18. Sean
18
SEAN
T he large mahogany table gleamed under the lights.
I sat at the head of the table, my gaze sweeping the two men and the one woman who were seated around it.
The CFO, the head of marketing, and the VP of strategy had just finished discussing budget allocation and potential risks related to our newest initiative to expand into Asia.
Everyone was eager to leave, except for Dex Smithson, the head of marketing.
I stared at Dex across the table, and he smiled back at me like he hadn’t just asked me for an obscene amount of money.
I’d already pledged support for his wife’s charitable cause for the Robin Hood Foundation, but golf club fund was his follow-up ask.
I’d turned him down once, but given by how he wasn’t moving, I had a bad feeling about what was coming next.
Everyone knew when Dex started asking for something, his requests never stopped at just one.
A knock sounded on the door, and I looked up as Chloe entered my office.
For the few days that Chloe had been working for me, I’d seen her busy and occasionally worried while work was slow.
She had something else going on in her life.
Something that demanded much of her attention, and I had to remind myself that whatever went on in her personal life shouldn’t be my concern.
Except that I was inordinately interested in all the details of this woman’s life.
The parts that she would share and the parts that she wouldn’t.
Today, however, was one of those days when she was looking happier.
She was in navy-blue pants and a ruffled cream-colored blouse that accentuated her cleavage.
I swallowed and looked away, but not before I noticed she’d styled her hair in waves and her skin was glowing.
I wanted to pull her to me, to bury my face in her hair and breathe in her scent.
I also wanted to punch myself in the face for being weak enough to lust after my assistant.
Especially when she was keeping things so professional.
She didn’t care one bit about me.
Her head wasn’t turned by my excessive wealth or affected charm, unlike others.
Damn her.
She shut the door gently behind her before looking pointedly at me.
“Mr. Tassater, your Zoom meeting with Mr. Edgar Mercer, the Australian oil baron, is in ten minutes.”
I stared at her, feeling at a complete loss of understanding.
Oil? We were a tech company.
I had no dealings with oil barons, much less ones from Australia.
My CFO and VP of strategy stood up, seizing their opportunity to leave.
They shuffled out behind Chloe, the door falling shut behind them.
Good for them. Bad for me.
Dex was rooted to his chair, looking back at me curiously.
Chloe shifted her weight from one foot to the other.
“Whenever you’re ready, Mr. Tassater, I’ll help you set up the video call with Mr. Mercer.”
When I met Chloe’s gaze again, perplexed, she blatantly gave me a cheerful smile and followed it up with a wink and a nod that seemed to imply, Go with it .
Was she really kicking Dex Smithson out for me?
Dex looked at Chloe with a grin.
He wasn’t buying it.
I stood up, pushing my chair back farther than I’d intended to, and extended my hand out to the man.
“Yes, I’d completely forgotten about Mr. Mercer for a minute there,” I said, my voice firm as I looked at Dex.
“We’ll have to continue our conversation about golf later. I’m afraid I’m out of time now.”
He looked perturbed.
“But we never discussed the budget for the marketing department’s new team lunch initiative or a possible donation for?—”
Chloe all but pushed him out the door, giving him a lengthy explanation about the importance of my upcoming meeting.
When the door fell shut behind Dex, I breathed out a huge sigh of relief while Chloe turned around and gave me another one of her wide smiles.
“I was afraid he’d ask you to invest in his retirement fund next,” she said as she walked back to my desk with ease.
I stared at her. “You knew?”
She cocked her head to the side.
“That Dex always asks for a minimum of three things when he gets here?” She nodded.
“I went to John Keene’s son’s baseball game yesterday evening, and he mentioned it,” she confessed.
“You went where?” I asked and then shook my head.
“Of course you did.”
She grinned.
“I took some photos. They love their new uniforms, and the photos from the game are going on your website for the nonprofit.”
“That’s overkill. But tell me, how did you know Dex was here? Weren’t you in the meeting down the corridor with the legal team?”
She nodded.
“I was. But I saw Dex making his way to your office some minutes later, and I raced out of that room as soon as I could leave.”
I appreciated the sentiment and the effort.
“Thank you,” I said.
“I owe you for that.”
My hands itched to reach out and stroke her, but I restrained myself.
I wanted to focus my attention on her full lips, imagining what they’d taste like.
I hated that I was thinking these thoughts around her.
Wishing I could kiss her, taste her, and hear her moan under my touch.
She looked at me for a long moment before she spoke again.
“By the way, I’ve thought about what you asked.”
I indicated for her to sit.
After my call with Helen, I’d ordered all the Marvel movies for Lucas, only to realize he wanted to watch the movies with my housekeeper, not me.
I’d even gotten him a Spider-Man bouncy castle to play with when nothing else seemed to bridge the gap between us.
It was the happiest I’d seen him since having to say goodbye to his mother at the airport, but he still wouldn’t look at me.
How could I spend quality time with my son if he kept pushing me away?
How did parents make time with their children when their workday was chock-full of meetings and tasks and the child was too cranky at nighttime to care about spending time together?
Chloe was my only hope.
