I really need some coffee, so I head to the break room. The stuff in the cafe downstairs is better, but I don’t want to take the time. There’s usually a line. I turn the corner and hear voices coming from the small kitchenette.
“Like it isn’t obvious?”
I recognize Kelly’s voice. She’s in Marketing.
“Come on,” someone else says. “There’s no way she’s with him.”
I peek around the door and see Kelly talking with Lydia, who’s also on the marketing team, and Justin from Sales. Something makes me hesitate—are they talking about me?
“There’s totally something going on between them,” Kelly says.
“Selene?” Justin says. “I don’t know.”
Fuck. They are talking about me.
“Oh yeah, he’s definitely sleeping with her,” Lydia says. “Shelley Johnson said she saw Selene come out of his office the other day with sex hair.”
“In the office?” Kelly says, her eyes lighting up like it’s the best thing she’s ever heard. “Oh my god, that’s crazy.”
“I know,” Lydia says. “You’d think Selene would know better.”
“Well, come on,” Kelly says. “It’s Ronan Maddox. Who could resist him? Not me.”
“I hope your husband doesn’t know that,” Lydia says with a laugh.
Kelly laughs right back. “Seriously, that guy is so hot, he’s definitely on my list.”
“Your list?” Justin asks, sounding clueless as usual.
“Yeah, you know, the list of people you’d get a pass to sleep with if you ever had the chance,” Kelly says. “Usually it’s celebrities and stuff, but Ronan Maddox is on mine. Damn, that man is fine.”
“I don’t care how hot he is,” Lydia says. “I wouldn’t do it.”
“Why are you all judgy about it?” Kelly asks. “You dated that sales guy for a while.”
“He wasn’t my boss,” Lydia says. “There’s a big difference. Selene already thinks she runs this place. If she’s sleeping with the boss, that’s only going to get worse.”
“She’s not that bad,” Kelly says. “Now you just sound jealous.”
“I’m hardly jealous,” Lydia says. “But watch. Selene’s going to get some big promotion, and we’re going to know exactly why.”
I back away from the room, a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. This is exactly what I was afraid of. I hurry back to my office. I don’t want one of them to come out into the hallway and realize I heard. I’m embarrassed enough as it is.
Sex hair? Fuck.
When I get back to my desk, I have a message from Ronan. Can I see you in my office?
Ordinarily, that little message would fill me with anticipation. He might just need to chat with me about something business-related. Or, he might be standing in his office with a velvet rope, ready to tie up my hands and fuck me on his desk. But right now, I don’t want to play his games. We’ve been pushing the boundaries of what’s appropriate at work way too much.
Is it urgent? I type back. Busy.
It can wait. Lunch?
That probably means it’s business. Sure.
I don’t get much done in the two hours leading up to lunch. I keep going over what I heard in the break room. I just met with the development team the other day, and filled them in on the new direction for VI and the integration with Edge. Do they know about us too? Were they sitting there thinking, Of course Selene is encouraging us to trust Ronan. She’s banging him, so… Is everyone going to see an ulterior motive in everything I do?
This is one of the reasons I always stuck to my rule about dating coworkers. Things can get so awkward in the office.