Chapter 4
Allison
The thought of going back to work after a long, delicious Fourth of July weekend was rough. I cursed mildly at my phone’s wake-up alarm before switching it off and rolling over. If only I were still on Joshua’s yacht, soaking in the sun and sipping margaritas.
I forced myself out of bed and scowled at my flowered curtains. One of these days, soon, I would do something about them.
There was a perk to going to work—I would still see Joshua often. The biggest torture would be that I could see him, but not touch him.
I started shuffling toward the kitchen. Jess wasn’t up yet, so I’d need to start the coffee. I stopped in my tracks. Another garment bag was hanging on my door. There was a note taped to the plastic:
Alls, here’s another outfit so you can start getting noticed at work. A billionaire’s girlfriend needs to look sharp. You can thank me by making coffee and letting me sleep in. –Jess
I rolled my eyes, smiling. She was sneaky, sleeping in so I wouldn’t be able to argue with her. She knew I didn’t have the budget to buy trendy office clothes, but with her blog taking off, fashion companies were practically throwing free outfits at her. Just the same, I didn’t feel right taking all her gorgeous finds. They were the benefits of her job, not mine.
She knew all this, of course, which was why she’d taken to guerilla outfit-gifting. Each time she tried a new tactic of giving me clothes in a way I couldn’t argue.
I could do with looking sharp today, though. It was Scintilla’s big annual meeting, and Joshua wanted at least three representatives from each department—human resources, marketing, production, sales, and accounting. I’d never sat in before, but he specifically asked for me to be one of the reps from accounting.
After my shower and some coffee, I braved the mascara wand and eyeshadow and did a decent job on my eyes. I gazed doubtfully at the other powders and creams and downed the rest of my coffee. Eyes were enough today; I wanted to get to the office early and make sure all of my notes were in order before the meeting started.
I strutted to my door in a pair of low heels I’d invested in for work. After Jess went through the effort of giving me such nice clothes, I could hardly wear my boring old shoes every day. When I went to slide my phone into my handbag, there was a new message on the screen from Joshua: Meet me at Connie’s? Quick breakfast, my treat.
I grinned. I couldn’t get enough of this guy. I’m on my way, I texted back.
Connie’s Café was packed with the morning rush, blue-collar and white-collar alike crowding together at tables big and small, but Joshua had managed to find a small table for two. A scone and coffee were waiting for me, but I was happiest to see his gentle smirk. He looked fantastic in a dark gray suit over a white, button-down shirt. The fabric of the jacket looked imposing and yet oh-so-touchable. The stubble on his chin and jaws was the perfect length for a kiss with an edge. I almost went in for that kiss before I remembered that Connie’s was close enough to Scintilla that we might see people we knew from the office. Reluctantly, I stopped at the wooden chair he pulled out for me and kept my distance.
“Hey, beautiful,” he murmured, squeezing my hand when I sat down. “Are you ready for that meeting today?”
“I think so.” I took a bite of my scone. Oh, so good. “I still don’t know why you want me there. I’m just a nobody from accounting.”
“No,” he said. “You’re everybody.” His hand found my knee beneath the table, and he rubbed it gently.
His touch was doing amazing things to my nerve endings. I took a sip of coffee. “Thanks for breakfast.”
“Anytime.”
“So what’s the agenda for today? I’ve never been to a giant, all-department meeting before. What do you expect me to do?”
He eyed me thoughtfully, sipping his coffee. “I don’t want you to be Allison from accounting,” he said finally. “I want you to just be Allison.”
“Just be Allison? What does that mean?”
Suddenly his phone buzzed on the table. “Shit,” he said, checking the display. “The meeting’s supposed to be starting. You arrived, looking so beautiful, that I lost track of time. No matter. They can’t start without me.”
It felt like my heart stopped beating for a moment. “Don’t we have another half hour?”
He looked puzzled. “No, we changed the schedule. The meeting was supposed to start five minutes ago.”
“What?” I squawked. “I didn’t even know about the schedule change.”
“I had to schedule another meeting in the afternoon, so I asked Jamie to send out a company text last night, moving our meeting forward. Didn’t you get the text?”
I scrolled through the messages on my phone. “No. There’s nothing there.”
“Well, we can’t walk in late together,” he sighed. “You go on ahead. I’ll follow after you.”
He didn’t look angry, just a little frustrated. I knew he wasn’t mad at me, though. I left my coffee where it was and jammed the last of my scone into my mouth. Waving back at him, I hustled out of the café.
When I got to the end of the block, I turned to look behind me. It was like we were secret agents in a movie or something. I wanted to see how far behind he was following. He’d stopped on the sidewalk, though, and he was speaking with an attractive woman with honey-gold hair. She certainly wasn’t a part of my spy fantasy.
I nearly marched back to demand what was going on, but I was already late, and I didn’t have CEO immunity. While I waited at the crosswalk, I watched as she squeezed his forearm and handed him a piece of paper. She walked away and he resumed walking, looking ahead until his eyes met mine. Even from this far away I could see them widen in surprise.
