Chapter 11
11
S elena didn't make it to work by nine, so her late greeting with Brogan was polite and informal and pissed her off again. She'd helped make sure Jacob had a lovely time. She engaged in conversation and lived up to be a great VP of Advertising. He should have greeted her with something more than a head nod. Despite the fact, other employees had arrived.
Katie jutted a hip out and rolled her eyes. “Why won't you go back out with me? I promise I'll be sober this time.” Her eyes widened. “Unless you're seeing someone.”
Selena whipped her head up. “What makes you say that?”
Katie pointed at a spot on her neck. “Because that looks like a hickey.”
“A hickey?” Crap. That would have been part of the supply room seduction.
“Who is it?” Katie leaned on the table. “Is it that Jacob guy you mentioned stopped by yesterday? You know, your old boyfriend?”
“No. I'm not interested in going out with Jacob again. Last night proved that I've changed since we dated.” For the better. She used to love his attention back then. Let him order things at restaurants for her because she was scared she'd mess it up. Now, she knew what she wanted. She also knew that giving the other men at the table decision making power would put them in a different light in Jacob's mind. He was always impressed with superiors. And it'd worked. Jacob sent over the loan papers to be signed that morning.
Brogan stood at the bar with Cathal. Both were in suits. Both attracting every female's attention in the place, including hers.
“It's the boss man, isn't it?”
“What?” Selena glanced around. “Be quiet. I don't want to get fired for your jokes.”
“I wasn't joking.” She shrugged. “Just the way you watch him. If he doesn't know you have the hots for him, the rest of us do.”
Had she really been doing that? She turned her back to where Brogan stood. “Well, I'm not, and I don't. Granted, he is handsome. You've said that yourself.”
“Yes. I have. So,” Katie said, clasping her hands together, “if you're not seeing him, and that's not a hickey, then you have no reason not to come out with me.”
Selena’s jaw hurt from clenching. Brogan would kill her if he thought anyone was suspicious, and their jacked-up relationship would end before she had a chance to figure out where it could lead. At the moment, it wasn't likely to lead anywhere. She didn't want to be the secret girlfriend. She'd done that with Jacob, and it'd sucked.
“I'll go. But, I'm not wearing those shoes again. My feet hurt for a week afterward.” Just like they did from wearing them the night before. But it'd been worth it to see the look on Brogan's face when she stepped out of her car .
“Deal. And I promise this time I'll stay sober.”
“I might have to have a ride on speed dial.”
She nudged her and winked. “Uh, huh. Like your dream boyfriend, Brogan?”
“This is interesting.”
Selena froze with Brogan's voice from behind her.
Katie's eyes grew large. “I...I...I'm sorry, Mr. O'Keeley. I didn't see you. I was joking—”
“Stop. I think you're both talking instead of serving your customers.” Brogan's thick Irish made Selena grimace. He was angry, and it showed.
She slowly turned around. His blue eyes narrowed to slits. But she wouldn't let him think Katie knew anything.
“Katie asked me to go back out to the bar with her.” Selena continued even though Brogan crossed his arms and started to speak. “And she was joking about you showing up and driving me home last time. Because Cathal drove her home.”
The muscle in his jaw jumped, but his shoulders relaxed by a fraction. Good.
“I would caution you against relying on others for a ride home.” He held her gaze a beat longer than was probably normal. She looked away. If he didn't want to let everyone know, then he needed to get his emotions under control.
“Get back to work.” He left, without a second look back, stalking to his office.
The door shut harder than necessary.
“Damn,” Katie started, “you are so going out with me Saturday night and finding a guy. Screw him for making us feel like crap.” She stuck her tongue out at Brogan's closed door.
“That's mature,” Cathal said. He pulled out a chair and sat down with his cup of coffee. “And probably deserved. ”
Katie smirked. “I am going to get back to work.”
Cathal didn't move. “What did I miss?”
“A misunderstanding that can't be discussed.”
