9. Chapter 9
Even on a usual day, Sarah had no idea what to expect at work on Monday morning.
Anything could happen even when she was off the clock.
An investor pulled out. Stocks suddenly plummeted.
A coup was staged in a country with which they did a lot of business.
Hell, one day, some European’s cat died, and business came to a grinding halt for two days, sending Ms. Moreau into an agitated tizzy –then, because she was such a good friend, she informed Sarah that the two of them were flying to Switzerland to attend this cat’s funeral.
She really didn’t know what to expect with Luca around.
She came into the office a few minutes after Sarah sat down at her desk, but they had barely made eye contact when Abby approached Sarah with a question, and Danica commanded Luca’s attentions.
Thus, they went about their usual workday without even as much as a polite greeting to one another.
It helped that Ms. Moreau and Ms. Blackbourne spent most of that morning locked in a video conference call with only Abby in attendance to take notes.
Besides, Sarah mostly worked for the other Ms. Moreau those days. A Moreau who had a wonderful habit of saying way too much at the wrong time.
“Ms. Clayborn,” Alicia said with that motherly effect to her voice that she adopted the moment she became pregnant, “I heard about what happened Friday. I’m so sorry. That shouldn’t have happened, and I’m going to talk to Danica about it.”
It took Sarah a moment to remember what happened on Friday. Right. Russell. “Please don’t worry about it,” she said. “It wasn’t a big deal. Don’t know if you noticed, but Mr. Moreau is not much of a threat to me any longer.”
Surely, Alicia could understand that.
“Still, it wasn’t appropriate. Please let me know if it happens again.”
Alicia nodded one last time, as if she had permitted herself to walk away from Sarah’s desk. The boss shuffled to her office to hold her own meeting with someone who had walked in. The receptionist took over from there.
Sarah paused for a moment before returning to her monotonous work.
At eleven, an inter-office envelope landed on Sarah’s desk.
“Ms. Sarah Clayborn.” Sarah recognized Luca’s handwriting right away. She glanced around the office before opening the envelope and peeking at the lunch instructions. “I’ve secured us a private room for lunch down at Bella Mare. Please meet me there at your convenience between 12 and 12:30.”
Sarah ran the paper through the shredder she shared with Abby. The trash was wadded up and shoved into the bottom of the garbage.
She didn’t know if it was cathartic or not.
I need to tell her that nothing can happen between us.
Not only was it grossly unprofessional considering their current work situation, but Sarah was in no emotional position to take on even a casual lover.
She wasn’t at Nigel’s level yet. He had been able to get himself out of bed the day after everything went to hell and get a new job and a girlfriend in the span of one month.
Sarah? She had pushed any feelings she had deep down into the pits of her ribcage and put on a straight face to brave the world.
Work went into one category. Play into another.
There was a reason Angel came into existence.
Sarah needed a convenient way to express her sexual desires while still being “herself.” The everyday Sarah couldn’t handle relationships after what Russell did to her.
So it should be easy to turn down any advances Luca threw her way.
“I’m going to lunch,” she announced to Abby at 12:05. “I’m meeting someone, so if either Moreau needs something, can you take care of it?”
Abby only briefly looked up from the papers on her desk. “Sure. Who you meeting?”
Sarah said the first name that came to her mind. “Nigel.”
“Oh.”
Yeah. Oh.
Sarah didn’t bother grabbing her coat when she was only going downstairs to one of the company’s restaurants.
The Moreaus owned a few of them now. Since meeting Alicia, that part of the industry had switched over to the “Colbert Hospitality Holdings” subdivision, based on Alicia’s maiden name.
It still felt strange to look at the directory in the elevator and see that instead of “Moreau Industries.”
Bella Mare was a soup and sandwich restaurant that boasted grand views of the city, regardless of whether people dined in the general gallery or in one of a few private rooms – rooms that were only offered because the Moreaus needed places to take meetings for lunch.
Sarah was intimately familiar with both the menu and the décor thanks to all the meetings she worked through.
At least working during her lunch meant her meal went on Ms. Moreau’s tab.
Luca was already waiting for her in the most private of the rooms by the time Sarah found the hostess on duty.
She forewent the hostess’s directions and showed herself back to the room. Luca stood when she entered, but Sarah sat down before she had the chance to pull her chair out for her. None of that bullshit today.
“Cobb salad, no dressing, with a bowl of soup of the day,” she said to the waiter the moment he entered. Both the waiter and Ms. Blackbourne exchanged glances before the waiter walked back out with the menus in his hands.
