Chapter 14
Aubrey
ONE MONTH LATER
“This is absolute bullshit,” I grumble, reading over the email announcement for the third time as I absent-mindedly rub at the little red ant tattoo on my ring finger.
Please help us welcome the newest member of our team, James Wilson. Mr. Wilson will be joining us today as Senior Advisor for Communication, reporting to Chief of Staff, Aubrey Raine.
Why wouldn’t Livy tell me?
The position has been vacant since she took office, but that’s only because we hadn’t found the right fit.
Tracy doesn’t want it—she’s happy as our new Director of Media Operations—and everyone else who’s applied was either old-as-fuck and out of touch with the shift to new media, or underqualified.
Why would Jamie apply for it in the first place?
I won’t deny he did an incredible job with Isaac’s transition, but is he really qualified to take over our entire communications team?
He has to know we’ll be working together…
Fuck. I’m in hell.
I grab my phone and march down the hall to Livy’s office, bypassing the gatekeepers, not bothering to knock as I barge in. Olivia’s at her computer, typing something, and startles at the door opening.
“What is this about James Wilson being hired as our Senior Advisor for Communication?”
“I asked him to apply when we were in Ottawa,” she replies evenly, as if I was privy to her secret conversation.
I fold my arms over my chest, which is unfortunately very sore today. “Why wasn’t I part of the hiring process?”
“Because you’re biased.”
“How exactly am I biased?”
“Just because I was distracted by Isaac, doesn’t mean I didn’t notice the way you looked at Jamie or how he looked at you when we were at the summit.
Either you slept together or you wanted to.
So, I asked Paulette to join me in the final interviews instead.
He’ll be a great asset, and I need the best possible team to ensure we have a smooth four years. ”
“Eight,” I correct, but I’m glad it seems Tracy never outed me if Olivia isn’t sure about Jamie and me.
Still, I’m stuck on how she called him Jamie, not James.
His announcement said James, and he was always introduced as James during formal meetings during the summit.
Why would she call him Jamie unless… I was played.
Did Jamie use me to get a job with Olivia?
“That’s if I’m reelected,” she reminds. “When you go on maternity leave, I’ll want him to step in for you until you return.”
This has to be a nightmare. How can I wake up from this?
Is he a narcissist who wooed me with orgasms?
Is any of this real? “What the actual fuck, Livy?” I snap, but what should she expect when she hired a snake who used me for a job.
“Are you fucking kidding me? On top of having to work with him every day, I have to train him to be me? This is exactly why I should’ve been part of the interviews. ”
She cocks an eyebrow. “What happened in Canada?”
“Nothing,” I rush out a little too quickly, my bruised ego unable to admit the truth, even if the lie is sour on my tongue. I thought what happened was real, not to get his foot in the door on my staff.
“How long have we been friends?” Livy stands, rounds her desk, and sits on the edge of it. “I figured hiring Jamie wouldn’t bother a woman who doesn’t get emotionally attached.”
“I’m not.” Or, rather, I was but am no longer. Fuck him. I should’ve known that tongue was too talented to be anything but fictional.
“Oh, really? When was the last time a guy had you worked up like this? You want to know what I think? You want to be an independent woman, to do it all on your own, but maybe you finally met someone who lets you keep that part of yourself and it scares you. During his interview, Jamie never disclosed a romantic or sexual relationship with you. However, when your name was mentioned, his posture and microexpressions changed.”
“Yeah,” I scoff, “he’s probably remembering—”
“I don’t want details.” Her brash tone gives me pause.
“What microexpressions?” I groan, but I have to know what I’m dealing with.
“It wasn’t like that. There was no ‘his eyes darkened’ or ‘his cock thickened in his pants’ sort of thing from books.
” I can’t help but snort-laugh at her air quotes.
“Not that I was looking at his crotch, but it was in his eyes. It was, I don’t know, admiration, I guess.
You impress Jamie. Hell, you impress me every day, so I wasn’t surprised. ”
“So, what am I supposed to do here?” But what I really want to ask is: how do I ensure I have a job when I return from maternity leave?
“I don’t know, Bree. You’ll need to figure that out.
No matter what happened with the two of you, one thing has been clear since you left your asshole husband: you don't believe you actually deserve to be happy. Yes, you’re divorced, but you have no actual baggage.
