Chapter Eighteen #2
Unable to keep her emotions in check any longer, she blurted, “Kolby and I slept together.”Colleen’s face registered her shock. The pink in her cheeks went dusty rose and her mouth fell open.
“Charity—” Kolby’s voice was strained.
“It was only once, and after an event,” she said, fast and all at once. “It didn’t mean anything. I know how you feel about coworkers hooking up and how disappointed you must be because I slipped. But I promise it—”
“Never happened,” Kolby interjected.
Her head whipped around to him. “What?”
“It never happened. We didn’t sleep together, Charity.”
“What are you talking about? Yes, we did. You woke up in my bed after...”
“Okay, technically, yeah, we did. Sleep. But that’s all we did.” He turned his attention of Colleen.
The shock of his declaration – which had to be a lie, she reasoned – shattered through her.
“I-I don’t understand. Why are you saying this?”
“Because we didn’t have sex. Look, after you got sick, I was worried it might happen again.
I didn’t want to take the chance you’d vomit and not be able to get to the bathroom.
I knew a guy in high school who died that way and it’s always stayed with me.
So, I wanted to make sure someone was with you for safety reasons.
That someone was, by default, me. But that’s it. We never had sex.”
“But I was undressed, and you were in my bed.”
He nodded. “The front of your dress got splashed when you vomited, so I took it off you before I carried you to your bed. In your underwear, if you remember. After I covered you and was satisfied you were breathing okay, I realized I didn’t relish having a fitful night on your couch, so I slid in next to you.
But nothing, Charity, nothing happened. You passed out, and I went to sleep. That’s it.”
“We didn’t...?”
“No.”
Fifteen different emotions sailed through her simultaneously. Shock came first, followed by a profound sense of relief. In the next instant, both shoved to the back of her mind. Her vision tunneled on him as anger bubbled up.
She bolted from the chair and fisted her hands on her hips as the fury came unleashed.
“Why did you lie to me and tell me we had?”
“I never lied to you.”
“Yes you did –”
“You,” he said over her, “assumed we had. Your mind went immediately to the worst-case scenario when you woke up and you jumped to the obvious – to you – conclusion.”
“Well, what was I supposed to think? You were in my bed and I was practically naked!”
“Gee, I don’t know, Charity.” His sarcasm sailed around the room.
“Maybe that I was worried about you and wanted to make sure you were okay? Maybe I was being a friend and not leaving you alone to fend for yourself when you were, obviously, impaired? You didn’t think any of those things, though.
You automatically assumed I’d seen an opportunity and run with it because that’s the kind of guy you believe I am. ”
The words stung, more so because he was right. She had thought that about him.
“But you never told me, not once, what really happened.”
“Because you never gave me a chance.” Frustration pushed him from the chair as he rose and lifted his hands in the air.
“I did try to tell you but you steamrolled right over me and then started calling me every name in the book, claiming I’d taken advantage of your drunken state to have sex with you. ”
The fire on her face spread down her neck to her chest like she’d been dumped in a cauldron of boiling water.
He swiped at the hair at his temples. “The fact you thought so little of me rankled, especially because I’d just spent the night to make sure you were okay. I was angry and hurt and I’m man enough to admit I was pissed at you for thinking me such a lowlife.”
“So you thought it was a good idea to blackmail me to, what? Get back at me?” Her voice had risen half an octave.
“What?” Colleen and Slade both cried.
Kolby shot them a glare and said, “I didn’t blackmail her.
” He zeroed back in on her face. “I made that bargain with you because I saw a way to get you to stop treating me like something under your shoe. I was sick and tired of your condescending behavior and the little digs you were always aiming my way.”
“What bargain?” Colleen demanded.
He had the grace, Charity thought, to look contrite when he said, “Charity was upset that you’d find out about our supposed night together and that you’d be disappointed in her, maybe even fire her, so I agreed never to mention it to you if she stopped treating me like I was unworthy of respect.”
“Why would you think I’d fire you?” Colleen asked Charity.
She shrugged. “I just did.”
With a head shake, Colleen sighed. “Sweetie, you’d have to do something professionally egregious for me to let you go.