The only person I’d seen work well with Lucas, apart from Helen and the nanny.
The latter two hadn’t been able to help me with Lucas.
Anne worked multiple jobs, and Helen had fallen in love and was more interested in her new fiancé at the moment.
A new fiancé who would soon be Lucas’s step-dad.
A thought flashed in my mind that soon, Lucas would prefer Matt to me.
That shouldn’t happen.
I wouldn’t let that happen.
So even though I’d gone months without sex, and the universe had delivered the most attractive woman in front of me, I’d ignore every feeling I had for her.
Chloe was a woman I couldn’t make a move on.
Even though she was a woman who made my clothes feel too tight and my skin burn with heat.
I had to because I needed Chloe for something more.
I needed to be better than Helen’s new man, and I could not ruin that opportunity by sleeping with the only woman who had the power to teach me that.
What would I do if Chloe said no?
I thought about what I’d asked her, and I needed to tell her about something else I’d decided to do.
I held up a hand before she could continue.
“Before you go on, you should know that I’ve decided I’ll pay you overtime for helping me with Lucas. And of course, I won’t attempt to get you fired from your job anymore.”
She smiled and nodded.
“I’ve noticed,” she said.
“It’s been a while since I got multiple unreasonable requests in the first hour of my day.”
I cringed.
“About that …” I drew a deep breath, ready to say the words that I hardly let cross my lips.
“I’m sorry.”
She smiled widely.
“Don’t worry. It was fun. And about the overtime”—she exhaled—“it would really help.”
I nodded.
It was the least I could do for her.
She tapped a finger on the table, thinking.
“Though I have a caveat. I can only help you on Thursdays.”
I raised an eyebrow, and she didn’t offer an explanation beyond that.
“I’ll take only Thursdays,” I said.
I’d get to see her once a week after work to help me bond with Lucas?
That was better than nothing.
“It’s a deal.”
Her cheeks flushed, and she smiled, nodding in a way that sent her short blonde hair bouncing on her shoulders.
“Now, about Lucas?—”
I couldn’t wait any longer.
“You’ll show me how to be less of a grouch?”
She shook her head.
“No.”
I was confused.
“Do you think the grouch is so deep-rooted in me that I can’t be saved?”
“Wrong.” She leaned forward.
“I’m going to help Lucas love the grouch in you.”
I thought that was the moment I fell a little bit in love with her.
I sat back. “That’s impossible.”
“Someone very brilliant once told me that there is no such thing as impossible. That impossible is just an excuse for people who are too scared.”
I asked, “Are you going to repeat every line back to me, woman?”
Her sea-blue eyes twinkled outrageously.
It was a scandal—that was what it was.
Eyes as beautiful as that.
Chloe smiled. “There was a compliment in there for you somewhere, if you care for it. Besides, the name is Chloe. It would help if you could repeat that once in a while.”
“I don’t have time for trivialities.”
“I know. That’s what I like about you,” she said.
I froze again. Who was this woman who went about confessing her admiration for me like it was a normal thing?
“But my name is one thing that I hope to convince you isn’t trivial,” she added.
I scoffed. “I meant trivialities such as the compliment, Chloe. Not your name. You, your name, your words, and your body—nothing about you is trivial. A man would be a fool if he thought that,” I said with no difficulty.
“You help me win the love of my son, and I promise I’ll make it worth your time.”
She seemed softer around the edges when I said that, and her face glowed even more, if that was possible.
She was radiant.
I paused, our eyes holding each other’s gaze.
In that instant, our warring selves put down their swords, shields, and every bit of armor they possessed.
In that instant, we were looking at each other, our souls bared down to their basic levels, naked.
She nodded, her gaze not leaving mine.
“I’ll do it,” she said, extending a hand out.
I stared at the bare, sun-kissed arm for a moment too long before I took her hand in mine.
We shook, and I loved the feel of her hand in mine more than I should have.
It was soft, quite possibly like the rest of her.
Parts of her I could never explore, except in my dreams. Oh, she was a regular appearance in my nightly dreams these days.
Lush, sweet, and arousing, in a way that drove me insane.
So, in return, I drove her insane too.
I’d woken up with an image of my mouth between her thighs while she was lying flat on her back, whimpering.
I kissed her inner thighs, dipping down to run my tongue over her clit.
She tasted sweet, and I kept up my attentions, stroking her and teasing her while she got breathy, her face flushed and lips parting.
Her hands were in my hair, her mouth gasping while she pushed my head further down.
Before long, she had cried out my name while her tense body shuddered with release.
God, what was I doing, having her work for me?
“Why do you want this job anyway?” I blurted out, frustrated.
How many more erotic dreams would it take to get her out of my system?
“I swear you were doing something else in between all the foolish errands I made up for you.”
“Ah.” She gave me a gleeful smile, her hand on the table as she stood up and prepared to leave.
“Now that you’ve run out of foolish errands to make up for me, you might find out.”
She beamed and turned around, walking away.
My gaze went to the smooth curves of her ass before the door fell shut behind her.
Darn it, she was mysterious, too, and my need for her rocketed sky high.