Chapter 32
Annalise
Shit!
Bennett had pulled down my skirt, righted my blouse, and smoothed my hair before I even realized what the hell was happening. But he was so busy fixing me, he hadn’t noticed what he looked like.
Panicked as the door started to creep open, I picked up the nearest thing I could find and tossed it at the offending situation.
Only…it happened to be a large coffee.
As it connected with my target, the top came off and the entire contents splashed all over Bennett’s pants just as Jonas walked in.
“What the fuck?” Bennett yelled.
“I’m sorry. It…it was an accident.”
Jonas frowned and shut the door behind him. “The two of you knock it the hell off. The entire office can hear you going at it. You sound like two cats fighting.”
Bennett opened his top drawer, grabbed a wad of napkins, and blotted at his pants.
“It’s not what you think,” I said. “We were arguing initially, yes. But then we…we found a mutually beneficial way to work through it. We were just about to call the client together when I knocked over Bennett’s coffee reaching for his desk phone.”
Jonas squinted. He looked like he didn’t believe a word I said. But then Bennett backed me up, still wiping his soaked crotch. “We got this, Jonas. I apologized for the stuff I said in your office, and we…kissed and made up. The coffee was an accident.”
He looked back and forth between the two of us, still not seeming entirely convinced. “Maybe you two should take this out of the office. Go have a drink or eat something. Make friends. It’s on me.”
“Eat something.” Bennett nodded. I caught the twitch at the corner of his lip, but luckily Jonas didn’t seem to. “Great idea. Thanks, Jonas.”
Our boss grumbled something about being too old for this shit and left us alone in Bennett’s office again. He even shut the door behind him.
“What the fuck?” Bennett pointed down to his drenched slacks.
“You had a wet spot.”
“What?”
“A giant wet spot. You know, the drizzle before the downpour. And an erection.”
“So your answer was to throw a full coffee at my dick rather than, I don’t know, hand me a file to cover myself?”
I started to laugh. “I panicked. I’m sorry.”
“Guess I should be glad it wasn’t hot anymore.”
I covered my mouth, but couldn’t contain my smile. “That was…absolutely insane.”
Bennett’s smile was smug. “That was fucking hot.”
“That can never happen again.”
“That’s most definitely happening again.”
“You acted like such a dick.”
“Next time we fight, I’m going to push you down to the floor and feed you my dick. Right here in this office. Door unlocked.”
My stomach fluttered nervously. I had no doubt he would do it. And as insane as it was, the thought excited me. But I couldn’t let him know that.
I smoothed my skirt and took a step back. “You owe me an apology for the things you said this morning.”
He smirked. “I thought I just gave you an apology. But I’m game to give you another one.”
“I mean it, Bennett. You can’t act like a jealous boyfriend in the office.”
“I wasn’t jealous.”
He seemed genuinely confused by my comment. Did he really think what had just transpired was anything other than good old alpha-male, jealous behavior?
“You weren’t jealous? So what were you all pissed off about then?”
He tossed the napkins he’d used to wipe down his pants into his wastepaper basket. “It was about work. The playing field should be level for us.”
I studied his face. God, he really had no idea. “Uh-huh.”
His desk drawer was still open from when he’d taken out the napkins. I reached in and helped myself.
“New superhero?” I arched a brow.
“Give me that.” Bennett tried to swipe the notepad full of doodles from my hand, but I pulled it from his reach.
“Looks sort of familiar.” His latest artwork featured a caricature with big hair and giant breasts. She looked exactly like me—with a cape, of course.
He stepped closer and removed the pad from my hand. “You know what superpower this one has?”
“What?”
“The power to drive people fucking nuts.”
I flaunted a goofy smile. “You think I’m a superhero?”
“Don’t let it go to your head, Texas. I draw plenty of cartoons.”
I pointed to the doodle with the superhero leaning against a desk, her legs spread wide in a power stance. The only thing missing was Bennett’s head between them.
