Three | Ethan
Three
Ethan
“Mr. Roberts?” Kate’s voice came through the speaker of my office phone. I pressed the button to answer her. “Yes?”
“I have Brent Wallace on the line for you.”
“Put him through.” I waited until I heard the click, confirming that the call had been transferred.
“Good morning, Brent,” I greeted as I clicked send on the email that I had been drafting. “What can I do for you this morning?”
“I wanted to let you know that I’ve decided to pull out of the deal with Fred,” he said tiredly.
“Night clubs aren’t your thing after all?” I chuckled, opening his file on my desk.
When he asked me to join him for a meeting at the club with their new owner, I knew he wouldn’t end up going through with the deal. I had worked with him long enough to be able to predict what he would do before he ever did it.
What I hadn’t been able to predict was how that night would go so completely differently than I had planned. I glanced up and looked across the hallway at Eva—the bombshell from the club who ran off before I could get her name—who was sitting at her desk, laughing at something Regina had said.
“No, there’s not enough money in the world that would make that deal worth it for me,” he confirmed with a throaty laugh.
“Fair enough. I’ll close the file on that one, but if you decide to reconsider, just—”
“I won’t.” His tone was sharp, and I had to bite my cheek to keep from laughing. Brent wasn’t the easiest person to please, but that was part of what I loved about working with him. He knew what he wanted and was a fucking beast of a business partner.
“Do you still want me to work on Watson Investments?” I asked, looking at his other file on my desk.
“Yes. I want those shares in Starke, and that seems to be the best way to get them. I know Watson has had financial issues in the past, so that’s my aim. Acquire Cody’s company and boost my shares to fifty-one percent in Starke. From there, we can discuss what I plan to do with my controlling interest.”
“Got it,” I said as I wrote down a few notes on a piece of paper and tucked it into the file. “I’ll work on this and get in touch with you soon.”
I ended the call and started working on organizing the files on my desk when I heard my stomach growl. I had been so caught off guard this morning when I found out that our new hire was the same girl from the nightclub that I hadn’t taken the time to grab breakfast after the meeting.
My attention had been scattered all morning, trying to focus on anything other than the beautiful woman in the office across the hall from me. Every time she shifted position in her chair, my eyes immediately focused on her long, toned legs, which were golden brown from plenty of time spent in the sun.
By noon, Kate had brought my lunch in and set it on the table. I tried to get out of the office for breaks when I could, but nothing beat the view I had of the city. The aroma floated through the air, pulling my attention away from the email that I was trying to respond to as my stomach growled loudly in the empty room. I pressed send and looked up to see Kate delivering Eva’s lunch to her office. Her smile spread across her cheeks as she thanked Kate, and there was genuine sincerity in her eyes.
I pushed away from my desk and adjusted my tie. While I had been trying to avoid Eva so I could get work done, I found that I was desperately trying to find a way to spend time with her instead. She was like a drug, and now that I’d had a taste, I couldn’t stop.
I walked across the hallway and leaned against her door frame, knocking on the door to get her attention. She looked up, surprised to see me there.
“Hi,” she said nervously. “Did you need my help with something?”
“Actually, I was just about to take a quick break for lunch and wanted to see if you wanted to join me.”
“Oh, thank you, but Kate just brought my lunch.” She nodded over to the table where the take-out bag and a drink were sitting.
I attempted to grin, but it fell as flat as my attempt to play it cool. I never had to try with women—things just came naturally to me. If I had asked anyone else to join me for lunch, they would already be in my office, making a move—which was why I never invited anyone. But Eva was different. It was like she had already disregarded what had happened between us and went straight to the professional mode we briefly discussed earlier. While I respected it, I couldn’t say I cared for it. Not when thoughts of what she sounded like as she came continued to play on repeat in my mind. Just because I couldn’t fuck Eva anymore didn’t mean I couldn’t try to get to know her in a non-sexual kind of way.
“Umm...” I stammered nervously. I hated that she had this effect on me. “Let’s try that again. Would you like to bring your lunch to my office so we can eat together?”
I waited while she contemplated the idea and hoped that she would say yes because she wanted to and not because she felt like she was required to as my employee.
“Okay. Sure.” She pushed away from her desk and smoothed her skirt down before walking around to the front of the desk. She reached for her food at the same time I moved forward to grab it for her, forcing us into each other’s arms once again. I felt her body stiffen next to mine, the scent of her vanilla perfume filling my senses as I fought the urge to lean in and inhale the intoxicating smell. She pulled back and looked up at me under her dark lashes.
“Sorry, I didn’t know you were going that way,” she apologized, rubbing her full lips together. Fuck. Me.
“Don’t be. But let me grab that for you,” I offered as I reached around her and grabbed the food from the table. My arm brushed against hers, sending a thrill of electricity through my body. I sucked in a deep breath and grabbed her drink, hoping that the coldness of the ice would help chill me out.
I pulled a chair out for her as we sat down at the table in my office. Her eyes were wide with amazement as she stared out the window, taking in the sight below us. It reminded me of a child seeing the tree light up in Times Square at Christmas for the first time. I grinned, loving how impressed she was with the view. Maybe it would be what lured her to my office more often.