“Business,” he mouthed.
I just shook my head and shrugged my shoulders, not wanting to talk about it. When the light changed, I crossed the street wobbling in my low heels. It was too hard to concentrate on balance when I was upset, and I could barely look where I was going because all I could see was her hand on his arm.
I hurried into Scintilla’s building. I wasn’t going to be the jealous girlfriend; I had to be able to trust him. On the yacht, he’d said I was the one, that I was it for him. While I waited for the elevator I took a moment to calm the angry rage-monster within. He had to have known how that looked—
A hand gripped my shoulder, carefully spinning me around.
“Allison,” he said. Then he looked around. People weren’t necessarily paying attention, but they were about. He dropped his hand from my shoulder. “Allison, she was just a business associate. I just met her, and she wasn’t picking up on me. Look, here’s her card, see?”
He held it up, but tears were already blurring my vision and all I could see was fuzzy black lettering on a white background. Anger and insecurity really caused waterworks where I was concerned. I dabbed my fingers beneath my eyes, trying not to smudge my carefully-applied mascara. Figures when I make the effort to put on make-up, I end up ruining it with tears.
Joshua handed me his handkerchief. “She’s from another law office, and they’re trying to woo Tolbert & Tolbert over to them. I told her we’ve been with Haddad, Sanderson and Belcourt for too long, but she gave me her card anyway. That’s it.”
“You don’t have to explain yourself to me,” I said. “I trust you.”
And I did trust him. What kind of relationship could we possibly have if I was worried about how he interacted with roughly half of the population?
The elevator doors opened and I stepped on. Joshua started to follow me, but I shook my head. “Arrive separately, right?” I asked, forcing a smile.
He stuck out his arm, keeping the doors from closing. “Screw it,” he said.
The doors closed and it was just the two of us alone in the elevator. I felt my chin trembling, and I struggled to keep a straight face. I was mostly angry at myself at this point, and not so mad at him. Although I was mad at him a little. Mad at his decision to not go public with our relationship.
The elevator climbed slowly, and I watched him watch me. The sad and angry tension I felt slipped away the higher we climbed, but I wanted nothing more than to step into the comfort of his embrace. I needed safety right now, and a way of forgetting all the emotions that had just coursed through my body.
“Come here,” he said, and pulled me into his arms. He kissed the top of my head. “You’ve got nothing to worry about, okay? I’ll never be Dr. Tolbert to anyone except you.”
I laughed. “I know. I just feel so silly, that I even worry about this.”
He tilted my head back. “You have every right to be. I was a selfish ass before I met you, and I dated lots of women, and I wasn’t even nice about it. Jamie was telling you the truth about that. But he doesn’t know about now. Now, everything is different.”
He looked so serious, and so intent on helping me get over this. He really, truly cared. His arms were warm around me. I reached up to touch the stubble on his jaw, and before I knew it, we were kissing, a deep passionate kiss with a swirling of tongues, and his hand wrapping itself in my hair. His other hand clenched around my waist, pulling me closer to him.
The elevator chimed and the doors opened. We practically jumped away from each other. We’d reached the Scintilla offices.
“Damn,” he whispered as we stepped out of the elevator. “That was some kiss. I might need a moment here.”
I smirked, checking out the bulge in his pants. Then I rubbed my hands over the edges of my slim-fit top, making sure it was still tucked into my pencil skirt. I smoothed my hair as best I could without a mirror and Jess’s curlers.
With a last glance and grin at Joshua’s bulging pants, I walked into the meeting as if nothing was amiss. Joshua followed, just a few steps behind.
Sixteen people looked up, staring as we walked in. Well, fifteen. Jamie refused to look at me, but I counted that as a good thing. I quietly took my seat while Joshua called the meeting to order.
We breezed through reports from my department, accounting, as well as reports from HR and a detailed report from the woman in charge of marketing. The meeting was going smoothly, and I was starting to relax and give input on various ideas.
Michel brought up the idea of advertising to newspapers.
“I don’t think that’ll reach the main age demographic we’re going for,” I said after his pitch. “It’s a good idea, but it might not be worth the effort involved.”
Jamie shuffled some papers over at his end of the table, where he faced Joshua. “But what’s the problem with a little effort? If it couldn’t hurt, why not do it?”
Joshua didn’t say anything. Instead he looked at me, waiting for my answer. Did he want something about expenditures, something from accounting?
No, I realized. He just wanted me to be Allison, and give my input. “Well,” I said, “it wouldn’t be expensive, and no, it wouldn’t take a ton of effort, either. But why push our energies toward something that we don’t feel will really benefit us in the long run?”
Chris, a guy in marketing, gave me two thumbs up from across the table.
Joshua smiled. “Right. So let’s hang on to that idea of newspapers and return to it another time if we still feel it’s viable.” He typed something into his tablet. “For now, I’d like to visit the idea of software development, which has been lacking at Scintilla.”
He didn’t look at Jamie when he said it, but I thought I could see Jamie flinch slightly.
