to happen.”
Her eyes soften. “Really?” She sounds like it’s too good to be true.
“Really. But please tell me the truth. Is sleeping with me all part of your plan to make me lose my job and take RidgeCo away from me?”
She shakes her head emphatically, and I believe her just like that. “It was never part of my plan. And you’re right, Wes. I don’t care about any of that anymore. Things have changed for me.” She looks down shyly, not meeting my eyes. “Because of you.”
I smile and reach out to tilt her head up so she has to look at me. “Good. That’s all I needed to hear. So now we have to figure out a way to fix this problem with Leon.”
“What are we going to do?” she asks.
I shake my head. “There’s nothing we can do about Leon knowing what he knows. Brad is his son, and that’s not something we can change. But he has no proof. It’s gossip and rumors, and that will never hold up if we keep our slates clean. We’ll just have to be more careful. Even more so than we already are.”
“You’re not mad?” she asks. Her arms are folded over her chest, outlining her naked breasts through the thin material of the t-shirt. She leans against a counter with her ass.
“I won’t lie. I was furious,” I admit, and she flinches. “But I don’t need to tell you that you made a mistake and we can’t change what happened. So instead of losing my temper like Leon does, we’ll just have to figure it out.”
She swallows and nods.
“I’m sorry,” she says softly.
I shake my head, but I don’t tell her not to be, or that it’s okay because it’s not. We may have removed the obstacle of her potential subterfuge, but Leon is still a very real threat to both of our futures at the company.
“We need to be more careful at work.”
“Like not talk at all?” she asks.
I shake my head. “No, that would be weird. We’re working together. If you’re going out of your way to avoid me that might look just as suspicious.”
Kylie nods. “That makes sense.”
“So, we’re going to talk about work and work-related things only, and not speak otherwise unless the situation demands it. And we can’t be alone. Ever.”
“Not even for meetings?”
I shake my head. “No, not even for meetings. Or mentoring.”
She nods. “You don’t just want to end this?”
I walk to her. When I’m in front of her, she looks up at me. Her hair hangs in her face, and I push it out of the way before I cup her cheek.
“No, Kylie. I don’t want to end this. I still want you. You’re the most amazing person I’ve ever been with. I don’t want to stop any of this.”
Her lips curl into a smile.
“Okay,” she says. “We’ll be super cautious. Because I don’t want this to end, either.”
I don’t want a relationship, and I don’t think that it came across that way. But I want to keep seeing her. When I’m with her, I feel like a real man. When I’m with her, everything feels different. Not to mention, sex with her is the best sex I’ve had in my life.
We have breakfast together before Kylie gets dressed to leave. She’s wearing the little black dress she was wearing last night. I kiss her at the door.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” I say.
“Seeing you and pretending like there’s nothing between us is going to be torture,” she says.
I nod. “It will be. But just imagine how much better it will be when we get to see each other again.”
She smiles and nods before she turns away, and I close the door behind her.
Chapter 18
Kylie
When Monday morning rolls around, and I’m back in the office, everything goes back to normal. Mostly.
I still can’t get Wes out of my mind, and I swear I can still feel him between my legs, all over my body, in my mouth. I do my best to push away the thoughts. I have a meeting with Leon, Clive and the rest of the team and I must be on top of my game. Leon is looking for any reason to make trouble, and I can’t afford to give him any ammo.
I can’t believe Wes knew about my plans all along. And that he was gunning for me too in the beginning. But I’m so relieved that my secret’s out. It was starting to weigh on me. And now I know that everything that’s happened between us has been real. No games or false pretenses. It’s a relief. If only we can find a way to continue without putting our jobs at risk because I’m really loving this new job, way more than I ever expected.
When I walk into the meeting room, most of my team has already arrived. Tanya nods encouragingly at me, even though I’m a lot more comfortable now that I’m a bit more settled in my new position. I think she will always be the mothering type.
Leon comes in last and glowers at me. I try to ignore him, but it makes me stressed all the same.
He joins me in the front of the room and then my presentation starts. I run through a summary of what we’ve managed so far and then I put my ideas on display. I am proud of what I’ve done. Being a project manager allows me so much freedom, and I get to use my creative side, which I love. Being a receptionist was a complete snore in comparison. Everyone seems enthusiastic about it except Leon.
Surprise, surprise.
He stands next to me biting his tongue, looking sour.
“That’s pretty much what we have so far,” I say when I wrap up. “Any questions or something you would like to add?” I ask and look around the room. They all shake their heads. My team seems happy.
“Well, that’s it, then,” I say. “Thanks, everyone.”
They get up and start filing out. The meeting room clears bit by bit. I stack my papers and files and pick them up, ready to return to my own desk.
“Miss Jordan,” Leon says. “Stay behind, please.”
I don’t like when he talks to me like that. He’s ordering me to stay when he could have asked, and I would have said yes. But I do as he asks. I put down my papers and files again and turn to look at him.
Leon waits until everyone else has left the meeting room. I don’t like being alone in a room with him – he doesn’t like me, and I feel uncomf
ortable around him.
“That was quite a performance today,” Leon says.
“Thank you.” I’m not sure if it’s a compliment, but I’ll treat it as one.
“It seems like a lot of work for a career that’s going down the drain, anyway.”
I frown. “That’s a very pessimistic outlook,” I say. I don’t want to respect him after how he’s been treating me, but I must. I don’t like the way he talks to me, I don’t like the way he acts like I can’t do anything for myself.
“I’ve been around for a while,” Leon says. “I can see when people aren’t going places, and you’re not going anywhere.”
I’m getting angry. “What is your problem with me?” I ask. “I have done nothing to you.”
Leon laughs. “Of course, you have.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He shakes his head, a smile still on his face but it’s not a friendly one.
“I know women like you,” he says. “All too well. You use your looks to get where you want to be in life. You don’t need to do anything other than look pretty and the world fawns at your feet when people like me have to work every day of our life. And then you come in and use sex and end up ruining lives.”
What the fuck? Leon has seriously lost it.
“I’ve been working hard,” I say. If this is some sexist bullshit, I’m not going to stand here listening to this.
“Yeah, you have. Working real hard on sleeping with Wes Wagner.”
My blood runs cold, but I don’t show the shock on my face. I have a damn good poker face. I just blink at Leon.
“I’m not sure where you’re getting your information from,” I say when he just stands there, grinning at me like a fool. “But I can assure you it’s wrong.”
“Really? Does the word Paris mean anything to you?”
My stomach turns to stone. If she said something to Leon – how on earth would she do that – then I’m fucked.
“The city?” I ask, playing dumb.
Leon rolls his eyes, irritated.
“Don’t be a little snip,” he sneers at me. “I mean the person. Your friend? She bragged to Bradley all night long about how her best friend is fucking her boss.”
