Chapter 17 #3
“Shh,” I say, peering into her eyes. “Everything is fine.”
“Are you sure?”
I reach over and press the speakerphone. My eyes never leave Shaye’s. “Yes, Kelly?”
“Yes, Mr. Mason. I have Greg on the line for you.”
“Tell him that I’ll call him back in five minutes, please.”
“Yes, sir.”
I hit the button again, ending the call.
“Oliver …” Shaye’s cheeks redden. “I don’t know what I was thinking.”
I smirk. “Me either, but I like it.”
She smiles but bats at my arm. I step back, and she slips off my desk.
“Is this going to work?” she asks, straightening her dress.
“Is what going to work?”
She looks at me like I’m stupid. “This. You and me. This job. All of it. I feel like I’m just digging myself deeper and deeper into a hole, and I’m supposed to be climbing out of it.”
I give her some space and walk behind my desk. I pick up the stapler.
“I’ll agree that we need to get ahold of the situation,” I say, trying to forget the way her lips feel against mine before I grab her and kiss her again.
Before I pull up her skirt and watch my fingers enter her heat like they desperately want to do.
“What does that mean? I don’t know. But we can’t just go on and pretend we don’t want that to happen when we’re together. ”
She considers this as she combs her fingers through her hair. “So what’s the solution? Do I have to go work for Wade?”
“Abso-fucking-lutely not.”
She grins.
I run a hand down my face. How can I salvage all of this?
“What would make you feel better?” I ask.
She thinks for a moment. “I need to know that I can trust you.”
“You can.”
“That’s what they all say.”
“Except that my word is the most important thing to me,” I say. “If we can’t figure this out, you can go work for Wade. And I assure you that he’d love nothing more than to have you in his office and deny me entry. It would make his fucking year.”
She laughs. “Okay. Also … I don’t know what you’re thinking or expecting or hoping, if anything, but I just don’t want anything serious.”
“You just want to be fuck buddies? Is that what you’re telling me?” I ask, laughing too.
“I mean, kind of?” She covers her face with her hands. “I need something easy. Something to get me back in the game, so to speak.”
I’m thankful there’s a giant desk between us because, if there wasn’t, I’d have her bent over this motherfucker in two seconds.
“Can we just … take it a day at a time?” she asks sheepishly. “No expectations. No rules.”
What a weird thing to say.
“Yes,” I say. “I don’t want anything from you that you don’t want to give me.”
Her eyes light up. A look of contentment stretches across her face. The same feeling spreads through my body.
“You control the shots,” I tell her.
“Okay.” She grins. “You need to call Greg back.”
Dammit. “Yeah. I do.”
“And I need to find the ladies’ room.”
I look her up and down and growl. It makes her laugh.
“You go do what you need to do and then come back so we can go over this legal file,” I say, sitting down. “I’ll call Greg now.”
She nods and heads for the door. Just before she gets to the doorway, I call after her.
“Shaye?”
She turns around. “Yes?”
“Will you go with me to the Landry Gala tomorrow? It doesn’t have to be a date or anything, if that worries you. You can go in whatever capacity you want. I just think it might be fun.”
Her brow furrows for a long moment before she finally smiles. “All right. I’d love to.”
“Great.”
“Great.” She smiles and turns, but just before she reaches the door, she spins back around. “Oliver?”
“Yes, Shaye?”
“This might be a stupid or presumptuous question, but would you have invited me if we hadn’t … kissed before?”
As Shaye knows, I’ve wanted to kiss her since the moment we met. Taking her as a date to the gala would have crossed my mind regardless if we’d kissed or if she worked for me or anything else as long as I had met her. So a part of my answer is most definitely yes.
But I don’t think that’s what she’s asking.
She said last night that she wants us to be friends.
If I’m being honest, I could use one of those right now who isn’t related to me.
I like Shaye. I like her for more than her soft, kissable lips and willingness to kiss me.
I enjoy her company. She makes me laugh.
When I’m with her, my load feels just a bit lighter.
So, yes, I would have asked her for the privilege—or torture, depending on how you look at it—of having her on my arm.
“Yes,” I say simply. “I would have. I would’ve asked you for the honor of accompanying me to the Landry Gala, and I’ll be looking forward to having you beside me now that you’ve said yes.”
The smile that lights up her face is dazzling. She dips her chin and disappears into her office, shutting the door behind her.
I lean back in my seat and take a long, deep breath.
A shot of tension curls around the back of my neck, and it has nothing to do with taking Shaye to the event. It has everything to do with it too.
“You probably just fucked all the way up, Mason,” I mutter before grabbing the phone and calling Greg.