She leaned forward. “You had better watch out.”
“Why?”
“Even five-year-olds are dangerous.” She gave me a knowing look. “And I’ve heard stuff about him. Old Sweet Cheeks isn’t that sweet.”
“What do you mean?” I was very interested to hear her answer, but I couldn’t look too keen.
“His family, it’s all twisted and weird. He grew up with his mother, who’s apparently mad as a hatter. His dad died in a plane crash when he was young, leaving everything to him. They’re super rich and move in the top society circles. He’s supposedly dating Taya de Soto, have you seen her?”
The name sounded familiar
“She’s gorgeous, the face of one of those big cosmetics companies, I forget which one.”
“So, he’s got a girlfriend, then,” I said, trying to sound cool. “No problem.”
“Big problem,” Tash said quickly.
“Guy like Sweet Cheeks isn’t going to want to date you. He wants to pin you against the wall!” she lowered her voice dramatically and grabbed my arm for effect. I had to laugh.
I wanted to tell her then that we used to go out in college, but I’d missed my chance. It was too late now.
“I’m serious! I think he got turned on by your stunt in the bar when you first joined.”
“But why all the extra work?” I said, doubtful.
“He wants to see how much you can take, make you come to him,” Tash suggested.
“You seem to know a lot about this!”
Tash shrugged. “I’ve dated a lot of men, believe me, this wouldn’t even be the weirdest thing I’d heard of when it comes to office romances.”
“I don’t want anything to do with him,” I said.
“Yeah, I reckon, he sleeps with you once and that’s it, you’re out the door,” she said matter-of-factly.
“Have there been rumors of him and other women at the office?”
Tash thought about it. “Not really, but he does sometimes have favorites. People he suddenly calls on for work or to help him with stuff. For a while, their ideas are the best and all he’ll listen to. Then, a few weeks, later, it’s someone else again.”
“He sounds temperamental,” I said.
“I don’t know… I think it’s a stressful job. He was always groomed to be the heir, you know, the guy to take over from his father. Family members looked after it until he was ready to step in as CEO. Since then, all eyes have been on him to make it work and he has.”
I nodded, taking it all in.
“He’s always been nice enough to me,” Tash said with a shrug. “But I’d watch my back if I were you.”
It was a lot to take in. I struggled to concentrate on work that afternoon, Tash’s words kept coming back to me and I hated it. I wanted the job to be about the work I was doing, not some weird tactic of Matthew’s.
I didn’t work late that evening.
Instead, I left on time and went home, got changed and headed out for an evening with Dax and some of our friends. I tried to relax, to enjoy the company and our conversation, but found that I couldn’t. My thoughts kept drifting off to work and Matthew.
“What is up with you these days?” Dax asked as we went home. “You barely said a word all evening?”
I shrugged.
“It’s this job, you should quit,” he said.