Chapter 12 Harper
HARPER
The next morning, I still hadn’t quite wrapped my head around what had happened in the hotel. I mean, the night played on repeat in my head. I couldn’t shake that…or the fact that we’d gotten caught.
Julian reassured me that he’d taken care of it. I didn’t have the nerve to ask how he’d taken care of it. Dante and Alexander reassured me too. They kept saying the hotel was discreet. That was great and all, but some kid had walked in on us! There was no going back from that.
I groaned and stopped on the sidewalk before entering the building. What was I going to say? How was I going to act? It should be simple. Act like nothing happened.
That was the problem. A whole fucking lot had happened and I was spiraling into a major panic. Lila was no help. She’d shrugged and said there was nothing to do but keep moving forward.
Then she’d asked for more details about my night with three men. There were no words for it.
Incredible didn’t even begin to touch the way they’d made me feel.
Stop it, I mentally scolded myself and swiped my employee card to unlock the door. The beep and click put a shudder in my spine that almost locked me in place. I managed to wrap my hand around the handle and pull the door open at the same time two other employees walked up behind me.
“Morning.” I grinned at them as I held open the door, then made my way to the coffee station behind them.
They in front of the pastries and scooped out the last two blueberry scones. My favorite.
I sighed my disappointment and poured a cup of freshly brewed hazelnut coffee from the center carafe.
Bethany was the one in charge of making sure the coffee was ready every morning before she headed upstairs to sit at her desk next to Dante’s office.
I’d have to go up and thank her again for making the hazelnut coffee using my favorite beans.
I splashed a bit of creamer into my coffee and stirred it on my way to the elevator. Three other women waited ahead of me. Their laughter and rising voices made me smile. I loved working in a place where everyone was so happy all the time.
“It was amazing. You wouldn’t believe the things I saw.” One woman put a hand to her throat and lifted her head toward the ceiling. “They went all out this year. I’ve been to some beautiful galas, but this one felt special.”
I lifted the coffee to my lips and took a slow sip. “I haven’t been here long enough to have seen more than one gala. What are they usually like?”
All three women turned at my question. Curious expressions fell lax and eyes went wide.
“Wait, you’re Harper, right?” The woman on the left, a petite woman with black hair and wire-rimmed glasses that she pushed up her nose when she spoke, gave me a once over.
I nodded, uncertain what the question had to do with mine. “Yes, I’m Harper. I’m new to the company. I work in marketing. Sorry, I don’t know your names.”
“Oh. Um.” The black haired woman held out her hand. “I’m Marg. This is Denise and Sara.” She pointed out each woman, and I shook their hands.
“It’s great to meet you.” The elevator doors opened, and the four of us squeezed in.
I pressed the button for my floor and waited for them to do the same.
A tense kind of quiet descended as the elevator rose.
“So. You said the gala was special this year?” I tried to jumpstart the conversation, but no one answered me.
Instead, they shared a look. The doors opened for their floor, and all three women left without another word to me.
Hurt bubbled up. I pushed it back down where it belonged, but honestly, what the fuck was wrong with answering my question?
“I’m fat, not a leper,” I muttered under my breath.
Heat scorched my cheeks, no doubt turning them bright red.
Great. I hadn’t bothered with a full face of makeup today, which meant the bit I’d used wouldn’t be enough to hide my discomfort.
I’d grown up with people thinking it was okay to ignore or make fun of me because of my size.
Lila used to laugh at what I called skinny privilege, but then she’d seen it for herself and came to understand what I meant.
I wrapped both hands around my coffee cup and willed the tears back as the doors opened on my floor. Several men and women I’d worked with since joining Elevate stood huddled around the main desk in the center of the room. Every head snapped up when I entered, and they all fell silent.
Were they talking about me? Why? And what were they saying? Heat crawled up the back of my neck. “Morning. Anything I should know about today?” It was my standard opening.
Usually I received a rush of information, but today a thick silence wrapped a hand around my throat and squeezed.
They were talking about me. I knew what it felt like to enter a room where people were gossiping about me.
I’d felt it too often in my life. The big giveaway was how everyone stopped talking when I entered a room.
Then there was the shame that forced several heads to drop because they knew what they were saying was wrong or that they shouldn’t be talking at all.
Did they know what happened after the gala? How?
No. I was being paranoid. I let them get to me. No one knew. I walked past them to my office and settled in to work.
Three hours later, I’d had all the silence I could stand and headed upstairs to talk to Bethany. The quiet in the elevator changed to Bethany’s excited voice when the doors opened. “Harper, I’m so glad you came up today. I wanted to talk to you.”
The tension I’d gathered through the morning fell away, and I hugged her across the desk. “Hi, Bethany. I wanted to come up and thank you for the coffee. The hazelnut was incredible this morning.” I sat in the chair across from her as she waved off my thanks.
