Chapter Nine

Beth

I open my eyes slowly, as if their movement might wake someone. I had sex with my partner last night and I didn’t get a single fucking thing done on our project. What am I supposed to say to Maverick now? Is he going to take me seriously? Is anyone? Is he going to tell everyone?

I don’t move. I try not to even breathe as I lie in bed. I don’t want to chance waking him up until I know exactly what I’m going to say to him. This can’t happen again. It was a mistake … no I can’t say that. People don’t respond positively when you tell them they are a mistake. I’ve watched too many movies where that has ended badly, and since we work together … fuck. I messed this all up. What is wrong with me? Slower than a snail’s pace, I turn over to wake Maverick.

There isn’t anyone lying next to me.

Now I know I didn’t imagine the night. I had been drinking, yes, but I wasn’t drunk. He was here when I fell asleep and now he isn’t.

I slip out of bed, pulling on a pair of cotton shorts and large t-shirt before I head for the kitchen. Fresh brewed coffee meets my nose before anything else. I guess if he’s going to be here in the morning, he’s got the right idea to get me some caffeine. I peek my head around the corner to find only Abby. My heart flutters a bit down into my stomach. I hadn’t realized that I was smiling till just now when I feel my smile disappear.

Abby pauses in mid bite with her spoonful of cereal.

“What’s wrong?” she asks and puts the spoon in her mouth before pointing at me with it. “You look sad,” she comments between bites. “And I’m sure after the opera show I heard last night, you shouldn’t be sad right now. If you are, then I really misheard every single noise.”

I glare at her and pour myself a cup. I skip the creamer today. I need this baby strong.

“I wasn’t aware you were home,” I say, taking the seat to her right.

“Well, I came in just as you and Maverick disappeared behind your bedroom door. I figured you would know I was coming home since you asked as you left the bar and I replied, ‘I’ll be leaving here in like twenty minutes.’”

“Oh.”

“You don’t remember that?”

“No.”

“Ah well, I don’t think my arrival or anything else in this world was going to keep you two from coming back here last night.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, for starters, you two practically glued your faces together for thirty minutes before you finally left the bar.”

“I what?”

“Okay, now I think your memory is just bad, especially since I know I only served you three beers and one shot.”

“I’m a lightweight.”

“Yeah, by the way I caught Maverick manhandling you into your room, I figured that out.”

“Abby.”

“Let’s skip all the details and just get to the part where I don’t understand why you look so unhappy right now.”

I shrug. If I knew the answer I’d consider sharing it, but I don’t, so her guess is as good as mine.

“Do I need to march into your room and tell your sex buddy that he doesn’t know how to use his shit right?” she asks.

“Abby!”

“Well, do I?” Her tilted head and the tight-lipped frown means she’s serious. I kind of like that she’s ready to stick up for me. I wouldn’t let her do it even if he were in there, but the gesture is nice.

I shake my head, finding the back of her cereal box more interesting than her pity.

“No.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure.” I sigh. “Even if you did it without my permission, he isn’t there.”

“He left?”

I nod.

“When? I’ve been up since at least seven this morning.”

Again, I shrug. “Not sure,” I say, taking a sip of my coffee. Black is good today.

“What a fucking ass. Does he even know how lucky he was to be with you last night? Does he know he is the first man you let in your pants in over a year?”

“We didn’t cover the basics, but it’s fine. This is best.”

“Your face doesn’t say it’s best.”

“Well, it sucks, yes, but we work together. It was a smart choice on his part to leave. We don’t need the whole hassle of things being awkward at work, especially when we have this project and my whole three-month trial depends on it. I can’t mess it up, so this good.”

“Lies, but whatever.”

I focus back on the Lucky Charm maze before finally pouring myself a bowl. I’m not going to dwell on this. If anything, I’m going to be sad that I won’t be getting any more mind-blowing sex. If that’s what I was missing, I should have considered begging that Saturday evening in Colorado. Maybe I’d have been having sex this whole time.

No. No, I wouldn’t have, and I shouldn’t and won’t be from here on out. When I get to the office later today I’ll tell him just that. Piece of cake. It was a one-time thing to get each other out of our systems. And even though it clearly did not work for me, he doesn’t need to know that.

Maverick

Her heels click against the floor as she walks into her office. I hear as she walks to her desk. I listen for the noise from the wheels of her chair, but it doesn’t come. Instead, the clicking only gets louder.

I sit up straight and adjust my tie. I shouldn’t have fucking left the way I did. But I didn’t know what to do. I hadn’t slept. I only lay there and watched her sleep. I thought about what she would do in the morning, and I’ll admit, I panicked. But right now, I have a pretty good feeling she’s about to tell me how wrong my decision was. And I deserve it because I’ll be the first to admit what a jerk move I made.

“Good morning,” she says.

