Chapter 21
TWENTY-ONE
Isla
Travis has shown up to work earlier than normal. He even beats Lucas in most days now. It gives us a few minutes of alone time before we have to continue with the fa?ade of boss-slash-employee once everyone else arrives.
He’s taken to hanging around the office at the end of the day for the same reason. A couple of weeks have passed since our second first date, and we haven’t discussed again the possibility of telling anyone we’re seeing each other.
I’m content with how things are now. In truth, it’s fun sneaking around. The thrill of getting caught adds a bit of excitement to everything, not that we need it. We can hardly keep our hands off each other. But I understand the need to really make sure this thing with us can go the distance before we disturb the entire office. If we broke up, it would make it awkward for everyone, not just the two of us.
I’m bending over to place a file in the filing cabinet when a hand strokes my ass. Grinning, I stand and turn around to Travis. “I’m not sure the boss is supposed to touch his employees like that. I swear there’s a rule in the handbook.”
Travis wraps his arms around my waist, pulling me into him. “Funny, I didn’t even know that we had an employee handbook.”
I slide my hands up his chest. “Oh, we do. I think it also said something about conducting an employee satisfaction survey quarterly.”
His brown eyes light up. “You don’t say. Well, the last thing I want is to be accused of not doing my job.” He slides his hands down over my ass and squeezes. “Where do you think I should start with this survey? Here. Or…” His hands trail up and around to cover my breasts. “Here? Or maybe even…” One hand bunches up the fabric at the bottom of my flowy dress until his hand is between my legs, cupping my mound. “I think here.”
My breathing becomes heavy. “I think any of those would be a good place to start.”
Travis licks his lips in a way that makes me wish they were between my legs. Then he dips his fingers underneath the lace of my underwear and slides them through my folds. My head rocks back.
“Hmm,” he hums. “Based on how wet you are, I’d say you’re one satisfied employee.”
“Maybe you should take a better look.” My voice is raspy, and my nipples pebble in my bra.
Travis plunges a finger into me, and my eyes drift closed.
The back door of the house opens and, my eyes snap open. Travis steps back from me. I quickly make sure my dress isn’t messed up right before Josh steps into the room.
He stops, and his eyes piston between us. “Everything all right?”
I walk toward my desk. “Yup, just wrapping up for the day. I have to go meet Camila for dinner.”
Josh walks over and wraps his arm around my shoulders, tugging me into his side. “My two favorite girls having a night on the town? Can I join the fun?”
I laugh. “It’s not a night on the town, it’s dinner. At a wine bar. Not sure it’s your scene.”
“You saying I can’t be sophisticated?” Josh squeezes me into his side even further.
I look at Travis, whose eyes are narrowed on his brother—specifically on where his hand grips my upper arm.
Turning myself out of Josh’s grip, I face him and ruffle his hair. “You can do anything you set your mind to.” I say it to him as though he’s a small child.
He shakes his head at me and laughs. “I think you mean any one .” He winks at me.
“You’re not usually here this late. What’s up?” Travis asks rather abruptly.
“My last call was nearby, so I figured I’d swing by and drop these off tonight rather than bring them in tomorrow morning.” He shrugs as he sets his call sheets on my desk.
Then there’s an awkward silence between the three of us.
“Well, I’d better get going or I’m going to be late meeting Camila.” I open the bottom drawer of my desk and pull out my purse. “You guys have a good night. See you in the morning.”
I avoid looking at Travis when I leave, afraid I’ll give something away and Josh will notice.
I’ve just parked my car at the wine bar when my phone dings in my purse. I turn the car off and pull it out to see that Travis sent me a text message.
I just tasted you on my fingers. Can’t wait until I have the real thing on my tongue again.
I have to press my thighs together to stifle the urge that swells inside me. Quickly, I type out a response to him.
I think you should conduct your employee satisfaction survey again. Now I’m just frustrated. ;)
Shoving my phone in my purse, I exit the car and head into the wine bar. Camila is already seated inside, so I smile at the hostess and walk past to join Camila. She looks beautiful as always in a wine-red dress that works well with the olive of her skin tone.
“Hey, sorry, I’m a little late,” I say, taking a seat.
She waves me off. “You’re fine. My train got in a little earlier than usual, so I was here ahead of time.”
“Have you already ordered a drink?” I ask, picking up the wine list.
“Our waitress came over and offered, but I decided to be a good friend and wait until you got here.”
I chuckle and peruse the list. “You going with white or red?”
“I think I’m going to go with red tonight. Cabernet to be specific.”
I set down the wine list. “Great, I’m going with a merlot.”
The waitress takes our wine order, and we decide on some tapas to enjoy alongside our drinks. Once she’s left, I relax back in my seat.
“So how are things with you? Any prospects since you kicked Blake to the curb?”
I knew my love life would come up tonight, and I’ve been kind of dreading it. Being around Lucas and Josh and not telling them doesn’t feel the same. They’re guys. They don’t ask about men in my life. But a friend does, and now I have to outright lie to Camila’s face.
“Nothing to report,” I say. Nothing I can report would be more accurate.
“I told Lucas we need to set you up with someone.”
“Oh… I’m good for now.”
“I’m going to look at our guest list for the wedding and see if there are any eligible bachelors.” Her eyes show excitement that I need to squash. Then again, technically, Travis is an eligible bachelor.
The waitress approaches our table and sets our wine glasses in front of us. I’m thankful for the interruption. After she leaves, I try to change the subject.
“Have you and Lucas started doing much planning?” I bring my wine glass to my lips and take a sip.
“Not a huge amount, but we have gone over who we’re inviting so that we have an idea of how big of a venue we need. And we’ve decided that we’re going to have the ceremony next September. It’s my favorite month.” She grins at me.
“That’s so exciting! You only have a little more than a year to go.”
She cringes. “Don’t say that. It makes me feel like I’m already so behind on wedding planning.”
“Well, if I can help at all, just let me know. You have lots of time to pull everything together. Are you guys planning on having a large wedding?” I twirl my wine glass by the stem, waiting while she swallows her mouthful of wine.
“Nothing huge. We figure it will probably end up being between seventy-five and one hundred people.”
“That’s a good number. Not overwhelming. I once went to a wedding for a friend I went to college with. She and her high school sweetheart got married right out of school, and there were close to five hundred people there. It was insane.”
Unlike most girls I know, I’ve never given much thought to what kind of wedding I would want. I never had anyone in my life who inspired me to think about it, but I think I’d prefer something even more intimate than what Camila and Lucas are planning.
“Oh my god, I can’t imagine what that would have cost,” she says.
“Right? Maybe she sold a kidney or something to pay for it.”
We both laugh, then turn the conversation to other things. Thankfully, it never circles back to the state of my love life, which is for the best. But I know the time is drawing near when we’re going to have to make a decision about telling other people.