Chapter 30 #2
“I’m sorry, I’ve had more than I ever intended to have,” she said with a laugh. “I, I have just had a lot of stress. It’s not just work. My boyfriend broke up with me a couple of weeks ago.”
It didn’t take me long to figure out that that coincided with when I’d walked into her office and made the deal with her.
It didn’t take me any further time to realize we were both each other’s rebounds—she was mine from Layla, and I was hers from her boyfriend.
In fact, I began to suspect she had taken our deal so quickly partly as a way to get over her ex, so she could have something to feel good about.
It was all coming together. She was so cold that day because she had just gotten dumped.
But ever since then, she was looking for someone to help her move past, someone she knew.
She was too busy to get on a dating app and take risks with someone completely new.
So she went for the handsome guy who wasn’t her coworker but would be around her all this time.
Me.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” I said. “I can commiserate. The woman I had fallen for screwed me over hard.”
“I bet she did.”
I had to admit, as kind of poorly timed as that line was, it made me laugh so hard coming from Claire McLendon I didn’t even mind. Claire just sheepishly grinned in triumph, as if proud of what she had said. And damn well she should be, it was fucking funny, no matter what I had actually meant.
“In any case, she really did, though. I told her something personal and she used it to manipulate me into telling her something more. And… well…”
I realized I had never mentioned that it was a business deal on which she’d fucked me over. I was keeping that information from Claire on purpose. I didn’t want her to know for fear of scaring her away.
Maybe I should just reach in and…
“I’m sorry, Chance, it sucks,” I said.
“Truth to that,” I said with a laugh.
We both found ourselves looking downward and then looking into each other’s eyes. For only half a second, I hesitated as butterflies wrecked my gut. Doing this…
Too late. I moved in.
I kissed her.
Immediately, our lips locked as Claire pulled my head in close. She was a surprisingly good kisser for such a reserved and sometimes aloof person. Maybe it was the context. Maybe it was the buildup. Maybe she was just naturally this way.
Whatever it was, it fucking worked, because I got up out of my seat and got closer to her so I could get some more. I was getting hard and things were getting more passionate between us. It was getting harder—in more ways than one—to pull away.
Just like Layla.
With that single thought, it all came rushing back. Not just Layla—the fact that I was a rebound for Claire. The fact that we were supposed to be business partners, not partners with benefits. I stepped back, almost stumbling into my seat.
“What’s wrong?” she said, hurt by what I had done.
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that,” I said, cursing myself out for being so damn stupid. “You’re a client and I’m an investor, that was completely terrible. I don’t want to drag you into something serious, I—”
Again, though, Claire just laughed.
“Serious?”
As soon as I realized I had said that, I did feel slightly ridiculous.
“Chance, I just broke up with my boyfriend two weeks ago, we dated for three years,” she said.
I noticed her eyes verging on tears, though her voice didn’t waver.
“Do you really think I’m looking for something serious?
I’m not looking for anything official, not even close.
I just don’t want to be alone right now.
I don’t expect you to love me or even like me. ”
“I do,” I said. “I mean, not seriously.”
Although, with every passing day, that was becoming dangerously closer to the reality.
“I just… well, this is a bad idea still. Do you really want us to be together? Even if it’s just us sleeping with each other twice a week. Morgan would kill me and tell you it’s a bad idea.”
“Oh, he’d kill me too,” she said with a laugh. “To be honest, he warned me.”
“He what?” I said, feeling a little frustration.
“Oh, nothing about you,” she said. “He didn’t say you would make a move on me. Actually, he was adamant that you would not.”
He knows of Layla. He knows I wasn’t going to try anything.
Until, well, I did.
“He just said that most girls fell for you in the end and that you were a dangerous magnet to be near.”
That was oddly complimentary, and I tried to take a chuckle out of it. But I didn’t have much interest in digging too deep into it, partially because of how guilty I felt about what had just happened.
“Well, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel attracted to you, Claire,” I said, bringing a soft smile to her face, one I hated to bring down. “But I just can’t see you like this. I made a mistake before that I don’t want to repeat. So… I hope you didn’t take me inviting you out the wrong way.”
Because what’s happening right now is the right way. It’s how I wanted it to go when I texted you drunk last night.
And now I feel like a massive asshole. At least you didn’t tell me everything. It would have put me in a bad spot if you had.
“I understand,” Claire said, and it looked like she did. “My offer is still on the table, though.”
I laughed, appreciating her honesty. At least she didn’t have any bones about it. At least she put it on the table.
“I may take it up, just not tonight and probably not tomorrow,” I said. “OK?”
Feeling like there was no reason to stay, especially since we had no place to go but down, I pulled out a hundred dollar bill and handed it to Claire.
“Use this to pay the tab,” I said. “I’m gonna go. Are you good?”
She nodded, a couple of tears falling down her cheek.
“Message me if you need anything.”
Well, almost anything.
I leaned over, kissed her on the forehead, wiped away her tears, and made my way for the exit.
I don’t know why I did what the fuck I did, but at least I had pulled away before the damage got too severe. But then again, was it really damage if Claire had no intention of falling in love with me?
Or was that blissful naivity in the same way that I had with Layla, where I was convinced I would never fall in love with a curvy woman like her but instead ended up blurting out that I loved her?
Claire has her shit together way more than you ever do. If she wants to remain distant, she will.
I opened the door, stepped out the front door, and tried to act as normal as I could when I saw Morgan crossing the street, walking toward me.