Sleeping with a coworker, while not the best scenario in the world, isn’t even close to a fireable action.
You’re the best assistant I’ve ever had.
I’d be stupid to let you go for that reason alone. ”
Tears welled again in her eyes. Disregarding them, she turned back to Kolby. “Why didn’t you ever tell me the truth?” she asked, her anger worming its way up again. “All these weeks, and I still believed you were holding this over my head. Why?”
He lifted a shoulder. “Because things between us were finally going well. We were coexisting and working together without any problems.” He shook his head as he dragged in another huge breath. “It was nice. I figured if I told you the truth so far after the fact, you’d start hating me again.”
“I never hated you.” The heat in her voice burned.
“No,” he nodded, the sarcasm filling it impossible to miss. “You just thought I was a man-whore who couldn’t keep it in my pants with anything possessing two X chromosomes. Those,” he pointed an index finger at her, “are your words. Exactly.”
Anger and hurt blew from him.
Well, she had both occupying space in her, too. A whole lot of space.
Narrowing her eyes, she said, “You lied to me.”
“I never lied –”
“Omitting the truth is lying. If you had a conscience, you’d know that.”
His lips flattened into two thin lines as he slammed his hands in his back pockets. The defiant attitude he adopted morphed into contrition. “I had my reasons,” he said darkly.
They stared at one another across the thin space dividing them, chests both heaving with the weight of their emotions. The level of hurt and confusion bounding through Charity was monumental.
Slade cleared his throat and looked at his wife. When his eyebrows rose in a question, she nodded.
“Sit down,” she told the two of them. Her tone, although stern, was calmer than a few minutes prior.
“Now,” she began once they were seated again.
“I can’t have behavior like last night’s continue.
Not around clients. You two have rubbed one another the wrong way since day one.
I let it slide because I hoped – and prayed – you’d both come to realize how important you each are to the business and how much you each bring to the table. ”
She nailed Kolby with a piercing glare. “You are the best photographer I have ever had the pleasure to know and work with. Every single client we’ve had has sung your praises to the rafters.
Your work ethic is above par and I have never had one complaint about you.
I do understand, though, why the flirtiness you exhibit with clients can annoy someone like Charity, who’s all business, all the time. ”
His mouth flattened.
Turning her attention to Charity, she said, “You have to realize that his behavior serves a purpose. It relaxes people, puts them in good moods, and all that serves to get better pictures, which makes the wedding couple and their families happier. In the end, that’s our goal: happiness for everyone involved. ”
Charity’s shoulders squared as she nodded.
“Your professionalism and attention to details are outstanding, Charity. In fact, I worry daily you’re going to give me your notice so you can start your own business.”
“I’m not.” She shook her head to underscore the truth of her statement.
“For now, anyway.” Colleen sighed and leaned back in her chair, resting her hands over her protuberant midsection. “Now, while I adore the way you handle your job, I worry about you.”
“Why?” Her brows tugged together.
“I just do. You’re so serious all the time. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but I’d like to see you have fun, kick back. Enjoy yourself when you’re not working.”
“I do.”
“Sparring with guys twice your size two nights a week isn’t my idea of fun.”
“Thank God for that,” Slade murmured.
His wife shot him a speaking glance, then rolled her eyes like Charity was wont to do.
“But I love karate. It centers me. Gives me balance.”
“I know.” Charity smiled. “But I’d like to see you do something just for fun. No need for balance or centering or anything else. Just let loose and have fun.”
Charity had no idea where this was coming from, and because she was confused, she blinked several times and bit down on her bottom lip.
“Okay, enough of this. Babies are getting restless.” Colleen drew circles over her abdomen with her fingertips. She puffed her cheeks, then blew out a breath.
“From now until I get back from maternity leave, you two need to figure out a way to coexist together without any further rancor or emotional scenes, especially around clients. I can’t afford to have people calling me and complaining about you two.
Not that anyone has. Complained, I mean.
Maureen and the Reynolds/Damons were concerned about the both of you.
Thankfully, if you can say it that way, you saved your outburst until the evening was over.
But I don’t want it happening again at any time. Understood?”
Charity nodded. From her peripheral eyeline, Kolby did the same.