Stop acting like it. You’re the most brilliant woman—person, really—that I know, but you hold everyone at arm’s length.
I don’t want to know what happened with you and Jamie at the summit, but whatever it was shook you enough to come in here demanding answers about a man you clearly have feelings for. ”
“This isn’t about me, but if you suspected I slept with him, then why did you hire him?”
“He’s the right fit for the position. He’ll bring fresh ideas for outreach, and he helped Tracy and Ned make all of the negative press disappear in a blink of an eye when everything went down last month. It’s no wonder you like him.”
“I never said I like him.” I did… but there’s no coming back from this betrayal.
“You don’t have to, I can see it in your eyes. It’s the same look he had.”
Livy takes my hands and we breathe a collective sigh.
She saw me through a brutal divorce and a few rounds of IVF—she’s a good friend, my best friend—but do good friends hire people they suspect fucked their Chief of Staff?
Maybe Isaac was a steppingstone for Jamie, just as oblivious as I was.
How did he charm his way into Olivia’s inner circle?
“I’m not saying he’s ‘the guy,’ but you deserve the kind of love I have with Isaac.
” I scoff at her comparison. Isaac has always been in love with Olivia—for over fifteen years.
Jamie isn’t remotely in the same league as Isaac when it comes to pining.
“This baby you’re having, well, you’re going to love it as much as I love you.
To be clear, that’s a fucking lot. But the love of a child isn’t the same as having someone to do life with.
You’re going to be an amazing mom, but I want to see you twisted up like this more often.
Maybe it’s time you open yourself up to more than one-night stands. ”
“Why? Jamie is just like the guy I hooked up with in D.C. at President Taylor’s inauguration—another bartender one-night stand gone wrong.
But this time it’s exponentially worse because said bartender now works for you.
And there is no fucking way I’ll go on another horrible date with a guy I met online who is more concerned about his stock portfolio than making a woman come.
I made my choice before we left for Canada. I’m better off alone.”
With how my hormones are out of control, I hate to admit that I’d give anything to have Jamie tongue-fuck my clit, pussy, and ass until I can’t move for a week.
Ever since I left Ottawa, no vibrator has been able to make me come as hard as he did.
How the hell am I supposed to face him today when my pussy damn near flutters at the mere mention of him?
It doesn’t matter. Fuck him. I’ll just need to invest in better sex toys.
Livy sighs. “Seriously, I—”
“No,” I growl and my tone surprises even me. “Not all men are like Isaac. I don’t want a guy who, in a few years, I’ll eventually resent and who will basically be a second child. I’ve done the whole Stepford wife thing.”
“No one is telling you to marry anyone; I just want you to be happy. But…” There’s a damn twinkle in her eyes, and my best friend has the worst poker face.
It’s why everyone loves her and what makes her the best politician you could ever vote for—she could never lie without a tell.
“If you’re so insistent that nothing emotional happened between you two, then why do you care that I hired Jamie? ”
“Because you’re right,” I huff, then take a seat in one of the chairs in front of her desk, slumping into it.
I hate to play the pity card, but this man is after my job and likely poisoned my best friend and her soon-to-be husband.
“Is that what you want to hear? That I had an amazing week getting to know a man that I can never have because, news flash, he’s way too young for me.
Oh, and I’m pregnant, so who wants to sign on for something like that?
And don’t forget, now we’ll work together.
I’m too old for this shit, Livy! It was supposed to be a clean break after the summit. ”
“We don’t have any non-fraternization policies, Bree,” she says softly. “You just have to disclose to HR so we can ensure he doesn’t report to you.”
“I can’t do this.” My eyes are glassy, but I can’t even blame it on the stupid hormones this time; it’s pure anger. I’ve never felt more used in my life. “How are we going to work together? The last time I saw him—”
“I told you, I don’t want details.”
“When he kissed me goodbye,” I continue, ignoring her interruption, “it wasn’t like a ‘that was fun’ goodbye kiss.
It was… He walked me downstairs from his apartment that has entirely too many plants in it, then kissed me like something out of a movie.
I’m surprised my leg didn’t do that little pop thing.
It was almost as if he dared to stop kissing me, it would kill him.
It was supposed to be a week, and now you’re asking me to work with him. ”