Chapter 19
CHAPTER NINETEEN
sam
He said he was falling for me.
Not in passing. Not with his hands on me, his lips at my neck, or in the middle of sex. But across a candlelit table, wine in our glasses and laughter still on our lips. It felt real. Maybe it was the calm with which he said it, or how certain he sounded.
And I didn’t run. God, I didn’t even flinch. Which is something big coming from me. I used to pride myself on my ability to detach. The jet lag made it easy, and the uniforms helped. I’m used to the polite, practiced smile of someone always passing through. But there was none of that here.
Just him.
I could still feel the weight of his gaze when he said it.
Like it wasn’t a risk for him, but it was for me.
Because what do you do when the man you’ve been pretending not to fall for confesses that he’s already halfway down?
You just hold your breath, but now? Now I was exhaling for the first time in a while.
I should’ve panicked, maybe felt cornered. But all I felt was… full.
Full of something I wasn’t used to. Something that scared the shit out of me.
Hope. That’s it, that’s what I felt. The risk of feeling it is that you can’t unfeel it.
And maybe I’m not ready to name this. Maybe I don’t know if this will last. But I know what it isn’t.
It isn’t casual anymore. It isn’t forgettable. It isn’t a fling.
I blinked up at the ceiling, disoriented by sunlight and softness and the arm draped across my bare waist. Theo stirred behind me, his voice groggy. “What time is it?” I turned, stealing a glance at the phone on the nightstand. “6:47,” I whispered.
“Shit.” He groaned and buried his face in the pillow. “No.”
“Yes.” I rolled out of bed in one chaotic movement, pulling the sheets with me. “We have a meeting at nine, and I need to look like I slept in my bed, not my boss’s,” Theo smirked. “But you did sleep in your boss’s bed, actually, you did way more than that.”
Before I could throw a pillow at him, a familiar voice echoed through the apartment. “Theo,” Harper called from the living room. “I brought emergency supplies. You’re welcome.” I froze mid-sprint toward the bathroom. “You gave her a key?” I hissed.
“She gave herself one,” he said, sitting up and rubbing his face. I peeked around the corner of the bedroom door. Harper stood there, impeccably dressed at seven in the morning, holding a garment bag in one hand and two coffees in the other like some kind of goddess in stilettos.
“Morning,” she said without even blinking. “Sam, I guessed your size. There’s a black jumpsuit and a wrap dress. Both professional. Coffees are on the counter.” I stood there, speechless. “I… I love you,” I finally said, grabbing the coffee and backing toward the bathroom. “Truly. Deeply.”
She gave me a wink. I’d barely made it to the bathroom when I heard the rustle of paper, followed by Harper’s signature I-mean-business tone. “Theodore,” she said, voice sharp and clean like a scalpel. “The HR documents. Sign them. Today.” My hand froze on the zipper of the jumpsuit. HR documents?
I opened the bathroom door. “What HR documents?” I asked, staring at both of them.
Harper didn’t flinch. Theo, however, looked like he’d just been caught doing something bad. He cleared his throat and ran a hand through his hair. “Just… some HR formality stuff.” I raised an eyebrow.
“That doesn’t sound vague at all.” Harper held up the envelope.
“A consensual workplace relationship disclosure. You know. In case two people working together are…” she looked at both of us pointedly, “engaged in extracurricular activities that could lead to a conflict of interest or, God forbid, a lawsuit.”
“You’ve had that ready?” She didn’t miss a beat.
“I had them ready three weeks ago.” Theo looked down, muttering something that sounded dangerously close to “I was going to sign it.” Harper raised a single, perfectly arched brow.
“Before or after your next unscheduled boardroom sex session?” I nearly choked on my coffee. Theo groaned. “Harper.”
I bit back a laugh and looked between them. “So… what happens if he doesn’t sign it?”
“Then you still report to him directly,” Harper said simply.
“Which, let’s be honest, is a PR nightmare waiting to happen.
If you keep doing whatever it is you’re doing.
It could lead to issues. On the other hand, if he signs it, you’ll get reassigned to Cameron’s oversight.
