Erica
"Boss?" Lewis stuck his head in my office and gave me a tight smile. "Were you wanting to-"
"No. Tell everyone to e-mail me their reports and close my door please." I didn't even look up from my computer.
A week. A whole fucking week had gone by and nothing. Not a single word from Matt Bryant. I'd spoken with Kent and Damon a million times on our new advisory project, but nothing from the one man I wanted to hear something from. Anything from.
"Why?" I whispered as the door clicked shut. I got up as the familiar burn of rejection swelled inside of me. Was he expecting me to call? I would have believed that before spending the weekend with him, but now, I knew there was a different side of him.
He could play docile and sweet in front of the world, but he was an alpha male that liked to dominate women in the bedroom and lead them through a thick crowd of people. He was a protector, a strong man's man. Why did he act like he was anything but that?
I'd come up with a million theories over the last week to try and make myself feel better, but nothing worked. I was hurting, lost and ready to pack up my shit and leave for another life if things didn't turn around. Tanner’s rejection felt like a bee sting compared to the Mack truck that Matt had pulled out on me.
"Two years. Two goddamn years of pining after this man only to have him show up for a weekend, sleep with me and run away like I was the worst lay of his life." Tears burned my eyes, but I refused to let them fall.
My phone buzzed, and I turned on my heel and walked back to my desk and fury burned through my chest. I pressed the button on the dial and leaned over.
"What?"
"Miss Hall, your three o'clock appointment is here. I'm sorry to-"
"Send him in and don't interrupt until it's four." I released the button and wiped at my eyes, careful to not smear my makeup. Kent had hired a new director for the firm that would be overseeing the advisory practice and staying mostly in Seattle. I had to walk him through the final decisions we'd made recently on the advertising for the new service and make sure that he didn't want any changes.
It was the last thing in the world I wanted to do, though like most things in my life at that moment, I didn't have much of a choice.
I picked up the portfolio and moved to the small desk situated in the center of my office as the door opened and I glanced up.
"Hi there. I'm Erica Hall." I extended my hand, slapped a smile on my face and moved toward the guy.
His dark hair had bits of silver streaking through it and his smile was warm and a little naughty. Had I not been lost in my angst, I would have taken a minute to mentally drool over him. His suit fit him like a glove, and his handshake was firm.
"Nice to meet you, Miss Hall. I'm Mitch Roberson. Thanks for taking time to meet with me today." His slate grey eyes moved across my face slowly and he held on to my hand. "Kent forgot to mention that you were stunning as well as brilliant."
I chuckled and pulled my hand from his slowly. "That's probably because HR would have a heart attack if he did."
He laughed as well and followed me back to the table.
"Feel free to have a seat and I'll walk you through some of the designs we feel like we're just about settled on." I spread them out and glanced over to find him watching me instead of looking at the designs. "Of course, you know that if you want to give any comments, feel free. We're happy to adjust anything that you think might help the service to be more readily sold."
"I like your willingness to take constructive criticism. It's the mark of confidence." He turned his gaze toward the table and leaned over, pulling the various pictures up to study them. "I love this. The colors and the slant of the logo pulls me in. It screams power and professionalism to me."
"Excellent." I smiled and crossed my arms over my chest.
"I think these are great, Miss Hall."
"Erica, please." I picked up my favorite of the various designs and handed it to him. "I like this one best."
"Me too. Let's get it into design and wrap this project up. We'll have the IT guys change that part of the website and start working on imprints in case we need those for spin-off services."
"Perfect. I usually do that part, but if you know what you're doing, go for it."
"I'm an odd duck. I have a fully functional left brain and right brain." He smiled and slipped his hands into his slacks. "I don't have plans for dinner yet, but I'd love for you to join me. We're going to be working side by side on this project and a few others from what Kent's told me. I'd love to know a little more about you and share some of myself if you're up for it."
I hesitated only because it felt like Mitch might be interested in more than a friendly professional dinner. "Yeah, let me check my calendar."
"Of course." He picked up a few more of our designs and stared down at them as I turned and walked back to my desk.
Indecision raced through me, though I was being stupid. It wasn't like he was hitting on me or trying to take me home with him for the night. He was going to be one of the only other directors for M&B in the Seattle office.
"I'm free. What time do you want me to meet you?"
"I'll just swing by here at six if you want. The guys across the hall keep talking about a killer sushi place just down by the harbor. You like fish?"
"Love it." I pressed my hands to the top of my desk and smiled. "I'll see you then. Nice to meet you, Mitch."
"Pleasure is all mine." He lifted the designs in the air. "Mind if I take these with me?"
"Not at all. I have plenty of copies." I waited until he left to sit down in my chair and let out a soft sigh.
Why was I holding myself out for a guy that didn't even have the common courtesy to call me? I wasn't asking for much, but after sharing my body with him, and supporting him with his situation with Jonathan, the least I deserved was a fucking goodbye.
