Amelia
I looked up from my desk to take a look at the clock and saw Lincoln standing in my doorway. Was it really the end of the day already? I felt like I’d gotten absolutely nothing done.
“Don’t worry, we all have days like that around here,” he said.
“Days like what?” I asked.
“Where we feel like we’ve gotten nothing done,” he said, smirking.
“Then I suppose it happens to the worst of us,” I said, as I sat my pen down. “Would you like to take a seat?”
What the fuck did this pig have to talk about? Drew made it seem like I would never encounter him on a regular basis, and yet I saw him almost every fucking day I was here.
Was he looming? Did he not think I could do my job correctly? Did he think I’d fuck it up because he got between my legs or I had boobs or something?
“Miss Wilson,” he began as he sat down, “how was your day?”
“It was fine. Long. Not over. Is there something specific you wanted to talk about?” I asked.
“Any plans for your weekend?” he asked.
“Just work. What is it that’s on your mind, Mr. Collins?”
“You know, there’s a new art exhibit that opened up on the other side of town. I think you might enjoy it,” he said.
What the hell was he trying to pull? Did the think we were friends or something?
“I’ll be sure to check it out. If this is all there was earlier today, then you can save it. I’ve got a great deal of work to get done and—”
“We all have,” he said. “So, I’ll get to the point since you don’t seem to enjoy the small talk.”
“It’s a waste of time,” I said flatly.
“I’m attempting to have a professional relationship with you and there seems to be some sort of, hang-up on your end preventing it,” he said.
“Is that what you call it nowadays? A hang-up?” I asked.
“The sparring we’ve been doing is not only unprofessional and unbecoming, it is breeding tension in a company venture that I love. It is also seeping into my investment banking firm, and that is not acceptable.”
“Sounds like a personal problem,” I said.
“See. That right there. That icy sort of tone and smart ass retort with those overbearing eyes. You think I don’t understand how to conduct a professional relationship with you, but you are the one spewing the venom,” he said.
I swallowed hard as I leaned back into my chair. He was backing me into a corner I wasn’t going to let him get me into, which meant I had to get the upper hand somehow. If there was ever a shark you didn’t want to swim around in a tank with, it was Lincoln Collins.
And he was currently circling.
“This is a place of business, Mr. Collins. Our past, interactions, have no bearing on what goes on in this office today. It is not a place to make friendships. It’s a place to make money,” I said.
“Interactions?”
I held his cheeky stare before I licked my lips. If I broke eye contact with him, he’ll think he won for sure. He’s going to think he officially had the upper hand and would attempt to bury me.
Or worse, fire me.
And I couldn’t lose this job.
“I wholeheartedly agree with you on your premise of what a business actually entails. Except you seem to be very chummy with Drew. I would even venture to say the two of you are, friends even,” he said.
“We work well together. When two co-workers work well together, they have a tendency to be more light-hearted with one another,” I said.
“And that is what I wish for us,” he said, as he pointed between the two of us. “To have a more light-hearted relationship, so we can work better together.”
“I was hired under the idea that I wouldn’t be seeing you very often. Was I lied to?” I asked.
“Yes. Is that a problem?” he asked.
“Yes, because that means I was hired under false pretenses,” I said.
“I’m not sure what pretense would make you assume the owner of the company wouldn’t be around,” he said.
“Plenty of company owners are never around. That is precisely why I didn’t question it,” I said.
“All I want is to have a kosher relationship with the brilliant CEO my right-hand man hired. The three of us could catapult this thing to greatness if we could simply have an adult discussion about what happened that night six years ago.”
I got up from my seat and headed for my office door. If I didn’t, I really was concerned I would chuck my hot coffee at him. I was not about to sit down across from the owner of the company that hired me and tell him I was pissed that I woke up alone in that hotel. I was not about to tell him that I sat by my phone for days waiting for him to call. I was not about to admit to him that every other man I’d ever had in my bed paled in comparison to the things he did to my body.
I’d rather fucking lose my job.
But, then again, I didn’t have to tell him all that. I could tell him it was a simple misunderstanding of what the night was supposed to entail, and we could move forward. I could keep my job, he could grow this hotel chain the way he wanted, and all of us could at least be civil and pleasant with one another.
After all, he really was trying to be as nice as he could be, given the circumstances.
I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose as my mind swirled. Why the hell was I acting this way? I knew I was being a bitch, and I really should’ve already let this go. It was a night six fucking years ago! What the hell did I expect from the man!? I was caught up in the whirlwind romance of a powerful handsome man who wanted to treat me a little bit, and his dick just happened to be massive, and he really knew what to do with it.
That’s all that happened.
This was my issue, and it needed to be fixed.
“Mr. Collins?” I asked, as I walked back to the doorway of my office.
“Yes, Miss Wilson?” he asked, as he turned to look at me.
“If you are free for dinner tomorrow evening, maybe we could sit down and have that adult conversation you were referencing,” I said
“You don’t want to have it in your office?” he asked.
“I really do have a great deal of work to get done if I’m going to have any semblance of a weekend. Are you free tomorrow night?” I asked.
“I most certainly am. If you’d like to provide me with your number, I can call you with the details later,” he said. “And yes, I do promise to use it.”
No, thanks. He didn’t need my number for this venture. Not like he had a track record of using it anyway.
“I’ll be in the office for most of the day. You can simply call me here. I’ll come to the office dressed for dinner,” I said.
“Work plans in an evening gown? Will your heels match?” he asked.
“I will not be dressed in an evening gown. I will probably be dressed very similar to the way I am now,” I said.
“It’s been a very long time since I’ve been asked out by a woman,” he said, as he stood.
“I am not asking you out,” I said breathlessly.
“You just asked me to dinner Saturday night. I would say that counts,” he said, as he buttoned his coat.
“Get the hell out of my office, Mr. Collins,” I said. Except this time, I couldn’t quite bury my smirk.
“See you tomorrow evening, Miss Wilson.”
And I couldn’t help but turn my head as I watched him leave my office and walk down the hallway.
I wondered for a brief moment if this was going to ruin my image at the office. I’m sure that he and Drew did weekend dinners all the time to talk shop, but you had to be careful with that kind of thing when you were a woman in the business world. Things were easily misconstrued when you had a vagina, and I wondered if there would be any damage control to do afterwards if someone saw us together.
But, I was probably being paranoid. I mean, it was just a little dinner. What the hell could go wrong?