Lincoln
I shouldn’t have shocked me that Amelia wasn’t in the bed when I got out of the shower, but it did. Her clothes were gone, her purse was nowhere to be found, and all that was left was the smell of her perfume and her pussy slathered on my sheets. I felt this sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach, before confusion bubbled up into my mind. I slept with thoughts of her on my mind all night, and part of me wondered if this was how she felt all those years ago.
If this was how I’d made her feel when she woke up alone.
I decided to take some coffee to George. I needed a strong cup myself as well as one to take to work, and I figured George could probably use the same pick-me-up. I also wanted to pick his brain, to see if maybe he saw her leaving last night. I wanted to know what she looked like, what she sounded like. I wanted to know if she had been crying or happy. Maybe this was her way of getting back at me, or maybe she had crossed a boundary she wasn’t comfortable with.
Shit, what the hell happened with our minds last night?
“Good morning, Mr. Lincoln. How did you sleep?” George asked.
“As well as could be expected. I brought you some coffee,” I said.
“Ah, so you want to pick my brain. What’s your question?” he asked.
“How did you know I wanted to pick your brain?” I asked.
“You always bring me coffee when you have questions. And don’t worry, I’m always thankful for the coffee,” he said, winking.
“Did you remember the woman I was with last night?” I asked.
“How could I forget? She was radiant. The two of you looked to be having quite a good time. It’s been awhile since I’ve seen you smile like that,” he said.
“Uh huh. Well, that woman was the woman I was telling you about. The one I hired that you told me to fix things with,” I said.
“Oh, that was her? How did things go?” he asked.
“I was hoping you could tell me. Did you see her come down last night?”
“I did.
“How did she look?” I asked. “Did she look distraught or happy? Stoic or disheveled?”
“She looked a bit upset. More confused and wild-eyed than anything. Like, maybe she was panicking. I take the professional talk didn’t go very well?” he asked.
“George, we slept together,” I said.
His eyes hit me hard for a while as he sipped his coffee. I knew it was as bad as it sounded the moment it rolled off my tongue. No one else had to tell me that. But, the fact that she left The Avalon panicking meant she thought she’d made a mistake.
And I was that mistake.
“You need to fix things with her, Lincoln,” he said. “Otherwise, this is going to get very bad very quickly, especially with the way she left out of here last night.”
“I know. I’m not gonna lie, though. With her being so upset that I left her alone all those years ago, I’m kind of shocked that she did the same to me,” I said.
“I was a bit surprised to see her myself last night. But, think about it from her angle. She is a woman in a man’s world, so she has to abide by different rules. You sleeping with a coworker only reinforces your status as ‘the boss.’ Her sleeping with a coworker—or the boss, especially the boss—results in disrespect among her coworkers, because she is now seen as ‘sleeping her way to the top.’ I’m not sure why you up and left a woman as beautiful and bright as her when the two of you first encountered one another, but I’d be willing to bet that double-standard in the office world is why she left last night.”
“What would I do without you, George?” I asked.
“Plenty of things, Mr. Lincoln. None of which would be advisable,” he said, smiling. “Fix things with her. Don’t have sex. Don’t do it over dinner with wine. But, fix it. Talk with her. Ask her how she’s feeling. Make her feel comfortable enough around you to open up.”
“How do I do that?” I asked.
“That, I can’t answer. A woman feels comfortable around a man for different reasons every single time. But, a good place to start is making her feel safe. Everyone wants to feel safe.”
I took his advice into consideration as I went to go get my car. I noticed Amelia’s car already gone, so I paid the restaurant a nice exchange for making sure my car stayed safe overnight. I drove it into the office so I could get it back home this afternoon, and as I walked into work I saw Amelia in a meeting with Drew. She was laughing while they were going over some files set in front of her, and she seemed to be in high enough spirits.
So, I decided to drop in on the meeting.
“Knock-knock,” I said.
“Come on in, Lincoln. We’re just getting to the good part,” Drew said.
I caught Amelia’s gaze, but she quickly diverted her eyes. I sat down beside Drew while the two of them continued to chatter, and every once in a while I caught Amelia’s gaze quickly switching over to me.
She was studying me the way I was studying her.
“If we teamed up with the cancer treatment center up the road, it would give your entire hotel chain a really good cause. That cause attracts another part of the growing millennial population that older companies seem to have a hard time tapping into. They want to know their money and the decisions they make are going to a place that influences the world for good. We could build in a donation component to some of the room service purchases or hotel upcharges, as in part of the charge for that item gets donated to the hospital.”
“That is a brilliant idea, Amelia, and one I would have never thought of in a million years,” Drew said. “When you think of donation projects like this, you think of everything else before you think of a hotel chain.”
“Exactly. Plenty of places do donation things like this in times of need—natural disasters and the like. But rarely do hotel chains take on a cause like this full-time. It would be a wonderful thing come tax season, and it would attract those who enjoy doing good while seemingly doing nothing,” she said.
