Eight | Eva
Eight
Eva
Almost everything from the past forty-eight hours felt like a blur. I knew that it had been my fever that had made me feel delirious and caused me to question my sanity because I could have sworn that Ethan had stopped by my apartment and insisted on taking care of me. It had to be a fever dream because there was no way that we ended the day together, enjoying a warm bowl of soup and laughing when things between us had been so strained.
When I rolled over and woke up, I felt slightly relieved that I was alone and somehow had managed to get myself to bed safely last night. I got out of bed and slid on the plush, warm robe that I loved to ward off the chill I felt. My body still ached, which meant I hadn’t gotten better overnight like I had hoped.
I made a quick note to check in with Regina to see how Kate was doing and to let her know that I would be out another day. I also needed to let Ethan know that Brent was planning to come by this morning to discuss things with him. But that could wait until I was actually functional this morning.
I walked down the short hallway into the living room, getting ready to head into the kitchen for a much-needed cup of coffee. I stopped in place, my heart skipping a beat, when I looked over and found Ethan stretched out, asleep on the couch. He was still wearing dress slacks, and his button-down shirt was now wrinkled and rolled up to his elbows. The jacket that went with it was hung on the back of the chair across from him, with his shoes neatly tucked underneath it.
I took a few minutes to admire his gorgeous face as he slept. For once, he looked peaceful. He wasn’t frowning, and the vein in his forehead was nowhere to be found. I wondered if this was what he might look like on a good day when he was happy and not stressed at work. My mind quickly wandered back to the night when I first met him and how calm and collected he looked sitting in the VIP lounge. He definitely had a charisma about him that made people notice him, but he didn’t seem to intimidate anyone the way he did when he was at the office.
A strand of his dark hair rested on his forehead, and my fingers itched to reach over and brush it away. To run them through his thick mane and feel how soft it was. While I took good care of my hair, I was also quite envious of his and wondered how much work it took for him to get that slightly mussed look. I sat down on the arm of the chair, continuing to stare at him, when suddenly his eyes fluttered open, and he looked at me. He smiled and sat up, rolling his head back across his shoulders.
“Good morning,” he greeted, his voice low. “How did you sleep?”
“Good, I think. Maybe too good,” I said with a soft laugh. “For a minute, I thought I had dreamt that my boss came by my apartment and fed me magical soup that healed me.”
“It was better than burnt toast.” He laughed and raised an eyebrow at me. I could feel the heat rush up the sides of my face, spreading quickly as I remembered a sliver of the conversation about my cooking abilities last night.
“I did NOT tell you about the burnt toast,” I moaned, covering my face in my hands.
“Oh, you sure did. Amongst other things.” He smiled a crooked smile, one that I hadn’t seen before. It was sexy and sent a rush of warmth through my body as I imagined him grinning at me like that as he hovered over me and brought me to climax.
I waited a few minutes to see if he would tell me on his own. Instead, he got up and grabbed his cell phone from the coffee table, checking his messages while wearing a smug smile. I racked my brain, trying to remember as much as I could, but everything was really fuzzy in my head. After all, I thought I had dreamed that he was at my apartment taking care of me, and yet here he was, standing in front of me while the empty take-out containers that sat on the counter by the door. He slid his phone into his pocket and turned his attention to me.
“What else did I tell you?” I asked nervously, chewing on my fingernail. “If it was anything personal or inappropriate—I apologize now.” I held my hands up in front of me.
Once the word inappropriate was out of my mouth, I felt the energy shift between us. We both had been avoiding talking about what had happened in the file room as much as we had avoided talking about the night we hooked up at the club. The playful side of him was gone, and I was immediately greeted by the rigid Ethan that everyone at work feared—everyone except me.
“Look, about Tuesday,” he said, raking a hand through his hair as he started to pace in front of the couch. “That shouldn’t have happened, and I’m sorry that it did. We work together, and our relationship needs to stay professional.” His eyes went wide with embarrassment when he said relationship . “Not that there could be a relationship— I’m not that kind of man,” he hurriedly assured me.
“Got it,” I said with a hint of annoyance in my voice. “But just so we’re clear— you came on to me in the file room. Not the other way around. And while it was enjoyable, I was not hired to be some booty call. I expect that we can put this behind us and that you will step aside from your ego and train me on how to do the job you hired me to do.”
“Technically, Regina hired you,” he said with a smirk that perfectly highlighted his dimples. I rolled my eyes and looked away, though I was happy to see the playful side wasn’t too far from the surface after all.
“I thought you called in and were avoiding me because of what happened,” he admitted, rocking back on his heels as he looked at me.
