Kiss A Ginger Day: A steamy workplace romantic comedy

Chapter 21

Alice stepped into the elevator. It was only four in the afternoon, but she was cutting out early. She had nine weeks of vacation time saved up. She could take a few hours.

A hand reached out and slapped the door from closing.

Theodore grinned down at her. “Hey. Cutting class?”

Anger radiated through her chest like lightning. His blue eyes glittered as if he hadn’t stood in the conference room and lied to her. “Cutting the bullshit.” To think she once thought her life made sense. Now? She didn’t know what was real anymore.

He hit the down button and wisely kept his mouth shut.

She studied the numbers lighting up, one at a time, as they descended. As each floor passed, her chest grew tighter. Theodore cleared his throat, and the sound grated on her nerves.

She clasped her tongue between her teeth and clenched her fists.

She couldn’t hold back. Turning to him, words cascaded out of her like a dam breaking. “How could you? How could no one tell me about this sting operation? I was the one who’d been putting up with Roger’s BS the last few years. The least anyone could have done was clue me in. I could have helped.”

He nodded once.

A slice of fear cut through her anger. “Unless they don’t trust me. Or”—she gasped—“suspected me at the beginning and then … Oh, shit, did they think I was in on it?”

His brows furrowed.

She backed up until her back hit the elevator wall. “I would never. My God, and what was that about you were in on it, and—” Her words were lost because he advanced on her, his lips claiming hers.

A soft bounce, and then the elevator was still. The doors whooshed open. Her eyes snapped open and landed on Tricia and Stephanie, who stood in the lobby. Tricia’s eyes narrowed, and Stephanie’s mouth dropped open. A fan-fucking-tastic addition to that clusterfuck of a day.

Alice pushed Theodore off her. “I almost fell.” What a lame thing to say. Especially because they got caught obviously tongue-wrestling each other.

Alice didn’t let Tricia or Stephanie say a word. Rather, she bolted out of the elevator, leaving Theodore in the dust.

“Alice,” he called.

She kept going. As if running away would change the story Tricia and Stephanie were now surely plotting to spread upstairs?

She could already hear Tricia. I knew something was up with those two. First Roger and then the hot consultant. She might as well replace her office door with a revolving door.

And they weren’t wrong. She’d screwed Theodore almost everywhere at the office. What had she been thinking?

She wasn’t thinking. That was the problem. So much for her dedication to controlling her destiny—and reputation. She spun on him. “Did you have to kiss me?”

“I was trying to make you feel better.” He grabbed her hand. “I’ll drive you home.”

“I can do it.” She yanked her hand free.

“Come on. Let me help you.”

“No. Did you know he was embezzling? Tell me right now.”

Theodore gazed down at her. “Not until a few weeks ago when Samuel brought it up. I wasn’t at liberty to tell you.”

“A few weeks?” Her shout echoed in the lobby.

The man had been inside her dozens of times. He’d told her he wanted more. Couldn’t get enough of her. But he couldn’t tell her the truth?

Or maybe the truth was staring her in the face the whole time. Roger set her up. Suzy’s questioning all the reports. It was all right there. And Alice was merely collateral—or worse, an unwitting co-conspirator for Theodore’s spying—in the O’Flannerys’ ultimate plans.

So much for controlling her destiny.

Little pricks formed in her vision. The floor pitched under her feet and then … blessed nothingness.