Chapter Eight
ALFIE
Iget to the office late this morning. I step through the front door at seven-thirty on the dot, making my greetings as I ascend to the top floor of my building.
It feels strange seeing the lobby full before I have hours of work under my belt. I’m usually the first to arrive and last to leave, to make sure my company runs smoothly from start to finish. But, I didn’t want to be here first today.
After my night of loneliness, I want the first face I see to be Piper’s. Her bright smile feels like enough to get me through the day.
I step out of the elevator and through the glass doors leading to the executive offices.
As expected, Piper’s at her station, but she’s not wearing her smile.
Worse still, her rosy, freckled cheeks are covered by a heavy layer of foundation.
I’ve only ever seen her with the lightest application of make-up before, and her natural beauty radiates well beyond the need for cosmetics.
It unsettles me more than it should. We’ve only known each other for a week, after all.
She hasn’t lifted her head since I stepped off the elevator. Her gaze stays fixed on a sheet of paper with my morning schedule on it. Something’s wrong. It has to be.
I make a stop at her desk and say, “Morning.”
She jumps at my sudden intrusion and a hand shoots up to her face.
“Mr. Callahan, I’m so sorry, I didn’t see you there,” Piper says. She avoids eye contact, opting instead to bury her head in the sheet of paper once more. “Good morning. I saw you weren’t in your office so I thought I’d get a handle on the day’s events.”
I barely hear a word she says.
In the brief moment she allowed me to look at her face, I saw the black and blue swollen cheek beneath the heavy coat of foundation.
I shouldn’t presume that it was her father, but from what I saw the night I peered through their window, it’s obvious. He’s a piece of shit, and now he’s laid his hands on the only woman I care for in this world.
Big mistake, you piece of shit. I’ll make you regret it for the rest of your miserable life.
“What’s on the agenda for today?” I keep the conversation moving.
I don’t want her to see me angry. I’ll make it right, but I’m going to need the time to do it well.
“You have a meeting with Scott Dietrich at eleven about yesterday’s launch,” she says. “And then one at three with the head of United Arms.”
“That’s it?”
“That’s it,” she says.
“Fantastic. I’ll be in my office if anything else comes up,” I take my first step away from Piper. “And if there’s anything you need, come and talk to me.”
I’ll put the ball in her court.
It should be obvious that her attempts at concealing the black eye have failed.
She couldn’t have left her home this morning believing a sudden change of appearance wouldn’t turn a few heads.
But anything that happens next has to come from her.
She has to be the one to tell me what’s going on, because if I prod and press, I may push her away.
As pissed off as I am, I need to keep a cool head.
The day goes by as expected.
The meeting with Scott concluded in a few minutes before he went on to tell me what I missed out on last night after I left. And the second with Brett Vaughn from United Arms was mainly just to ensure things would run smoothly if something was to be picked up by Silent Surveillance.
However, my meeting with Brett gave me an opportunity to slip away from the office and buy Piper something special: a gift in the form of a diamond tennis bracelet from Tiffany & Co. It isn’t much, but I’d give her the world to put a smile back on her face.
But my empty schedule came as a blessing, more than a curse. It gave me time to figure out how to get Piper out of the mess she’s trapped in. And after a great deal of deliberation, I finally figured it out.
It’s after closing, and most of my staff have left for the evening.
But Piper hasn’t. She usually comes to me before she leaves, and says goodbye with a wink and a grin that leaves me wanting her for the rest of the night.
I can understand why. She doesn’t want to go back home to the people who left her broken.
All the better, I suppose. It gives us some alone time before we part for the evening.
“Piper, can you come in here for a second?” I say as I press the intercom button on my landline connected with Piper’s.
She doesn’t respond through the intercom system but peers through the door a moment later. “What’s up?” she says, keeping as much distance between us as she can.
“Please, come in,” I insist.
She’s hesitant at first, but eventually folds and steps through the door. She does her best to look at anything and everything so our eyes don’t have to meet.
“I have personal matters to attend to in the mornings until Monday,” I continue. “I need you to clear the rest of the week until after lunch.”
“Of course,” she says.
“And I wanted to give you something,” I say, as I scratch through my desk drawers to find the tennis bracelet.
***
PIPER
I should’ve gone home.