Brogan acting like a jerk again.
Every inch of Selena wanted to reassure Brogan that Katie was joking.
The restaurant door opened. Rian stalked through the dining room, moving quicker than usual. He scanned the room, his eyes landing on her and Cathal.
Cathal sipped his coffee. “Well, he looks a little upset.”
“That's an understatement.”
Rian dipped his chin in acknowledgment and then walked to Brogan's door and walked right in, shutting it behind him.
Strange.
“Let me go fix whatever is the problem now.” Cathal left, following Rian's lead and walking into the office.
Katie bumped her. “All three bosses have now witnessed you standing around. Go do something, Selena.”
She moved then, bussing tables and asking various customers if they needed anything for the next hour without any O'Keeley emerging from the office.
Cathal's voice behind her made her jump. “I need to put in a lunch order.” He didn't flirt or wink. “And you need to bring it in when it's ready. I don't want to deal with anyone else at the moment.” He shook his head. “Whatever happened earlier put Brogan in a massively shitty mood.”
She pursed her lips for a moment before pulling a pad of paper from her back pocket to take his order. “He's my boss. I get that. But he's going to have to trust that I'm not going to run my mouth.”
“You should tell him that. But not right now. We have some planning to do and need nourishment. Three fish and chips. Three Guinness.”
“Three?”
“Believe me. Between you and the bank shit, Brogan needs one or else we really will kick him out of the O'Keeley's this time.”
She smiled.
“Ah. I can see that it makes you happy.”
“No.” Not happy. A little pleased that he had reacted to her. He flipped so quickly between being the boss in the Armani suit without a heart, to the man that brought wine to her to cheer her up and seduced her in supply closets. “I'm not happy he's upset.”
Cathal set his hand on her shoulder. “Despite him being an arse most of the time, he is a good man.”
“I know that, too.” She looked up and met Cathal’s gaze. “We're just trying to figure it all out, I suppose. He thinks this is one-sided. I'm flat out lying to one of my best friends. It sucks all around.”
Cathal nodded. “Right. I get it.” He tapped her pad with their orders. “One thing at a time, mavourneen .” He walked back to the office, leaving her wondering what he'd just called her.
She scooted around behind the bar to put in the orders and pour the drinks. If Cathal thought it was one-sided, Brogan probably did, too.
She hated to do this, but if he wanted it to remain a secret, then she had no choice but to go out with Katie. She'd go to a bar. Have fun. Not flirt and not go home with anyone. Easy.
But he couldn't get mad. Like he'd done with Jacob. She wouldn't expect him to just stay locked inside if the situation was reversed and he had to appear as though he was still single. Besides, as she told him before, a title like VP of Advertising didn't earn him exclusivity rights over her.
Jacob had hidden her away before. And she'd let him. Brogan would never have that power over her.
She took the tray of food and drinks to the door of the office. She knocked twice and waited.
Brogan opened the door. His serious face faltered a moment when his eyes locked with hers. Yes. She threw a massive wrench into his perfect life.
“Come in,” he said, stepping back. After a half-second hesitation, if that, maybe only a breath of a moment, he took the heavy tray.
She stood there, empty arms, as he carried it across the room and sat it on the coffee table.
As soon as Brogan's back was turned, Cathal grinned and gave her two thumbs up. Rian shook his head and snagged a fry off of a plate.
“I need to talk to you,” he said and motioned toward the bathroom in the back she'd never been in before—the one he used to clean up after his workout each morning.
She turned on her heel and walked into the room, hearing the door shut behind them. It wasn't large. About the size of her bathroom in her small apartment. Clean. Nothing on the counter. One drawer on the side. Absolutely the opposite of the current state of her own bathroom with her blow dryer sitting in the sink and makeup everywhere.
The air smelled fresh with the hint of the aftershave she'd learned he used.
