Felicity tried to shake the image of hot, sweaty, naked Austin. It wasn’t the first time she’d thought about what he’d look like naked. She just knew that underneath his custom-fit Tom Ford suits, Austin’s body would be long and lean and sexy. His shoulders—oh, those shoulders, they were so perfect they made her want to weep—those broad shoulders would give way to strong, muscled arms—not too muscled, but just right so that his biceps would bulge when he pulled her into his arms and against his perfectly defined chest. Lean hips would showcase a washboard-flat stomach just above the part of his body that would rock her world.
She drew in a sharp breath. She couldn’t help it. That’s what he did to her. It wasn’t considered objectifying a man if you were in love with him, right? She didn’t think of anyone else like this. She didn’t want to just sleep with him—okay, she did want to sleep with him and she’d fully imagined that experience, too. She wanted so much more than lust or a one-night stand. She wanted to love Austin and she wanted him to love her, too. But he didn’t. Clearly, he didn’t.
Her sexy daydreams were the consolation prize for the fact that beyond the office, Austin didn’t even realize she existed.
“That’s not true,” Felicity said, answering her friend’s comment about how Austin couldn’t function without her.
Maia pinned her with a dubious look.
“Okay, maybe it’s partially true,” Felicity conceded. “It’s called job security. I make myself indispensable and I keep getting paid.”
“I think you’re long past needing to worry about job security. How long has it been now?”
“Almost five years.”
“Do you think he will remember your anniversary?” There was a gleam in Maia’s eye that Felicity tried to ignore. “I think it’s an occasion that calls for flowers and jewelry.”
“Stop. He’s my boss. There will be no jewelry involved. Because I’ll be at my new job by then.”
“But you wouldn’t mind jewelry. Maybe a ring?”
“Maia, stop. Even if I was still working there, I doubt it would even cross his mind to get me a card. I’m sure in his mind my paycheck is proof of his appreciation.”
Austin did pay her well. She couldn’t dispute that. Once, when she’d been offered an entry-level position as an account executive with a local advertising agency, she’d given him two weeks’ notice. He’d doubled her salary without blinking an eye.
He’d told her she was worth it.
For a bright and shiny moment, she’d read something deeper into his words. Something that bordered on personal. Then she’d blinked and the next thing she knew, he’d launched into what a hassle it would be to find and train someone new and what an imposition it would be to suffer through a new assistant’s initial learning curve.
The explanation had dulled the luster in a hurry.
Still, the money was nice. The raise had allowed her to save up a substantial down payment for a house. A year later she’d been in position to buy one of the units in the cute little green house in New Orleans’s Irish Channel neighborhood. Technically, it was half a house, but it was hers and she loved it so much she wouldn’t have traded it for one of the stately mansions in the neighboring Garden District. Well, in theory, anyway.
In the years she’d worked for Austin, nothing had changed. Felicity was still single, and Austin was none the wiser to her feelings for him. Every day was the same. Except, the days had morphed into weeks and weeks into months. Now, here she was looking back at nearly half a decade that had gone by in a heartbeat and she felt like a hamster on a wheel, bored and mostly unfulfilled by the sameness of it all, but safe and comfortable hiding behind her fat bank account and feelings for him she could never reveal.
Emotionally, she couldn’t afford to go on like this much longer. She’d go insane. That’s why she had promised herself she would quit and get a real job after she graduated with her MBA at the end of the month.
“I don’t understand why you don’t just level with him and tell him how you feel,” Maia said. “You might just be surprised. I mean, you’re leaving soon anyway. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.”