“Oh?” After that dinner, we didn’t really talk about work outside of the office. “Why do you need to be in early?”
“I have a meeting with Jon.” The VP of sales, his boss’s boss. Jon was rarely in the Chicago office, so whatever it was, had to be serious. My face must have shown my concern. “It’s no big deal,” he said.
Then, why bring it up? He leaned in and kissed me, voiding thought out.
“See you tomorrow,” he uttered, a half-smile lurking beneath his lips.
No big deal. He’d lied to me. At ten-thirty the designers assembled in the conference room for a meeting Logan had scheduled only an hour prior. He didn’t sit in the back with his laptop, he stood up front with his boss, Will, the creative director, and Jon. The VP of sales was tall, southern, and always seemed like he’d rather be somewhere else. We only saw him when something had gone wrong, like losing a client. All of the designers went on the defensive when they laid eyes on him, and lowered themselves to sit with straight backs.
Will was in his late fifties. He oversaw all the departments including PR and broadcast, and those departments were far more demanding than ours, so we didn’t see him much either. Logan’s face was empty. His gaze paused on me, and then went to the room.
“Thank you for being flexible with your schedules,” he said. “By now you might have heard that our company acquired Paradigm Creative, and you’re wondering how this will affect our department.”
What? Paradigm Creative was a competing agency. They were smaller than we were, but there was sure to be a full design staff there. A spark of panic ignited in my stomach. Was Jon here to break the bad news that our department was being replaced?
“We’re bringing on most of PC’s design team,” Logan continued, “to help with the new workload, and there’s going to be a change in structure within our department. A supervisor position will be created from each of the locations, and those new supervisors will report to me.”
His eyes flicked my direction for a second. So miniscule no one else probably noticed it.
Holy shit.
A deal this big had been in the works for a while. Logan had known someone in our department was getting promoted, and with that single look, he told me everything. This was why he’d wanted to keep our relationship a secret. Why he’d hesitated when talking about my promotion to senior designer. He had bigger plans for me.
I was the person he’d confessed was the best in the department, but doing something like this was going to make waves. Big fucking ones. If anyone heard we were dating, they would assume I’d slept my way to it, making both Logan and me look bad.
My mind raced with the revelations. Suddenly the meeting was over. Logan was already checking email on his phone and out the door before I shuffled up out of my seat and back to my c
ube. I had to talk to him. My hands closed around my phone, only to have it chirp with a text message from him.
Spiro’s was eight blocks from the office. It was a hike for mediocre Greek food, and I assumed he’d chosen it exactly for this reason. Our co-workers were unlikely to wander in and see us together. He’d gotten a table in the back, and stood when I came toward him, his suit jacket removed and hanging on the back of his chair. We hadn’t set any kind of boundaries for meetings like this, so close to the office and in the middle of the day.
“Hi,” he said. “How’s your day going?”
I sat in the chair he’d pulled out for me. “It’s been interesting. Keeping things quiet about us makes a bit more sense now.”
“I’ll interview anyone who applies.” A coy smile lurked on his face when he sat down beside me. “But, yeah, I already have someone in mind for the position.”
“I’ve only been there a few years, and I’m young.”
He looked startled. “You don’t want it?”
“You know I do.” It would be easier if I didn’t, but I was far too driven to pass up the opportunity.
“It’s not really about age. It’s a confidence and respect thing. They respect you, and we both know you’d be great at it.”
I had no idea if I was speaking with my boss or my boyfriend, and it made me dizzy.
“So, are you going to stop by my office later and apply?”
I felt a similar coy smile overtake me. “Yes, sir.”
A switch flipped, and I knew exactly whom I was talking to. His gaze filled with so much desire, it left me breathless. Beneath the table, his hand closed around my knee.
Keeping work and our relationship separate was difficult, but I did my best. We talked about his upcoming marathon. How Payton had seemed kind of down the last time I’d spoken to her. Something was up, and I worried I might have become one of those neglectful friends who drops everything when she has a boyfriend.
The waiter brought the check and jarred me from my thoughts.
“I’m going to have to get back soon,” I said, noting the clock on the back wall. Not that I wanted to go. I wanted to stay right where I was. In fact, I wanted his hand to move higher on my thigh. Instead, it tensed.