Bethany’s desk sat in the corner beside the elevator and directly down the hallway from Dante, Alexander, and Julian’s respective offices. The main conference room sat across from us, the doors open and the shades pushed all the way up to reveal sleek leather chairs and a glass top table.
“You brought a whole new flavor profile to the coffee corner. Everyone is thrilled that you made the suggestion to change things up.” Bethany sat and propped her elbows on her desk.
It was smaller than I thought she deserved, but the one time I’d brought it up, she made a choking sound and told me she was fine.
I scanned the desk, but it remained the same as always.
No personal pictures of any kind. No knickknacks or even a paperclip.
Her laptop and a phone sat equidistant from the edge of the desk, and a single ink pen and yellow legal pad were within reach of her right hand.
Nothing else. Even her cell phone stayed tucked away in one of the desk drawers.
“Did you enjoy the gala?” Bethany rocked forward, her face alight with curiosity.
I nodded. “Absolutely. I couldn’t believe how pretty everything was.
And I didn’t know there would be dancing.
” My face heated again at the memory of being guided around the dance floor in Julian’s and Alexander’s arms. I’d felt Dante watching from the bar, but he never moved any closer until we were alone.
“Right? It was completely magical.” Bethany looked left, then right before she dropped her voice to a whisper. “Did you do anything after?”
“After?” I answered without thinking, before I fully grasped how easy it would be to give away my secret.
“Yeah, after? Hello, Valentine’s Day? Did you find a hot date?” She cupped her chin in her palms and made kissing sounds.
“Uh. No. No hot dates for me.” Damn it. I should have brought coffee up for us so I’d have something to do with my hands.
The need to fidget when I lied always gave me away.
I had to sell this. Bethany was astute. She’d know if I was lying unless I did it right.
I ducked my head and leaned closer. “I don’t really have a boyfriend or anything.
So the gala was my one shot to dress fancy and dance. ”
That would have to be good enough.
“What about you?” I injected a bubbly energy into my voice and wiggled my eyebrows. “Didn’t you say something about going out with Brad in accounting?”
“Ew, no way.” Bethany blushed to the roots of her hair. She tapped her nails against her cheeks and stared at the elevator. “I’m single too. Not my choice, mind you. I have my eye on a very delicious someone. Sadly, he doesn’t know I exist.”
“Girl, you have to be kidding me. You’re gorgeous and you’re sweet. There’s no better combination.” I elbowed her arm with mine. “How can he not know you exist?”
“Trust me, I’ve tried.” Bethany sighed again.
The elevator dinged and the doors opened.
Bethany straightened so fast her spine must be made of rubber.
She grabbed her pen and paper and held them poised as Dante emerged from the elevator.
Dark hair hung low across his forehead, and he wore my favorite tailored suit.
The black and gray pinstripe suited his broad shoulders and thick thighs, and now that I knew what he had underneath, it made my whole body hum with sexual tension.
He glanced our way, gaze skimming over Bethany to land on me.
“Good morning, ladies.” He dipped his head, the deep gravel in his voice doing all kinds of wicked things to my pulse.
“Morning, Mr. Campari, any notes for today?” Bethany leaned even further over the desk, looking almost desperate to have Dante’s gaze come back to her.
“Nothing today.” He kept walking, strides long and easy as they carried him away.
Bethany whistled under her breath. “I wouldn’t mind finding a man like that, if you know what I mean.”
All the heat I’d tried to keep tamped down flooded through me. My face had to be a thousand degrees. I stood and tugged my jacket into place. “I should head back to work. I just wanted to stop by and thank you for the coffee.”
“Oh, yeah. You’re welcome.” Bethany wiggled her fingers in a farewell, but her entire body was turned toward Dante’s office.
I had no right to jealousy, but it surged through me anyway.
My hands curled into tight fists that carved crescents into my palms before I managed to force them open.
I kept my head down and focused on my work for the rest of the day.
It didn’t stop the nagging feeling that everyone knew I’d slept with my bosses.
It didn’t stop the feeling that they were judging me for it.
I’d always been good with people. Good at reading them.
Good at telling them what they wanted to hear.
Good at making them laugh. It was all part of being a woman of my size.
We learned to navigate the world differently from our skinny counterparts.
We had to earn likability and understanding where it was given to them.
But with Alexander, Dante, and Julian, there was no pretending. They had loved every inch of my body. And I’d loved the attention.
Even as I stood to leave for the day, a steady ache in my thighs and stomach reminded me of all the wonderful, devious and delicious things they’d done to me.
I hated to see it end, but I couldn’t take the risk of discovery. I’d worked too hard to find my place in this world to have all taken away from me.
Even as my heart broke because I was already halfway in love with them, I chose to let them go.