Her tone is cheerful.

This can’t be good.

I don’t move as I watch her step farther into my office. Yesterday morning we weren’t on speaking terms because she thought I was an ass. Last night we were having sex and now today … today it’s like everything is back to normal. To before she thought I was an ass. I don’t exactly want to ruin it, so I don’t say anything.

“We should set up a time to go over a few of the slides this afternoon. We are a bit behind, so we have some time to make up. We also need to figure out the final arrangement for the Fourth of July event. That way we already have the schedule together for Bart at our meeting at the end of the week.”

She smiles at me, and, honestly, it looks so … natural that I might be more freaked out than if she had come in here demanding answers. She’s not mad at me for leaving? She just wants to get to work? The woman who has always called me out for my crap. I have got to be missing something here.

“Mav, are you okay?”

Am I? Shit … is she? She just used my nickname.

“Yeah, sure, let’s see what you have on your slides,” I say, playing along with whatever she is up to.

Fooling around with her was a bad choice on my end. If anyone finds out about it, it will cost me my job. I should be glad she isn’t bringing it up, but I’m not. I’m irritated as hell that she’s acting like it never happened. I’m fucking good in bed. We were fucking good in bed. There should damn well be something to talk about.

She’s talking about the event, which is what I should be focused on, but still, I’m not.

“What do you think?” she asks.

“I think we need to talk about last night.” I have no idea what she really wanted an answer to.

Her tongue glides over her lips as she stares at the computer screen, and her chest rises slowly before she twists to look at me.

“What about it?”

“Well, to start, you’re acting real unusual about it.”

“I’m acting like it didn’t happen, Maverick. You know, kind of like you did by leaving before I woke up.”

“So you are mad about it?”

“Let’s just get to work.” She switches the screen to the next slide.

“You know just as well as I do that we won’t get anything done until we both stop thinking about it.”

“Well, I’m not thinking about it, so I guess I’ll just work on this on my own.”

“You’re not thinking about how we had sex last night and I left before you woke up?” I ask. I’m not too sure mentioning it one more time is making me look any better.

“Clearly not as much as you are, so why don’t you tell me why you left, get it off your clearly guilty conscience, and then you can get back to focusing on work.”

“I don’t feel guilty, I feel conflicted, and I would imagine in your position you feel the same way.”

“Something tells me you’re more conflicted than I am.”

Her eyes latch on to mine, and I get this swirling feeling in my gut that she’s going to ask me why I’m here. Austin has hinted about it twice now and she has yet to ask me why. Maybe she really doesn’t care why, or maybe she prefers not to know. I prefer her not to know.

“All right. Well then, can we get back to work now?” she asks.

I wish it were that easy for me.

“You’re not thinking about the way I touched you?” I ask.

Her body stills.

“The way I kissed you.”

She still doesn’t move.

“Or the way I—”

“I think we should finish this conversation in my office,” she says before I can complete my next thought.

“Why’s that?”

“Because my blinds are already closed and because closing yours right now would be a bit too obvious.”

“Too obvious for what?” I ask. My heart rate picks up pace at all the reasons why she would want to be in an office with me with the blinds closed.

“Because if you keep talking to me like that, I can’t promise I’ll control myself,” she whispers.

That should have been my line.

“What are you saying?” I ask. I’m prompting it when I should turn her away, but I can’t. Sleeping with her to get her off my mind didn’t work. It made it worse. And looking at her right now, where I could take her over the edge of my desk, isn’t making my next choice very clear.

“We both have the same goal here. Let’s not mess it up. At work we will work, and when we aren’t at work … well, whatever happens stays between us,” I say.

“But what if I can’t control myself when we’re at work?” she asks.

“Then you’re going to have to be very, very quiet.”

“Care to test that theory now?” she asks, backing up toward her office.

Yep, sure am.

I move from my seat to follow her when the last person I ever want to see steps through my door.

“Is this another bad time?” Austin asks. I swear I could punch him in the face right now. He’s got that scheming grin on his face like he knows something he shouldn’t. And after the night at the strip club, I have no doubt that thing he knows has something to do with Beth and me. It’s clear he hasn’t volunteered this small piece of knowledge to anyone because I’m still here—had he shared it, I guarantee my father would have called me by now.

“If you’re not here with a mock-up flyer for the event next weekend, then yeah, a better time would be to come back when you have one,” I say, returning to my desk. Beth gives me a “you can handle him this time” look and then retreats to her office.

“How’s your side of the project going?” Austin changes the topic away from himself because, let’s face it, he more than likely didn’t do his part and it’s a good thing Beth planned ahead for that. She’s good at this job. Almost too good, and it puts me off a bit. I thought this would be the easiest job I’ve ever had. But it’s not. I feel like I have no control over myself or what I’m doing anymore.