Chapter 11
Sophia
I glanced at the clock above the door in my office. The hands told me it was just past six-thirty. I heard footsteps and glanced up to see Suzanne stop in the doorway and lean against the frame. Her silver hair glinted in the light from the reception area between our offices. She was slender and kept her hair cropped short. With her bright blue eyes and penchant for rich colors, she elicited a smile every time I looked at her.
“How much later are you working?” she asked.
“Oh, probably another hour or so.”
“I was wondering if I could persuade you to grab dinner and drinks with me and Danny.”
I glanced down at my computer. I’d been working more than was necessary, but ever since my night with Lucas, I’d been restless and out of sorts. Work kept me focused and kept me from thinking too hard about him. I hadn't heard a thing from him since he’d left unexpectedly. He was due back tomorrow and scheduled for his next interview tomorrow evening.
Suzanne and Danny had explained they usually obtained questions ahead of time and sent them onward to him, yet they left the rest up to him. Up until they’d hired me, he’d reportedly had been resistant to any guidance or feedback around answers. As a PR consultant, it was my job to try—try being the operative word here—to guide and set the narrative for him. I’d sent a summary of suggested topics for each potential question to him.
That was yesterday. I'd heard nothing back from him yet, and I was beginning to get annoyed. Not because I'd expected anything from him. I hadn't, yet my own reaction to our night together was getting under my skin. I didn't like to feel as if I was waiting with bated breath for some sort of cue from him that he might be thinking about me. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't stop thinking about him. I had fevered dreams and silly wishful thoughts about the potential for us to have something other than one wild crazy night.
I didn't think that was a possibility, so I needed to say clear and rational. The distraction of dinner and drinks with them might nudge my mind off its treadmill of thoughts about Lucas.
“Give me just a minute. Let me save what I'm working on and then I’ll be ready,” I replied.
She grinned and turned away. “I’ll grab my purse.”
I saved the projects I’d been working on, powered down my laptop and closed it. I walked with Susanna down the street to a café nearby. It was on the smaller side and not quite as trendy as some places, but I actually preferred places like this and was glad to see Suzanne did as well. We snagged a table in the corner, and within minutes, Danny had joined us. We ordered drinks and appetizers and settled in.
“Do you two do this often?” I asked, glancing between them.
Danny held his beer up for a toast. “At least once a week. Now you can come too.”
I laughingly clinked my wineglass against his beer. “Nice. How about anybody else from the office?”
As an independent contractor, I was often slightly set apart from the rest of the workings of any company where I was hired for PR.
Danny shrugged. “Not really. Here in New York, there's us and then the rest of the crew is engineers and tech people. They have their own clique. We’re the only two in the New York office that have much interaction with Lucas. I mean, he works with the engineering team on designs and whatever they're working on, but it's a different relationship. It's not the same as the day-to-day stuff we handle,” he explained.
“Ah, I see. I have to say this office seems to run pretty smoothly. Sometimes when I start at places, there are all kinds of undercurrents rumbling under the surface. It’s pretty drama free here.”
Suzanne grinned. “That's my doing. I have little patience for gossip and whatnot, so we try to run a tight ship. Our larger HR department is out in the main office at headquarters.”
“How much time does Lucas spend in this office?” I asked, unable to tamp down my curiosity about him.
Danny angled his head to the side thoughtfully. “It varies. Sometimes he's here more than he’s in headquarters, but he travels a lot no matter what. We have locations here, in California, a small office in London and another one in Amsterdam. By far, he spends the most time between here and Silicon Valley,” Danny explained.
“Do you mind me asking how long you’ve known Lucas?” I asked.
I had heard from Danny, as well as Lucas, that they’d been friends for years.
Danny grinned. “Not at all. We met each other in third grade.”
“Wow, that’s a long time. Did you guess he'd be a genius back then?”
Danny chuckled. “Actually, he was the smartest kid in class. He loves what he does, and I love working for him. He’s a great boss.”
Suzanne nodded vigorously. “Best boss I’ve ever had. There’s a reason I’ve been working here since the company was founded.”