“Unfortunately, no. As much as I would have hated the guaranteed awkward tension between us, I wasn’t going to put my job at stake by calling in just to avoid you. I would have been there if I could have seen straight and didn’t feel like death. Which you got to see firsthand when you showed up and refused to leave.” I gave him a pointed look accompanied by a playful eyebrow quirk.
He nodded in agreement.
“I’m sorry for assuming. Part of me showing up here was to talk about what happened and clear the air between us. Between the file room and the issue with Brent, I didn’t want to keep having any awkwardness between us.”
“And by what happened with Brent , you mean the whole you losing your temper because I did my job issue?” I questioned, narrowing my eyes at him.
“While I appreciate that you did your job, Eva, you still spoke to a client without my permission.”
“Well, I’m sorry. I wasn’t aware that there were limitations and stipulations on how I got the job done. Please let me know in advance what your babysitting role entails so I don’t screw up in the future. It was my error to assume that I was free to discuss the items I worked on with the client I worked on them for. Perhaps you could find the time to train me so we can avoid these issues in the future.”
“With all due respect, Eva, I don’t have the time to spend training you, especially on something as menial as that. It should be a given that you don’t speak to one of my clients without my approval. Regardless of your experience, you’re still a new employee of our firm, and I have the right to monitor what you do and make sure you’re doing it correctly. Respect is something that automatically comes with the territory, and you should know that given your experience.”
“Okay, let’s just get one thing clear— you do not intimidate me. I will not bow down to you or kiss your ass to make you feel better about yourself. I am a damn good attorney and have earned every single promotion that I have been given. I have worked my way to where I am because I am driven, motivated, and refuse to take no for an answer. I will not have you insult me by insinuating that I don’t know what I’m doing when you haven’t taken the time to see what I’m fully capable of. I’ve already apologized for my error. I will not allow you to continue to reprimand me for it.”
“I’m sorry. That wasn’t my intention.”
“Thank you.”
I swallowed hard, trying to force the nerves down as I struggled to appear unaffected by him.
“How about we agree to start over? A fresh start where we put everything behind us and move forward?” he offered, his face softening as a smile played at his lips.
“Why do I feel like there’s some sort of conditions to this that I’m not going to like?”
“There’s not. We had a conflict, and now we’ve discussed it like adults. I don’t see the point in continuing to dwell on something that no longer matters. I enjoy having you as an employee, Eva, and I feel you can bring a lot to the table.”
“Wow. A compliment?”
“Don’t look so surprised,” he muttered. “I do have a soft side on occasion.”
“Yeah, like when you stay the night at your employee’s apartment to care for her when she’s sick?” I offered with a genuine smile. I hated that he had spent the night here when I knew that he had things he needed to do. I hated even more that he had seen me at my absolute worst.
“For starters,” he replied with a chuckle. He glanced down at his watch and blew out a heavy sigh. “I need to get to the office this morning to handle a few things. Will you be okay on your own, or do I need to confiscate your toaster before I go?”
“I’ll be fine. Toast doesn’t even sound good.” I rolled my eyes and tried to ignore the heat washing over my cheeks.
“Alright. I’m heading out, but call if you need me.”
“Thank you for everything last night. I really do appreciate it.”
“No problem.”
He smiled, and for a brief moment, I saw something in his eyes. A softness that I hadn’t seen before. I was desperate to hang onto it a little bit longer but knew that he needed to go.
“Oh, by the way, Brent will be coming in this morning to talk with you about the information I gave him. He didn’t give me a time. However, I assumed that he’s not the kind of client that I should pressure into making an appointment.”
“No, definitely not. I’ll be sure to have his files ready when I get to the office. Thanks for letting me know.”
He gave me a quick smile before grabbing his coat off the chair and sliding his shoes on. I wondered if anyone at the office would question where he had been or why he was wearing the same suit as yesterday, especially with the wrinkles.
“Sorry! There’s actually another thing,” I said quickly, stopping him as his hand turned the knob to open the door. “Brent mentioned that he also needed to speak with you about Karly. I’m not sure if this is related to the same deal or not, but I thought you might want to know.”
Ethan squinted his eyes as he pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers and sighed.
“She’s his ex-fiancé and left him for his best friend. The one who owned Watson Investments.”
“Well, that just got messy really quickly, didn’t it?”
“It sure looks like it. I’ll get in touch with you this afternoon. Try to rest and recuperate. I’ll need you to jump in and help with this case as soon as you can.”
I closed the door and found myself smiling as I realized that he was finally coming around to me helping him.