18. Maddy
18
MADDY
I never knew sheets could be so soft. I rolled over onto my stomach and pressed my cheek to the pillow. There was so much about Noah’s life that was new to me, from the touchpad next to the bed that controlled every part of his penthouse to his walk-in closet that was almost as big as my entire apartment.
Noah came out of the bathroom still wet from the shower, in nothing but a towel. I watched rivulets of water race down his torso and squeezed my legs together. He’d been reminding me about our busy day from the minute the alarm rang, almost like he knew what I’d demand from him if he didn’t set boundaries right away.
He looked at me and groaned.
“What?” I asked, propping myself up on my elbows.
“You,” he said, gesturing up and down my body from where he was standing. “I can see the top of your ass. All I want to do is bite that peach, but if I do I’ll make us both late.”
I looked over my shoulder at my body then back at him. I slowly raised my hips off the bed, making the sheet fall even lower until my butt was in the air and completely exposed.
Noah groaned again. “You’re killing me.”
I pointed to the bulge tenting his towel. “Looks like part of you is still alive.”
He sighed and looked at the clock by his bed. “No, we can’t. No time. I don’t think the NHL commissioner would take too kindly to being rescheduled.”
“Yeah, and who would reschedule him if I was the one busy making you late?”
“Exactly,” Noah pointed at his erection as he headed for his walk-in closet. “But maybe I’ll lock my office door and we can take care of this later today.”
My stomach flipped. I knew he’d never actually do it, but the thought made me hot anyway. “Ooh, promises, promises.”
I’d packed a small overnight bag with everything I’d need to go straight to work. After a shower beneath the world’s biggest rainforest showerhead and some quick primping, I was ready to go.
Noah and I were still being discreet about our relationship in professional settings, so he let me head up to the office before he got out of his car. But not before grabbing me for a kiss that nearly melted me into the leather seat.
“See you up there,” he murmured before kissing me again.
I pulled away before I could get too turned on to make good decisions. “Yup, busy day,” I said, trying to focus on the actual reason we were in the parking garage.
Once I was seated at my desk, the mountain of work helped to cancel out the fantasies that kept invading my brain. There were hundreds of emails to address, a stack of paper mail I needed to sort, and Noah’s always-shifting calendar to update. I was so engrossed with double checking a meeting with a potential new client I didn’t even sense the presence standing on the other side of my desk.
“Welcome back, beautiful.”
I jumped and looked up to find Beckett smiling at me.
That smile used to do things to me, but now it just made me feel… icky. Did he always seem this slick and fake? Was I blind to it back then? Sure, the guy could be considered hot, but not in a way I considered attractive any more. Everything about him seemed too plastic, like he was trying too hard to look perfect. His teeth were ridiculously white. Like, almost blue-white.
“Hey Beckett. Yup, I’m back and super busy. What’s up?” I didn’t smile back at him as I shifted my focus to the mail piled on my desk. I made a show out of ripping up the advertising circulars and throwing them in the recycle bin.
He shrugged. “Just wanted to say howdy and hear about your trip. It’s not every day that a total newbie gets to disappear for a month with the big boss, you know? Figured you might have some good gossip.”
“Nope,” I shook my head, maybe a little too vigorously. “Just work, and lots of it. Which means I’m now playing catch-up here in the office. No time to talk.”
“Got it.”
I glanced up at him and noticed his smile had faded and he looked frustrated. What, had he expected me to swoon over his demand for gossip?
“Anyway. Good talk,” I said dismissively. “Bye.”
“Yeah, later,” he huffed and stomped away.
I felt like I barely raised my head for the entire morning, and Noah didn’t come out of his office once. I was thankful for the busy work because it kept me from thinking about what I wished I could do to the man on the other side of the door. When I finally felt like I could take a breath, it dawned on me that it was already lunchtime. I knew Noah was booked for lunch, so I headed for the elevators to see what I could find on the streets around the office. Gigi and Allison were waiting for the elevator when I got there.
“There she is,” Gigi said when she spotted me. “We thought the big boss man had scared you off on that trip.”
I laughed. “Not at all.” I felt my cheeks go pink and hoped they didn’t notice.
“That man does like to work. Nonstop,” Allison said.
“Yeah, I’d agree with that. But I did manage to do some sightseeing.”
“Hey, come to lunch with us and tell us all about it,” Allison suggested as the elevator doors opened. “There’s a little sandwich place right around the corner, we all go there. It’s decent.”
“Really?” I asked. I liked the idea of making a few office friends.
“Yeah, come,” Gigi added. “We want to hear how everything went. We heard you guys signed Jan Mingazow. Total hottie, and a real score for the agency.”
I appreciated that they were up-to-date on the work we’d been doing overseas. “Thanks, I’d love to join you.”
The deli was nicer than I’d expected, and once we’d gotten our food, we found a table by the front window.
Gigi paused with her French fry hovering in the air. “Uh-oh.” She gestured discreetly out the window with her fry. “Beckett’s here.”
“Can we hide?” Allison joked as she looked around the room.
A knot twisted in my stomach as I watched him walk in. Part of me wanted to change the subject off of him and back to something lighter and more fun, but their reactions to him had me a little concerned. I needed to get their take on Beckett. “Why? What’s wrong with him?”
“Have you met the man?” Allison laughed. “He loves himself. Total player. He’s always on a mission to sleep with the new girls and temps. It’s gross. Don’t let him flirt with you, unless you’re into head games.”
Gigi laughed. “Spoken like someone who’s been there, done that.”
Allison shrugged. “We all have our regrets.”
