Chapter 2
HARPER
There were not enough curse words in every language combined to express the turmoil going through my head. It ached with the pressure needing to be released.
“I just…” I thrust my phone at Lila. “Fix it. Fix it now. I just sent a sexy text to my bosses.” Oh hell. I imagined the look on Alexander’s face.
Then Dante’s.
Julian might laugh, but I was in seriously deep shit.
“What do you mean, fix it? I can’t fix it. You can’t unsend a text.” Lila nudged my phone toward me. “It’ll be fine. Send another message. Tell them it was an accident.”
“Right. Right. I can do that.” Panic made my fingers clumsy on the screen.
I swiped twice before I managed to make a single word.
“They’re my dead father’s best friends.” I hadn’t told Lila everything about them, but I also couldn’t keep my mouth shut.
Talking helped me process, and I had to get these words out.
“They’re going to fire me. I’m so dead. They’re twenty years older than me. I can’t believe I did this.”
The music in the bar changed from an upbeat duet to a melancholy jazz number.
It was like the world itself mourned the death of my career with me.
“Breathe, Harper. It’s going to be fine. I’m sure they’ll understand it was an accident.” Lila patted my hand, but a concerned frown disagreed with her words.
My phone pinged, and a new message popped up in the private chat.
“Oh god. Here we go.” I rubbed a hand over my eyes to clear them.
Julian: What’s this? Harper, are you propositioning your bosses?
Lila snorted as she read the message by leaning across the table. “Doesn’t sound like he’s too upset.”
“It’s Julian. He never takes anything seriously. They’re my bosses.” Too old for me by standard conventions. Out of my league with their seriously hot looks. My dead dad’s best friends.
All these reasons were why I shouldn’t be attracted to them, but that one message from Julian had me rethinking everything.
A second message appeared.
Dante: You remember we’re your bosses and this is highly inappropriate behavior?
Julian: I prefer inappropriate. And scandalous. And I’d like to peel that lingerie off you with my teeth.
I choked on my own spit when I tried to swallow. Heat pooled in my belly and spread so fast I clenched my thighs together to keep from leaking all over the booth.
Alexander: Bold move, Harper. I did not expect this from you.
Disappointment laced every word.
I shook too hard to be able to send anything back. My apology sat half-finished in the box, but before I could even send that, another string of messages appeared one by one.
Julian: I believe we need to discuss this in person.
Dante: Agreed. Office romance is forbidden in our company.
Alexander: Return to the office immediately.
“Oh, shit.” Lila polished off her wine and slid around to my side of the booth. “Harper, I’m so sorry. Here. Let me tell them it was my fault.”
I pulled my phone away, clutching it to my chest. “No. I have to go. I’ll talk to them in person. I can’t…I can’t explain over a text. And Alexander gave me an order.” Disobeying him wasn’t possible. I sent a single text. Three words.
On my way.
The thread went silent. My heart did not. If it could have, it would have torn free of my chest and took off for parts unknown.
“I ruined my life.” I swiped at the tears falling freely down my cheeks and scooted out of the booth. I still wore my business suit, which made it easier to slide off the slick vinyl. My legs shook when I stood, but I lifted my chin.
Lila slid her arm around my back. “I’ll come with you. It was my fault. All of it. I told you to send the message.”
“I should have paid attention and made sure it was going to the right person. It was my fault for not getting out of the private thread.” I had kept that thread open too often, hoping for a message from them.
It was pathetic how often I thought about them, all three of them. Every message gave me a little boost.
God, I was pathetic. And I would face the consequences myself. “Thanks, Lila, but I really want to do this on my own.”
She took a long look at my face before nodding. “Okay. Do you want me to drive you?”
“Sure.” She’d had fewer drinks than me and was still under the limit. I might have been a little too loose to be safe. My steps steadied as we walked out into the night air.
New York shone bright and determined all around us. Buildings jutted up to blot out the sky, lights from office windows tiny beacons I’d loved since I was a little girl.
Everything about the city fascinated me. Dad used to call me his urban explorer because I’d demand to visit every building within my reach.
He helped me get into many that I would have never had access to alone.
The silence in the car was nothing compared to the hollowness of Elevate when I used my keycard to open a side door and slip into the corridor leading to my office. Ice filled my veins and turned my body wooden.
Every step rang out against the marble floor and sent a shiver up my spine.
They hadn’t told me where to meet them, but I knew. I pressed a shaking finger to the elevator button and tucked my hands into my pockets.
The air conditioning in the elevator blew across my cheeks when the doors opened. I tried to breathe, but every time I inhaled, my lungs seized.
No one stopped me when I reached the top and the doors opened. No security guards or receptionists. No other employees.
I wiped my clammy hands on my thighs and did my best to roll my shoulders back and lift my chin on my way to Dante’s office door.
The single shaft of light beneath the door drew me to his office. Darkness coated the open space where Bethany’s desk sat. Even the hall lights that usually kept the gloom at bay were off.
I stopped at Dante’s door and raised my fist. My timid knock caused my teeth to clench, and I forced myself to knock harder.
“Enter.” Alexander sounded calm through the thick door.
Was he calm or did his complete control give him the ability to sound calm despite what must be a raging fury at my inability to adhere to the rules?
I twisted the knob and pushed the door open. Between one breath and the next, I went from being completely alone to facing down my three bosses.
Alexander stood next to the window, his hands in his pockets in his usual stance and his face as expressionless as a sheet of paper.
Julian sat on the corner of Dante’s desk. For a split second I wondered how he had the guts to sprawl so lazily before I remembered that Julian was the only one who might see the humor in the situation.
Dante stood behind his desk, his arms folded.
Angry tension gripped me by the throat, but I walked into the lion’s den, not daring to stop until I stood close enough to catch the glimmer of heat in Julian’s eyes.
“I’m sorry for sending you that message. It wasn’t meant for you.” I locked my hands together behind my back to hide the shaking.
The urge to explain—to ramble into the silence—grew with every heartbeat. I pressed my tongue against the back of my teeth to keep from blurting out the entire story.
Julian stood in a slow, languid movement. He cocked his head to the side and examined me from head to toe. “You did not intend to tease us with that picture? Do you not want our attention?”
“Yes. I mean. No.” I bit down on my tongue and concentrated.
Julian made it difficult when he took another step, bringing him close enough that a whiff of whiskey and leather teased my nose.
God he even smelled like sin. “I understand if you need to fire me. I broke company policy by sending that message. It was an accident, but I should have been more careful.”
Dante’s eyes narrowed in that way of his that put tension in my spine.
A slow blink obscured his thoughts, but when he moved away from the window and into the glow of a nearby lamp, I gasped.
A hungry kind of heat filled his eyes. His face might not reveal anything, but his eyes…damn.
The blue in them turned liquid, as volatile as the ocean and just as deep.
Alexander smoothed a hand down his tie, drawing my attention to his chest and stomach. He unbuttoned his suit jacket and settled his hands on his hips. “You’re right. You broke the rules.”
Shit.
“It’s within our power to decide your punishment.” Dante lingered at the edge of my vision, his body limned in lamplight. The power of his presence sent shockwaves of heat spiraling out. I shivered despite the consuming fire in my belly.
“I’ll accept whatever punishment you believe is warranted.”
“Will you?” Julian’s gaze slid past me to Dante. A strange smile I’d never seen before transformed his expression to one of blatant desire.
I nodded, struck mute by the inexplicable need to let them consume me. I understood what I wanted, but not the way I craved all three of them.
The way they looked at me, all heat and sex on full display, pushed the icy feeling from my hands and turned them blistering hot.