But even framing it that way didn’t relieve my body of the tension I carried with me to my office.
I leaned my back against the door of my office and sighed. Shit. I was having lunch with Brett Greyson. Not good. This was definitely not good. This job was not a good idea. I closed my eyes and thought about my mother. About the bills I paid and the food I put in her fridge and the car insurance I footed for her so she could get around. I pushed myself off the door and made my way for my desk. I sat down in my chair and dumped the contents of my purse out onto the top of it. I shuffled them around, setting my laptop off to the side and digging around in my makeup.
“Come on, where the fuck are you?” I asked.
It wasn’t until I felt the vibrations against my breast that I groaned. Of course. I’d shoved it into my bra when I’d gotten out of the car. As lipstick and mascara rolled off the edge of my desk, I leaned back and looked at my phone. I had a text message from Katie, trying to confirm our lunch date. I opened up the message and typed her one back, informing her that I’d have to cancel it for today.
I told her it was “work related” and left it at that.
It technically was. I wasn’t lying. Brett wanted to get together for lunch and talk business. But it was Brett. And I knew how Katie would feel about me getting lunch with him, despite the fact that he was my boss. Despite the fact that he owned the company I worked for. I didn’t need to be putting out her insane, paranoid fires on my first full day of work without training. Enough had gotten tipped over on its head. I didn’t need my best friend losing her mind over a damn sandwich with my ex.
Who was also my boss.
Why had I taken this job again?
I shoved everything back into my purse and got my laptop opened up. My morning was spent familiarizing myself with the invoicing software and sorting all of the clients by consultant. I typed in some code and organized everything on Excel sheets. I linked file folders to desktop computers in front of the consultant’s eyes to try and make things easier on everyone. By the time I was done, all the consultant had to do was type in the information on their end, and it would automatically sort on mine. Prices would be calculated based on the clock-in and clock-out times of their clients, and all I’d have to do come invoicing time was make sure the numbers checked out and that times were clocked in right.
It kept my mind off how nervous I was regarding this lunch.
A knock came at my door and I jumped. I looked up just as my door slowly eased open, and there he stood in his gray suit and his black shirt and tie with his shimmering black shoes that matched his onyx hair. He leaned against the doorway with his hand slipped into his pocket. The other hand tucked what looked to be a pen into the inside pocket of his suit coat.
“Ready for lunch?” Brett asked.
“I think I am, yes,” I said.
“Rumor has it you just made things a little easier for my consultants.”
“Just a bit of code and some magic work with Excel. I’m shocked it wasn’t done earlier.”
Brett chuckled. “I only hire the best for my company.”
“I didn’t mean that the way it came out.”
His eyebrows rose as I stood up from my chair.
“What?” I asked.
“Nothing. Just never known you to be one to backtrack on a statement like that,” he said.
“Well, people change.”
“That they do.”
I came out from around my desk and felt his gaze drop down my body again. He was unashamed at how much he was looking at me, and I found that I liked it. His hand fell to the middle of my back, and I thought I was going to crawl out of my skin. His touch was just as hot as it was the first night I met him. The fire underneath his skin heated my entire back. He guided me onto the elevator, and I expected us to go down. But instead, I saw him press the button for the nineteenth floor.
“Are we not doing lunch?” I asked.
“We are. I had it catered into my office,” Brett said.
We stood in the elevator, and his hand didn’t fall from my back. In fact, it didn’t depart from my body at all until we got into his office. And his office was grand. The entire back wall was lined with floor-to-ceiling windows that overlooked the beautiful skyline of Seattle, the Space Needle included. The carpet underneath my heels was plush, with enough give for anyone to lay their body on and fall asleep against. His massive mahogany desk shone in the shimmering rays of the sun, and a couch setting in the corner of his office boasted of our lunch: two steaks with broccoli and mashed potatoes, complete with two glass bottles of Crush.