I knew exactly what she meant.
I craned my neck to look around. “Maybe he won’t see us. It’s pretty crowded.”
Beckett was scanning the room, and before I had a chance to duck my head he locked onto me and broke into a wide smile.
“Nope,” Gigi said as he headed our way. “Incoming.”
“Well hello ladies, mind if I join you?”
“Hey Beckett. Actually, we’re talking about the TeamView migration,” Allison said, clearly hoping that talk about the in-office messaging and calendar system would be too boring for him.
“Cool, I actually took a TeamView class a while back. I can explain it all to you, no problem,” Beckett said as he pulled a chair over from a nearby table and shoved it in the narrow space next to me. “Just gonna grab some grub. Don’t miss me too much, ladies.”
“ Ugh ,” Gigi said as she watched him walk away. “The man doesn’t know how to take a hint. And does he really think we need him to mansplain anything to us?”
I knew the truth. Beckett was well aware we didn’t want him to sit with us, but he didn’t care. When he was locked onto something he didn’t stop until the target was acquired, and in this case I was pretty sure the target was me. I started downing my soup and salad at top speed so I could excuse myself quickly.
“Well, I actually do want to talk about the migration,” Allison said. “He’s an ass, but he’s not stupid. Maybe he really will have something useful to share.”
“Before he gets back, tell us quickly: was the trip good?” Gigi asked.
I couldn’t hide my smile. “Yeah, really good. I learned so much. And Noah really knows how to pick players.”
“You know it. He’s got a rep for being kind of cold, but everyone who works with him knows he’s only a jerk if you deserve it. When he’s negotiating with a brand on behalf of one of his guys and they try to pull shit?” Gigi exhaled and shook her head. “ That’s when the bosshole comes out. And let me tell you, it’s scary—and totally badass.”
It was exactly what I’d experienced with him. There was a lawyer in Paris who tried giving Noah attitude, and I swear I saw a switch flip inside of him. He went from talking contracts in a pleasant voice to staring the guy down while raking him over the coals in a voice so ice cold and controlled it sent shivers up my spine. It had been intimidating as hell, and the lawyer had finally come to his senses and backed off.
Beckett came back and plopped down next to me. “What did I miss?”
“We were just talking about the new embedded calendar feature in TeamView,” Allison said, glancing between us.
He took a bite of his pastrami sandwich and nodded. “Embedded, huh? Always a good place to be.”
I felt his eyes land on me for a beat, but I refused to look at him.
“So what are you working on, Beckett?” Gigi asked.
“Oh, you know. Connecting. Networking. Making dreams come true.” He shrugged and took another bite. “Typical agent stuff.”
Allison frowned at him. “Did you get a promotion we don’t know about or are you still a junior agent?”
His face went hard. “Any day now. I’ve been killing myself at PSM forever. It’s time.”
I filed the tidbit away. I’m sure Beckett hated not being the top of the pack.
“So Maddy, how do you like working here?” he asked me. “You can be honest.”
“I love it,” I replied. “Great place.”
“And great people too, huh?” he bumped his shoulder against mine and Allison rolled her eyes.
“Yup, I’m really enjoying getting to know Allison and Gigi.”
He nodded. “Right, because you already know me. Really well.”
Gigi raised an eyebrow and I regretted not telling them about our history earlier when I’d had the chance.
I frowned and started gathering my things. “I hate to eat and run but I still have a ton of work to do. Thanks for letting me join you, I hope we can do it again.”
Beckett shoved the other half of his sandwich in the bag and dusted off his hands as he stood up. “I’ll walk you back, I gotta run too.”
I knew it would look weird to say no, so we walked out together. The second we were out the door and out of sight I whipped around to face him. “Beckett, enough .”
“Huh? What’d I do?” he asked, trying and failing to look innocent and confused.
“This.” I gestured between us. “Stop trying to make something happen again. I’m not interested.” I speed-walked away from him, but he was tall enough to keep up with me effortlessly.
“You sure?” he asked in a singsong voice. “You know how good we were together. I remember that night, in the back of my car?—"
“Beckett! Stop . I’m…” I forced myself to say it. “I’m seeing someone. And I’m happy.”
He laughed. “Are you now? And who’s the lucky guy? Do I know him?”
“It’s none of your business,” I answered, avoiding the question.
“You do look like you’re glowing. More beautiful than ever,” he said, staring at my profile. “I should’ve known.”
I shrugged.
“I used to make you glow like that. Come on, admit it, Maddy. We were good together. And you broke my heart.”
I sputtered out a laugh. “Yeah, right. Try again.”
“I’m serious!”
“Beckett, the only thing you liked about me was that you could control me. You wouldn’t like me now—I’m not that girl anymore. And as I mentioned, I’m happy. I’m with someone who believes in me and appreciates me.”
We were standing outside the office door, and I had my hand on the oversized steel handle. I loved the fact that the man I was talking about had his initials etched on the glass door.
“Must be quite a guy,” Beckett said. “Maybe I could meet him some time and we could all go out for?—”
“You really need to take a hint,” I whispered angrily, stepping to the side as two colleagues I only knew by sight came out. I waited for them to pass. “I want nothing to do with you. No drinks, no lunches, no friendship, no nothing. Got it?”
Beckett had the nerve to laugh at me. “Feisty! You’re wrong, you know—I do like the new you. But for now, fine—your wish is my command.” He bowed dramatically.
I huffed past him, and I was halfway in when he called out to me.
“Hey Maddy? When the new guy breaks your heart, just know that I’ll be here waiting.”