“Selena—”
“No.” She held up her hand. She didn't want to fight. Not with him. Not over this. “I told you the truth. Katie has always teased me about you.” Facing him, she was a little shocked to see the aggravated look on his face. “You're hot. I didn't just form that opinion about you in the last forty-eight hours since we kissed. You see the way she acts about Cathal. She always jokes about it.”
He slipped his hands in his pockets.
“And it's put me in a crappy situation. I'm lying to her, swearing we aren't whatever the hell we are or aren't, and then hoping you believe me.”
“I believe you.”
“Great. Then?” she asked, pausing a moment and holding her hands out. Why had he wanted her in here?
He stalked toward her. She held her ground until he pushed the back of her thighs against the edge of the counter next to the sink. “I thought, when I first walked up, that you'd told her.”
“I know.” And it pissed her off, but she kept her silence. He had to work through something in his mind. His eyes scanned over her face, searching for an answer.
He stepped closer, his hips pressing hers until he picked her up by her thighs and set her on the counter. This Brogan she could handle.
He gripped the back of her knees, pulling her as tightly against him as possible. He tilted her face up but didn't kiss her. He looked at her like he tried to see inside. She didn't hide anything from him. Never had. Never would.
She cupped his face, skimming her fingers along his temple. “What is it, Brogan? Just tell me.” She kissed him lightly, trying to ease his frustration. Maybe to ease her own.
“I don't want you to go out to the bar.”
She wanted to smile, really, at the small amount of insecurity he'd shown. Brogan, literally, the hottest guy she'd ever seen, had her legs wrapped around his waist, holding her. He was scared of her going to a bar with Katie.
“I don't know how to get out of it, now. I told her I would just to cover for her thinking we were together.” Selena straightened his already straight tie. “I didn't know what else to do. I think it would look worse if I didn't go at this point.”
“I don't want another man touching you.” His hands squeezed her thighs, tugging her closer. “I don't think I could stand it again.”
His breathless intensity almost made her come unhinged. She kissed him hard and deep. This was what she wanted from him. Commitment even if he couldn't say the words.
She broke it off just as quick. “Is that a request for your VP of Advertising to work exclusively for you?”
“Absolutely.” His lips twisted to the side. “So what are you going to do about Katie.”
“I'm going to go to the bar with her.”
“But....”
“Going out with a friend doesn't mean I'm going to go home with another man. We might need to keep this under wraps for a little bit, I'll try to understand that, but I'm not going to hide-out at home, waiting for you to decide when we can see each other. I did that once before.”
“With Jacob?”
“Yes. I'm not doing it again.”
“What will you do if you're not there to pick up guys?”
She smiled and slipped her hands into his perfect hair. “Watch Katie hit on guys—or girls. I'm not sure what bar we're going to yet. And think of you.” She nipped at his bottom lip. “And wish you could be there, in public, with me.”
“I don't know if that will ever happen.”
Ever? Would she forever remain his secret girlfriend? She ignored the deep ache growing in her stomach from the thought. He couldn't have meant it like that. She'd just told him about Jacob hiding her. Why would he think she'd ever go back to playing the role of a secret girlfriend?
“We need to get back to your brothers.”
“I'm pretty sure they know about us.”
“Well, I know I'm wasting your time.” She needed some air. Space. He'd easily announced that he'd keep her hidden in the closet, away from the world, forever. She deserved more than that. She'd watched her mom be used, tossed around by men growing up. And, after Jacob practically did the same thing, she'd sworn she wouldn't ever chase after a man that way again.
But she wanted Brogan. She'd try to understand for a little bit longer.
“No. Never a waste of time.”
“Well, you at least have more important things to do than wrap me around your waist.” She held up her hand. “Okay, bad example for both of us.” She pushed him back with a little nudge and hopped down. “Go figure out how to save your restaurant. They're here to meet with you. You can wrap me around you anytime.”
“Is that a promise?”
She draped her arms around his neck, putting on a happy face even though her heart hurt. “Absolutely.”