“You know what you want, hm?”
Sarah shrugged, glad for the large table keeping a healthy distance between her and Luca. “I come here a lot. You get to know what you want after the familiarity settles in.”
“That’s… an astute observation.”
“I’ve done some reading up on you, Ms. Blackbourne.”
She sat back with a start. “Jumping right into it.”
“I only have an hour for lunch. I don’t want to waste any time.”
“I see.” Good. She had made Luca flustered. Sarah knew coming in that she needed to have the upper hand. This included catching Luca off guard and making her forget whatever flirtations she intended to hurl. “What have you been reading about me?”
Her posture was defensive. Arms crossed. Brows furrowed. Leaning back with both feet planted firmly on the floor. Only distraction was that her legs were obnoxiously wide open, like the other night in Midnight. Almost an invitation for a woman to crawl between them beneath the table. Have some fun.
And I did have fun. Damnit.
“I read up on your marriage.” What else was she going to do with her Sunday evening after Luca left? Sarah took that bath she had promised herself and scrolled for miles through her phone, reading everything she could about Luca’s ill-fated marriage to Jill. “You were only married for five years.”
“Not bad for a kid who got married shortly after turning twenty-five, eh?”
Sarah remained unresponsive.
“Look, I don’t regret my marriage, even if it didn’t end well.”
“Why?”
“Because there’s no point. It’s over. It was not… an amicable split. Part of the reason I fought to keep it out of the press.”
“I see.”
“Do you?”
“What can I say? I was curious if everything you said about being unattached was true. For all I knew, you were saying that to get me to sleep with you again.”
“I’d hardly call what we did sleeping together.”
“It’s a euphemism.”
“I’m aware.”
“Look.” This really wasn’t going her way, was it? Sarah would have smiled in self-satisfaction if it wouldn’t piss her off more. “It’s over. In the past. Finished. I have never lied to you. You, on the other hand, have deceived me from the start.”
“What are you talking about?”
Luca gestured to her as if she wore a disguise. Again. “Do I really have to say it?”
Sarah sighed. “I do not agree that I deceived you. I certainly did not intend to deceive you. But if you feel as if I did, and that bothers you… I’m sorry. As I said, I was under the presumption I would never see you again.”
“Well, you have. And I would like an explanation.”
“An explanation of what?”
Again, Luca gestured to her.
“For fuck’s sake.”
“That’s what I’ve been saying a lot lately.”
Was this woman for real? Why did she care so much?
Why? So what if she fucked Sarah? What did it have to do with anything?
They clearly weren’t ashamed of it. Sarah had made it clear she was not interested in dating, let alone a relationship.
So what if it was kinda embarrassing that she had dressed up in a persona and seduced Luca?
Honest mistake. They should be adults about this and move on before they really did embarrass themselves.
“Why did you do that?” Luca asked. “Why did you go about things that way?”
“I told you,” Sarah was quick to hiss back at her, “I had no idea who you were, let alone that you would be working in the same office as me. If I had, I wouldn’t have bothered.”
“Gee, thanks.”
“I’m serious. You want to know what I was doing? You’re a brilliant Princeton graduate, Ms. Blackbourne. You tell me what I was doing.”
“I’m no psychologist.”
“And?”
Luca leaned forward, the ice in her eyes cutting Sarah deep – not that she would let it show. “And I really don’t get you.”
“There’s nothing to get, Ms. Blackbourne. I have my personal life, like you have yours. Our personal lives happened to cross a week ago. We’re both professionals, aren’t we? Can’t you handle working with a woman you recently slept with?”
“I can. I’ve done it before.” That was candid. “I’m no angel, like you, Sarah.”
“So clever, Ms. Blackbourne.”
“I can work quite well alongside women I’ve known intimately and keep it professional. Including women who begged me to come on them.”
Sarah’s diamond-built shield faltered.
“Yeah. I remember.” Great. She had let her get smug. “But you know who I can’t work professionally with, Ms. Clayborn?”
She did not respond.
“Women who get in my head. You have, Sarah. You’ve taken up residence in my brain ever since we first met in that club. It got ten times worse once I realized who you were.”
The waiter entered with Sarah’s cobb salad and a cup of the soup of the day. Broccoli and cheddar. She had no appetite for either.
“I’m not asking you to be my girlfriend. I’m asking that you let me get to know you.”
“Carnally, I’m sure.”