No direct conflict there, and fewer reasons for me to have a potential aneurysm. ”
I blinked. “So… wait. I’d work under Cameron instead of Theo, and that’s it?” Harper sipped her coffee. “Yeah, that’s it.” Theo rubbed his temples. “I’m going to sign it.”
“Good,” Harper replied, cool as ever. “Because if you don’t, I’m going to text your mother.” I blinked at Theo. “You’re scared of your mom?” Harper answered for him. “He should be.” I stepped closer, gently plucking the envelope from Harper’s hand.
“Then I guess it’s official,” I said, smirking at Theo. “I’ll be working under PR at the office, and under the CEO in bed.” His mouth twitched. “Don’t make that sound so nasty.”
I smiled, turning back toward the bathroom. “Then stop giving me material.”
By the time we pulled up to the Hayes International building, Harper had fully transitioned into her operations-overlord mode.
“Sam, you go first,” she instructed, already tapping something into her phone. “Elevator bank C, use service one. Theo, you follow in 2 minutes. You’ll take the main entrance.” Theo raised a brow. “You’ve timed our entrances?”
She didn’t even blink. “Down to the second. We’re not running a rom-com, we’re running a billion-dollar company.” I hid my grin behind the rim of the coffee she’d handed me earlier. “Got it,” I said, stepping out into the chaos of the Manhattan sidewalk. “Right elevator, and no eye contact.”
“Exactly.” Harper gave me a once-over. “And for what it’s worth, you look like power today.” I turned back with a wink. “That’s because I slept with it.” She snorted, but didn’t disagree.
I walked into the sleek marble and glass oasis that was the executive floor, just in time to receive a calendar notification from Harper.
9:45 – Meeting with Cameron (PR + IB Strategy Oversight Transition) 11:30 – HR: Relationship Disclosure Documentation Review
Oh, good, my sex life has an itinerary now.
As I turned toward the hallway that led to Cameron’s office, I passed Naomi by the espresso machine. She glanced up from her cup, gave me a look, then raised her brow. “You look... refreshed.”
“Must be the new salary that’s making me feel fancier,” I quipped.
She didn’t respond, but the knowing smirk was all the commentary I needed.
I slipped into the meeting room just as Cameron walked in, clean-cut, sharp, and already mid-sentence with someone on his AirPods.
He waved, finished his call, then looked at me with a warm smile.
“Samantha,” he said, gesturing for me to sit. “Excited to finally work more closely.”
“Same here,” I said, settling in. “Though I have to admit, I wasn’t expecting to be reassigned so early into the game.” Cameron chuckled. “It’s not personal. HR just likes a clear structure. And Harper likes preventing lawsuits.”
“Both valid priorities.” We exchanged a few updates about the role, his expectations, how I’d be looped into international partnerships and media relations from a strategic lens, and I realized something strange.
I didn’t hate it. The job, I mean. The responsibility.
The sense of purpose. Maybe Rose was right.
Maybe I did owe myself this. As the meeting wrapped, Harper appeared in the doorway with a new folder. “HR is ready for you.”
Cameron shot me a look. “Good luck, time to make things legal.”
I stood. “Wait, legal? As in paperwork? With the legal department?” I turned and, of course, Naomi was standing just outside the glass wall. Shit. Shit. Shit. “Naomi,” I said, voice light. “Fancy seeing you here.”
She raised an eyebrow. “You’re formalizing a relationship with the CEO of Hayes International?” I shrugged one shoulder, trying to play it off. “There’s a form. Harper insisted.” Naomi stepped closer. “Samantha, I’m Head of Legal. And not once did this come across my desk.”
“Well, maybe because it wasn’t a legal, legal thing yet,” I said quickly.
“More like… HR technicalities. Like a boundary form. Or a ‘please don’t fire each other mid-orgasm’ kind of agreement.
” Cameron covered a cough that sounded suspiciously like a laugh.
Naomi’s eyes narrowed. “This is what happens when you let inexperienced rich girls into boardrooms.”
My mouth dropped open. “Excuse me?” She sighed, already annoyed that she let that one slip. “I didn’t mean it like that.”