I grabbed the bag of food that Kate had brought me and started to unpack everything, thankful that she had gone with Italian today instead of seafood. Not that this was a date, but I didn’t want it to stink in here, either. Given that we needed to find a way to work together and be professional, I still couldn’t force myself to stop trying to impress her, which was weird because I had never in my life worried about impressing a woman. She was different, and I found that to be more exciting than it should have been.
Finally, she broke her attention away from the window and started to unpack her lunch, which surprisingly was pasta as well. I laughed and wondered if Kate had anticipated that we would have lunch together and had ordered food from the same restaurant on purpose. She was overly receptive to people and had a knack for knowing how to coordinate things, making it all look like it was purely coincidental.
Eva opened the lid to her pasta and leaned forward, closing her eyes as she inhaled the savory aroma of her Penne Alla Vodka. The smell filled the room and mixed beautifully with the Pasta Al Pomodoro that was sitting in front of me. It was silent while we scarfed down our food, neither of us willing to stop to try to make friendly conversation.
I had to force myself to focus on my plate and not on the sounds she was making as she ate. The little whimpers paired with her closed eyes as she savored each bite were pure torture. When she held the breadstick to her mouth and licked her lips before parting them to take a bite, I nearly lost it.
My dick pressed against the fabric of my trousers as I tried desperately to think of anything other than her mouth wrapped around my cock the way it was with that breadstick. I quickly finished the last few bites before chugging my iced tea while I worked on getting my hard-on to disappear. I turned my attention to the window while my mind tried to shift to work-related topics while she finished her breadstick. Finally, a few minutes later, I heard her toss her disposable fork into the empty container and close it.
“Thanks for inviting me over for lunch,” she said as she started to get up. “I should get back to my office so you can get back to work.”
“You don’t have to rush off, Eva. Believe it or not, we give employees a full hour for their lunch. Not the thirteen minutes it took for you to eat.”
It felt odd to think about what most people did with a full-hour lunch break when I couldn’t remember the last time I had stopped for more than ten minutes to eat. I did not stop to take breaks; there was always too much to get done. But I didn’t want to scare her off right away and have her think that she had to be as obsessed with work as I was.
“I don’t want to keep you from what you need to do,” she countered, still hovering above her chair. The angle at which she was standing allowed her shirt to dip in the front, giving me the perfect view of her full breasts that were desperately trying to bust out of the white lace bra she was wearing. The same ones I had fondled in the closet before sucking her nipples.
“It’s fine,” I said with a little more aggression than I had intended. “Sit.”
Shit. I wasn’t trying to scare her or bully her into spending time with me. But she left me a flustered mess, and I was struggling to get non-sexual thoughts out at this point.
She tilted her head and looked at me, her eyes narrowing slightly. I leaned back in the padded chair and folded my hands over my stomach as I watched her sit down and cross her legs under the table. I had to play it cool, even if I was anything but right now.
“So, how are you feeling about your first day so far?” I asked, hoping the conversation would be what I needed to get my mind off of her.
“It’s been good. I’m just trying to get a feel for everything. Figure out my role and what is expected of me.” Her voice trailed off with a thought that she didn’t say out loud.
I blew out a breath, knowing that she was still thinking about the night at the club as much as I had been. It was impossible to pretend that it hadn’t happened, but it seemed to be weighing on her mind as much as it had been on mine.
“I’m happy to have Regina come by and go into more detail about your role and what our expectations are for you if you’d like.” It was such a bullshit answer that made me sound like a total dick, but that was all I had right now.
“That’s not what I’m talking about, and you know it.” She folded her arms over her chest and continued to glare at me.
I swallowed hard, knowing full well I had met my match. Never in my life had I ever had a woman who held her own against me, especially at work.
I worked my jaw back and forth, uncomfortable with having to have this discussion. This was the main reason that I didn’t bother with relationships. People start to have feelings, and then they expect you to talk about them. I stayed quiet for a few minutes while I tried to think of the easiest way to handle this conversation with the least amount of damage.
“Do you want me to quit?” Her tone was sharp, matching the look she was giving me.
I pulled my head back in surprise. Okay, that felt like it came out of left field.
“Why would I want that?”
One of the first things I learned in law school was that if you wanted to stall and get a feel for what the other person was thinking—answer their question with a question of your own. But I could already tell that Eva wasn’t some girl who just barely passed law school, nor was she impressed with what I just did.
“Because it’s weird and awkward between us. We had a quickie in the linen closet of a club, and now I work for you.” She threw her hands up in the air. “I mean, it’s not like we knew each other when it happened, but it feels weird to work for someone who’s heard the noises I make when I come.”
I bit the inside of my cheek to try to keep from laughing. She was cute when she was angry. I rubbed my lips together in an effort to keep from smiling before I responded.
“No, Eva, you don’t need to quit. While we may know each other intimately, I expect that we can be professional and keep our personal feelings separate from work.”
I hated myself for saying it as I watched the hurt flash across her face before it returned to a stoic expression. That wasn’t how I felt about the situation at all, but I knew that it was the only way that we could work together and not let feelings get in the way. What I really wanted was to close the damn door and fuck her against the window while she admired the view of the city.
“Perfect,” she said tightly. “Well, I better get back to my office. I’m sure my break is close to over.” She stood up and pushed the chair under the table before collecting her trash and throwing it in the bin by the door. “Thank you again for asking me to join you for lunch. It was... enlightening.”
She turned and walked away, leaving me and my blue balls alone in my office with the words I already regretted saying. That didn’t quite go as I had hoped.