Being stuck here with Alfie isn’t going to do either of us any good.
I’ve seen the way he’s looked at me all day, as if I’m some kind of lost little puppy who needs the gentle nurturing of a kind new owner.
Staying here was foolish, but I’ve been sticking around later than usual to prove to Alfie that I’m in this for the long haul.
Leaving early after my first week might’ve soured this image.
Now I’m in his office. With nowhere to run and no way to hide. If he hasn’t seen it already, and God knows I pray it’s so, there’s no way of hiding my black eye in here.
“I wanted to get something for you. A way to show my appreciation for having you on my team,” the words come out with the false sincerity I’d expect from a man trying to bed his secretary. But things are different with Alfie. He’s not doing this to get in my pants, because he knows I want him too.
This is guilt, not seduction.
“What’s this?” I ask.
He holds a black box out to me. He nudges it forward for me to take.
I do, and inspect the contents. It’s a small, dainty rose-gold bracelet, with what I can only assume are diamonds that shimmer and twinkle beneath the overhead light.
“You seemed glum today, and I wanted to cheer you up,” Alfie says.
“Alfie, I can’t take this,” I say, setting the box back on his desk. This is probably worth more than the average person in my shitty town earns in a year.
“Why not?” He raises a brow, genuinely confused at my denial.
“Because I know what it’s for, and I don’t want you to buy me things when I’m having a bad day,” I say. “I don’t need things. I…”
I pause because I don’t know where this is going to lead. Tears are welling in my eyes and I’m about to crumble. I’ve fought back the thoughts of what happened last night all day, but this show of emotion from Alfie is sending me over the top.
“You’re trying to throw money at a problem in hopes it goes away,” I say.
Full, brutal honesty. It’s what I’d expect if I were in his position, and it’s what I’m going to give him. If there is anything more between us other than some occasional fun, he deserves to know the truth, and I shouldn’t be afraid to speak it.
“But sometimes in life, money really can’t buy happiness. Sometimes you just need someone to listen and give you a shoulder to cry on. I don’t want to build whatever this is on a foundation of gold-digging and sex…”
Tears are spilling freely now. There’s no point holding back when I’m pouring my heart out to the man who’s shown me what a good life could be.
Alfie shoots out of his chair and runs to my side. He wraps his arms around me and pulls me tightly against his chest.
“I’m sorry, Piper,” he whispers while I weep against his shirt. “I’m new to all this,” he says, rubbing his arms up and down my back supportively. “But I want to be the shoulder you cry on. I want you to trust me, and not hide away when issues come up. I want you to know that I’m here for you.”
Those were the words I needed to hear.
And with them, I break and tell Alfie everything.
I tell him about my shitty parents, and how my dad’s an enforcer for a motorcycle club.
I tell him about why I’m here and what I’m fighting to achieve under his employ.
Finally, I tell him about last night and the strike I took on Dad’s drug-fueled bender.
I keep my face buried in his chest so that I can’t see his reaction. I don’t think I can bear it right now.
However, when I finally do, Alfie’s face isn’t twisted in rage as I had expected it would be. He’s solemn, and sadness floods his eyes.
“I’m sorry you’ve had to go through this, Piper,” he says.
I reach out and cup his cheek.
“Thank you,” I whisper.
I get on my tippy-toes and press my lips against his. “Just touch me, Alfie. Touch me now,” I say.
He’s hesitant at first, but Alfie gently cups the back of my neck as he leans into me. His kiss is as eager and desperate as I feel. Sooner than expected, my worries melt away, and I cling to him for dear life. When I take my first breath, I feel dizzy, drunk on Alfie.
We look each other in the eyes and know where this is going.
We’re in too deep and there’s no turning back from here.
We kiss again, and he forcefully pulls my hips into his.
His hands travel up and down my waist before settling on my ass.
Upon squeezing, he lets out a satisfied grunt that makes me giggle.
“That good, huh?” I whisper against his lips.
He pulls away far enough for me to see the smirk on his face. “Not half bad.”
The nod to our first night together sends blood rushing to my cheeks.
Alfie finds the zip on the back of my dress in a near-instant, pulling it all the way down until I can breathe again.
These sexy business outfits can be so uncomfortable after a whole day of wearing them.
Alfie steps back, want evident in his eyes.