“Then how did you mean it?” Harper appeared again, folder in hand like a rescue mission in four-inch heels.
“Oh, good, everyone’s here. Naomi, I looped you into the doc for final review an hour ago.
Check your email. And let’s not derail this with sibling drama.
I have actual fires to put out.” Naomi didn’t move, just sipped her espresso and stared at me as if it was my fault she hated me.
“See you at the next family dinner,” I said with a too-sweet smile, brushing past her and taking the folder from Harper like it was a shield.
Harper handed me a pen. “Sign here. Here. And here.” I glanced back at Naomi, who was now muttering something to Cameron. Then I looked down at the dotted lines. What’s one more scandal in a house built on them? I signed.
My phone buzzed as I stepped into the elevator. I sighed and rolled my eyes. “Yes, Max?”
“Good morning to you, too, Samantha,” my dad said, his voice smooth but clipped. “Do you have a moment to talk privately?” The elevator doors closed. “I’m literally in an elevator, so sure, why not?”
“You’ve signed an HR agreement?” Of course, he knew. Nothing stayed quiet in this building for more than ten seconds. “I did,” I said. “Because Harper handed it to me this morning, and because it’s apparently a condition of sleeping with someone in this place.” There was a pause.
“So you are sleeping with him, then.” I squeezed my eyes shut. “Are you seriously calling me to ask about my sex life?”
“I’m calling to ask if your choices are going to jeopardize the company I built. The legacy I’m trusting you to help lead. Because sleeping around with the new CEO while being new in the company isn’t exactly a way of showing respect, Samantha Nicole Hayes.”
“Okay, wow.” I shifted my weight, voice flat. “This is wildly inappropriate, even for you.”
“Samantha—”
“No, Max. I’m not having this conversation. You don’t get to have an opinion or judge me for what I do outside working hours, especially when you’re the one who hired him. And, might I add, failed to mention that detail until I was already in too deep.”
“This isn’t about judgment—”
“Oh, really? Because it sounds a lot like judgment from the man who has had more affairs than you can count, and who, by the way, married one of his mistresses, who was his PR director at the time.” Silence.
I exhaled slowly. “I’m doing the job you asked me to do. I’m keeping it professional where it counts. If you have a problem with that, you can talk to HR. Since apparently that’s where we air out our dirty laundry now.”
The elevator chimed. I stepped out. “I expect discretion,” he said, tone colder. “From both of you. I don’t need a headline saying that the newest CEO is sleeping around with one of Hayes’ heirs.”
“Then stop fueling gossip by calling me before 10 a.m. to ask if I’m fucking my boss.” I hung up before he could respond. My fingers were trembling, but my spine stayed straight.
Family dinners were going to be so fun moving forward.
Rose was already lying down on the couch when I got home, holding a pint of overpriced matcha ice cream. I slammed the door behind me.
“My father asked if I was sleeping with his CEO today.” She blinked. “Wow. So, we’re just skipping foreplay and going straight to family trauma?” I collapsed next to her, groaning. “He called me to use the word ‘jeopardize’ on me, like I’m a walking HR liability.”
“Well, I mean,” she said in a very high pitch, “you are sleeping with the CEO. But he didn’t need to say it.”
“He said he expects discretion, that he doesn’t want a headline with this information.” Rose paused, then gave me the most deadpan stare imaginable. “Okay, but to be fair, you had sex with him at a work gala, Sam. And you have had office sex.”
I hit her with a pillow. “You’re not helping.”
“I’m helping you.” I took the glass and sighed. “He made me feel like I’d done something wrong. Like I was risking everything we’ve built for a man.”
“Are you?” I hesitated.
“No. I mean, maybe, emotionally? But professionally? I’m killing it. I negotiated a logistics deal today that made Cameron fist-bump me in the hallway.”
Rose smirked. “See? You can be brilliant and fuck a billionaire.” We sat in silence for a moment.
“I haven’t told Theo.” Rose raised a brow. “About the call?” I nodded.
“Oh, he’s going to be pissed.”