“Specifically,” Joshua continued, “I’m thinking of an app. I think this needs to be done, and it needs to be done right away.”
Immediately, the heads of the production and marketing departments started whispering excitedly. Hands started shooting into the air, and ideas and numbers began floating around the room.
I couldn’t help the grin that spread across my face. He’d liked my app idea! They were going to use it.
* * * * *
“Allison?” Joshua’s assistant, Craig, knocked at the edge of my cubicle.
“Yes?” I pushed my hair out of my face, tucking a loose strand behind my ear. It was around four-thirty. The big meeting had ended just before three, and I was exhausted after typing up my own notes and jotting down some new, more specific ideas for the Scintilla app.
“Joshua’s afternoon meeting is over,” Craig said, “and he wants to speak to you in his office.”
“Sure,” I said, hiding my grin. “I’ll be right there. Give me ten minutes.”
Craig looked puzzled, probably not used to people putting off the boss, but I had something I needed to take care of, first.
Jamie was actually in his office for once, and I walked in without knocking.
He was facing the windows, not doing any work that I could see. His hair was greasy-looking in the back, like he’d used too much product on it this morning.
He must have heard my footsteps, because he spun around as I came in. “Allison,” he said, a fake smile plastered on his face, “to what do I owe this—”
“Don’t pretend with me.” I clenched my hands, making them into fists to hide my shaking. “You left me off of the meeting text blast on purpose, didn’t you?”
His gaze drifted off to the side, and he shrugged. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I sent it to everybody who should’ve been there.”
My face felt hot as that last part sunk in. “You didn’t think I should be there, did you?”
“Who are you really, Allison?” he asked. “You’re in accounting, and you’re good at your job, I’ll grant you that. But you wouldn’t have been invited to that meeting if you hadn’t been screwing my brother.”
The feeling that seeped through me was of utter cold. He’d betrayed me in one way at his dad’s party, belittling me as a woman. Now he was betraying my intelligence and my capabilities, belittling me as an employee.
“I can’t believe this is who you are, Jamie. We were friends. Good friends, I thought. We joked around. We went to lunch. We listened to each other’s ideas—”
“Ideas,” he snorted. “Yeah, you seem to be full of them lately.” Behind the sarcasm in his words, I could see the pain in his green eyes. He was really hurting.
I stepped forward, just short of reaching out for him. In a quiet voice, I asked, “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing,” he sneered. “Go work on your little app.”
This was brutal, and I didn’t have to take this kind of treatment. If any part of this conversation got back to Joshua, he’d be livid.
I spun around and walked toward the door, but paused before leaving. When I turned to face him, he was already staring out the window again. Softly, I asked, “What happened, Jamie? What’s hurt you so bad that you’re lashing out like this?”
He didn’t answer, but then again, I didn’t expect him to.
* * * * *
The ladies room was blessedly empty, and I sprinkled cool water on a paper towel and dabbed my face with it. I looked upset, and really, it was just Jamie. He couldn’t ruin what had otherwise been a stellar day, with my app idea taking off like this. I tried to forget the icky sad feeling that had washed over me in Jamie’s office. I wasn’t sure what had broken our friendship so badly, but maybe, with time, we could repair it. I sighed. If I even wanted to repair it.
I touched up my lipstick and strutted out of the ladies room, shaking off my conversation with Jamie. I needed my wits about me to talk to Joshua and keep up professional appearances. Something about him still made me want to swoon like a fourteen-year-old with a crush, and I just couldn’t afford to be that obvious…at least not in the Scintilla offices.
Joshua’s office door was open a crack, but I still knocked, waiting for his soft “come in,” before I entered. He sat behind his desk, the late afternoon sun streaming through the windows behind him. He looked like a Greek hero, as if he’d been blessed by the gods with good looks and a perfect physique.
“Have a seat,” he said politely, nodding to one of the comfy chairs in front of his desk.
“Thanks,” I said. “You wanted to see me?”
“Oh, I always want to see you,” he murmured. His gaze roved over my body, and I felt suddenly, deliciously naked in my new outfit. “Our little moment in the elevator is only the beginning of what I want to do to you. I want to rip that blouse off of you, you look so good today.”
I open my legs a little wider, giving him a show of my black lace panties. “Oh yeah?”
His gazed locked onto the space between my legs. “You’re going to make me lose my control,” he growled.
“Would that be such a bad thing?” I pressed my knees together, enjoying the disappointment that flashed over his features. “So you wanted to speak to me about…something work-related, I thought?”
He shook his head as if trying to clear it, then stood up. As he walked around the desk to lean against it in front of me, he adjusted his pants. I couldn’t help but grin. I loved having this power over him, the most powerful businessman in the state.
“Yes,” he said, clearing his throat. “I just wanted to thank you for your idea on the app. Your initiative in the company will bring you good things.”
“Good things other than you?” I quipped, opening my legs slightly again.
He leaned forward, so close I thought he was going to ravish me with his lips, but instead he stopped an inch away without touching me. “I’ll see you later,” he whispered.