My phone buzzed and I picked it up. "What? It's not four yet, is it?"
"No, Miss Hall. I'm sorry, but Mr. Bryant's on hold for you."
"Fine. Put him through." I pressed my fingers to the bridge of my nose, half expecting to hear Kent's voice fill up the other end. To hear Damon instead was no big surprise though.
"Erica? This a good time?"
"Sure. I just met Mitch. He seems like a nice guy." I leaned back and crossed my free arm over my chest.
"Yeah. I think he's going to be good for the advisory practice we're setting up. The man has a resume that impressed my father. I'm thinking we're going to do well to have him on our side."
"Awesome. What can I do for you?" I forced myself to sit up a little and lose the attitude. Never before had I let anything affect my job, and it wasn't fair to do that to myself now.
Matt made his decision, whether he realized it or not.
"I wanted to see if we could have a conference call around five thirty today. Dad and I have been talking with Matt and I think we have him convinced to at least try out a twenty hour a week schedule. He might work remotely from his new place, but I'm not sure."
"His new place?" A small tendril of hope ran through me, but I quickly squashed it. He hadn't called in a week after spending the weekend at my house, living life as if we were meant to be together. He wasn't the type of man I needed in my life. I'd misjudged him. It was that simple.
"Yeah. I think he's going to come up there later this week and try to find a place."
"That means he's moving up here?" I let out a long breath through my nose and tried not to let my voice give away the hurt that I was struggling with.
"He's still being noncommittal, but yeah, I think he's going to keep his place here in Dallas and get one up there too. You know Matt."
"Yep. I do." I picked up a pencil from my desk and twirled it as I walked toward the floor to ceiling windows in my office.
"What's up with you? You sound... tense."
"Yeah, I have things going on in my life that I'm not exactly able to ignore today. Forgive me for having an off day. Shit happens." I pulled the phone from my ear and squeezed my eyes shut. I needed to feign illness and leave for the day. There was no way my toxic attitude was going to allow for anything remotely productive.
"Wow. I'm here for you, you know that. Talk to me and let's work this out. We've been friends a lot longer than we've been co-workers, Erica."
"There's nothing to talk about." Warm tears blurred my vision. "I'm good."
"Liar. I'm not getting off this phone until you spill."
"It's my mom. She's not doing well, and Daniel isn't visiting her anymore. He's too sensitive about her getting older and dying on us like daddy just did." I let out a soft sob and walked toward my chair to sit down in it.
"What can I do to help?"
"Nothing. I just need to take some time off soon and figure things out."
"Is this just about your mom?"
"Why do you ask?" I sniffled and wiped at my eyes.
"Because my brother has been moping around here for a week, ignoring most of us and acting like a ten-year-old boy lost in the woods."
"I don't care what Matt's doing." I reached for a Kleenex. "And if you expect me to try and talk him into coming up here, you're shit out of luck. Tell your father that too. Matt's a twenty-eight-year-old man. He doesn't need any of us pushing him to do anything. If he's not willing to make the decision to move forward with his life, none of us are going to change that."
"No truer words have been spoken." Damon cleared his throat. "Why are you upset with him? What happened?"
"You know how I feel about your brother, Damon. Or rather how I felt. I'm getting over it."
"Yeah, of course I do. You guys would be-"
"Don't. I'm not interested in hearing it. He came down to visit and we had a good time for the weekend, or at least I did. I haven't heard a fucking word from him in seven days. Not 'thanks for letting me crash at your place' or 'I really appreciate you helping me with my contract with Jonathan' or better yet, how about, 'thanks for the all-night fuck. I really needed that in my life'."
"Wow. He didn't say anything after you guys spent the weekend together? That's more something I would do than Matt."
"Exactly. And tell me something, and be fucking completely honest." I wiped my eyes and let out a shaky breath. Something about getting the hurt off my chest left me feeling a little better.
"Of course."
"Why would you do that to someone? Why would you lead them on and walk away without a word?"
"Because in my past life, I was a user. I would walk away because I never had any intention of being with you in the first place. You were just a warm body and pretty smile to spend the weekend with. But, Erica-"
"No. Fuck it. That's exactly what happened. You and Kent are so concerned that Matt isn't going to turn out like the two of you, but you're wrong. He's already everything you used to be." I dropped the call and walked out of my office. A stroll by the bay was the only thing I could think of that might keep me from quitting my job, packing my shit and driving until I ran out of gas. California was nice this time of year... and the men were hot. Seemed like a great combination to rid myself of the nagging desire to belong to a sexy bastard billionaire I knew.
"Yeah, you know... the good one in the bunch." I scoffed and pushed the door that led to the stairs. I wasn't sure of my next move, but I was ready to make one. And this one wouldn't include Matt Bryant.
Fuck him. Fuck all of them.
To be continued…