“What do you think, Lincoln?” Drew asked.
“I think it’s brilliant. Go ahead and implement it,” I said. “Amelia, could I have a word with you when you get a chance?”
“Don’t you want to hear about the other details Drew and I just covered?” she asked.
“I trust you with this. It seems to be something you’re passionate about. Would you have some time in your schedule today to converse?” I asked.
“Lincoln, you can have her now. I’m about to take a phone call with the cancer center to run them through our basic premise. The two of you have fun,” Drew said.
I locked eyes with Amelia as she settled back into her seat, and I couldn’t help but eye her legs while she crossed them. I could see the slight sleeplessness behind her eyes, and noticed the heavier makeup on her face, which meant she probably didn’t sleep well last night.
And yet, she was still spitting out these types of innovative ideas for the company.
“I take it you want to talk about last night,” she said, once Drew was out of sight.
“I do. I wanted to make sure you were alright. George said you left in a bit of a panic,” I said.
“I just didn’t want what had happened between because we indulged in too much wine to further complicate things. We seem to be muddling through enough as it is, and waking up next to one another would have probably made things worse.”
“I don’t disagree,” I said. “But, I want you to know that I did enjoy our time together. Both dinner and after.”
“This isn’t something that’s going to be a regular occurrence, Mr. Collins,” she said. “We aren’t going to become that power couple that runs a company and has great sex all the time.”
“So it was great for you like it was for me?” I asked, cheekily.
“Mr. Collins—”
“Amelia, I understand.”
“Miss Wilson, please. Let’s maintain a professional atmosphere,” she said.
“Miss Wilson, I wholeheartedly agree with everything you are saying. Nothing can come of this but nonsense and complications for this company, and the last thing I want to do is distract you from the fine ideas you have, like the one you just presented this morning,” I said.
This conversation didn’t bother me one bit. I’d had it many times with women before. I’d tell them nothing was going to come of it, and they’d nod their heads even though I could see their disappointment. Except this time, there was no disappointment on either end. I couldn’t see it in her face and I was losing nothing in the long run. I got a wonderful reminder of her I would never forget, and I still got to keep her as the CEO and project manager of something she was obviously going to take to the moon.
“So, that’s settled then,” I said.
“Looks like it,” she said.
“If you ever need anything, let me know. My office is open to you just like it is to everyone else,” I said.
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
The two of us walked out of the room but I headed straight for Drew’s office. I knew how Amelia and I could get on the same page working together, but it meant removing the middleman she used as a crutch. I had to remove Drew from the picture for a little while so the both of us could learn to depend upon one another for advice and approval in order to try and smooth things over. No, we weren’t going to have a personal relationship—and that was fine with me. But, I still felt that our professional relationship was clouded.
So, it was time for Plan B.
“Drew?” I asked, knocking on the door.
“Uh-huh,” he said, as he held up his finger. “Yes, thank you for your time. No, no, no, thank you so much for allowing us to do this. It’s an honor. Uh-huh, I’ll get you the information once we have it solidified. Yes, all the hotels. Alright. Thank you. Talk soon.”
“I take the phone call went well?” I asked.
“Yes. They’re onboard and just waiting for Amelia’s logistics and percentages that will be donated. What’s up?” he asked.
“I need a week off,” I said.
“What?” he asked.
“You and Amelia can handle everything. But, I was looking at employee files since our audit’s coming up, and I’m one of the few taken vacation time this year. You know the company’s gonna get fined.”
“And you’ve never had issues paying that fine when it comes to the hours you work,” he said.
“I do this year. If this company is going to thrive and operate accordingly, we all need our rest at some point in time. Changes to the tax code are coming, and I’m not sure if I’ll be able to write off the fine against the business. I’m gonna take a week and rest up. Maybe travel somewhere, you know, take a beautiful woman somewhere nice. You guys can handle things around here for a week, right?”
I could see the look of utter confusion on his face, but I also knew he wouldn't be able to resist the offer. Sometimes, me getting out of his way was when he did his best work, and I was hoping to come back into a thriving network of plans that had been executed and set into motion.
“You sure?” he asked.
“Positive. I’m gonna get out of here. Come check on me in an hour. If I’m not gone, fire me,” I said, grinning.
“Yeah, yeah. I’ll come by in an hour,” he said.
“Good.”
This would be good for both Amelia and myself. It would give us some time apart to process everything that had happened between us, while giving me time to figure out why the fuck I was so disappointed after the conversation I’d just had with her. I wouldn’t be able to focus or sort through any of this bullshit while hanging around her at the office. Then, I could come back in a professional capacity, develop the professional relationship with her we all needed, and we could work together to bring this hotel chain up to the glory I first envisioned it to have.
“See you in a week,” I said.
“See you then, Lincoln.”