“Yes. But not all of your fantasies get to become reality.”
***
I’d debated inviting Bennett to join me all day.
What if my competition had been a sixty-year-old, happily married man instead of a thirty-one-year-old, insanely sexy single guy who’d just happened to give me three orgasms this morning—two in his shower and the other on his desk?
Would I play fair? Or was I giving away more than I should because I had a soft spot for Bennett Fox? (And maybe liked his hard spot, too?) Did I care how I won the battle, as long as I won?
Unfortunately, I did care. And I knew I was the minority. In a cutthroat competition like this, most people would use every advantage to win the war. But it was important to me to win fair and square. It’s just who I am.
So at five minutes to four, I walked over to Bennett’s office. He was nose-deep in artwork, which he’d spread all over the table in the corner of his office.
I knocked on the open door. “Do you have a minute?”
He wiggled his brows. “That depends on what you have in mind.”
“Just come to my office in five minutes.”
I turned and walked back down the hall, but he appeared at the doorway of my office right on time.
I motioned to the door. “Shut the door. I need to make a call on speaker.”
Bennett smirked. “Sure you do.”
The dumbass thought I’d invited him for a booty call. Rather than explain, I hit the speakerphone button and dialed.
The assistant answered on the first ring. “Lauren Becker’s office.”
I looked at Bennett. His eyebrows rose.
“Hi. This is Annalise O’Neil calling for Lauren. We spoke earlier today, and I scheduled a call for four.”
“Yes. She’s waiting for your call, Annalise. I’ll put you right through.”
“Thank you.”
She put the call on hold, and my gaze locked with Bennett’s. “I’m going to beat you because I’m good at my job. Not because of anything else.”
Bennett stared at me, his face unreadable.
Lauren came on the phone two seconds later. “Anna?”
I picked up the receiver. “Yes. Hi, Lauren.”
“How are you? God, it’s been too long.”
“It has. I don’t know if you’re aware or not, but I work at Foster, Burnett and Wren now. The two companies merged.”
I looked up at Bennett while I listened to her answer.
“Oh.” I said. “Okay. Yeah. I wasn’t sure Andrew had told you. Thank you. I appreciate you including us on the RFP.”
Bennett’s jaw flexed, and I stifled a sigh. I had no control over how the business had come our way, but I did have control over how I managed it. Lauren and I caught up for a minute, and then I cleared my throat.
“I hope you don’t mind, but I invited a colleague to join me on this call. He just walked in. His name is Bennett Fox.”
After she said she didn’t object, I put the phone back on speaker. The three of us then talked for a half hour about the RFP and what she was looking for. Toward the end of our call, I suggested we get together for dinner to discuss things further next week.
“That would be great. I know Trent would love to see you, too.” She paused. “What about Andrew? Should I see if he’d like to join us? He mentioned things had been tough since the merger and thought it might be a good time for us to finally work together.”
Bennett looked as uncomfortable as I felt. “If you don’t mind, I’d prefer if you didn’t. We aren’t… I wasn’t even aware he’d spoken to you about my change at work or asked you to include me in the RFP.”
Lauren sighed. “Yeah, I understand.”
I had no idea what to expect from Bennett when I hung up, but what I got, I knew was sincere.
“Thank you for including me.”
I nodded. “You’re welcome.”
He took a few steps toward my office door and then turned back. “Why?”
I wasn’t sure I understood the question. “Why what?”
“Why do you want to win fair and square? Is it because of what’s going on between us?”
“I actually thought about that earlier.” I smiled. “Don’t flatter yourself. I’d be going about things the same way even if you were a sixty-year-old, happily married man.”
“Wow.” He shook his head. “And here I was thinking you were just a good person. But you’d let a sixty-year-old, married dude go down on you in his office?”
“That’s not what I meant!”
Bennett winked. “I know. But let’s pretend so I don’t have to admit you’re a fuck of a lot better person than I am.”