It didn’t help my state of mind to know he was a great guy. Lust was one thing, but starting to hope for more was crazy. I forced my brain to stay on topic. “I think I'm still getting my feet under me. I don’t think the way he feels about my job is quite the way he feels about you two.”
Danny burst out laughing. “Oh, I’d say not. That's why I wrote the ad the way I did. The fact he hasn’t fired you yet speaks volumes. You seem to be handling him quite well,” he offered.
“He's also done better with you than I expected,” Suzanne added.
I glanced between them. “You think?”
She grinned. “You don't seem to take it personally when he gets cranky, and he's actually done pretty much everything you suggested. That’s quite amazing.”
Danny nodded firmly. “Absolutely. It’s good you don't have an ego about your suggestions. Just keep running things by us first. We can give you pointers if we think things need to be tweaked. I'll tell you this, if you can get the press to stop gossiping about his personal life, you'll make a friend for life. I don't think he'll ever let you go.”
I rolled my eyes, trying to ignore the flash of wishful thinking that rose inside. I’d love to say it was because I was proud of my work. “It wouldn't even be gossip if he wasn't so cranky about it.”
“I know, we’ve told him that all along,” Suzanne said with a sigh. “The whole mess with Kayla blew up because she made a bunch of noise about it. I told him when he started seeing her that I didn't think she was a good fit for him. It took her screwing someone else and then getting all upset when he said he wanted a prenup agreement to show him the writing on the wall as far as she was with concerned.”
This was a detail I’d pushed to the back of my thoughts. I could only imagine how the combination of those two factors felt for Lucas.
Danny rolled his eyes. “Pisses me off. No matter what I think, Lucas is a decent guy and that was some shitty stuff she pulled.”
“Well, I suppose it's good he found out before they got married. It sounds like she was only after his money,” I commented. Lucas was so much more than just his money that it made me angry to think his ex had been after only that.
“Exactly what I told him. He’s so focused on work, I don't think he paid all that much attention to Kayla, or frankly to any woman he dated. I think he liked her enough to consider marriage might be a good option. She's gorgeous too. I hate saying it, but she is,” Suzanne said with a twist of her mouth, clearly offended that she had to even acknowledge Lucas’s former fiancée was beautiful. “In the end, I'm glad he broke it off.”
Danny sighed heavily. “You and me both. I tried to tell him a few times she was too focused on money. Don't get me wrong. I know he's ridiculously wealthy, but that's not what defines him as a person. He loves his work, and the money is just a side benefit. I'm relieved it's over,” he said with a faux shudder.
“I worry though,” Suzanne piped up. “Ever since he broke it off with her, he's hardly dated.”
A flush rose inside, and I hoped it didn't show in the dim lighting of the café. It's not like I could consider what Lucas I had done dating, but we had spent the night together. It made me wonder if I was just one in a line of women he found physical release with. I swatted those thoughts away. I didn't need to speculate. The best thing for me was to take a step back to draw some clear lines for myself. I needed to get a handle on this rampaging, out-of-control desire he elicited inside of me.
We continued to chat through dinner. By chance, I learned a few more details about Lucas. I was feeling comfortable enough with them I thought I could ask the one question I’d hesitated to ask before. I glanced between them.
“Do you mind me asking about Lucas's father? If I'm crossing a line, just say so. I'm only asking because when I spoke with the interviewer to review the questions, that was one she wanted to ask about.”
Danny eyed me and then shrugged. “We trust you. It's not this big thing. It's just Lucas doesn't like to talk about it. He and his dad aren’t on speaking terms and haven't been for years. It has nothing to do with his father’s work in the oil industry. His dad left when Lucas was still in grade school and hardly had a relationship with him the whole time. All he did was pay child support and occasionally appear at family holiday functions. That's it. There's no big story other than that.”
My heart twisted a little in my chest. I might not know Lucas too well, but it was obvious he cared about those close to him. His long-term friendship with Danny was one example. From what I gathered from Suzanne, many employees stayed with Chandler International for a long time. The firm paid well, yet he also treated staff well. It hurt to learn his father was that distant from him.
“Is he close to his mother?” I asked.
Suzanne nodded. “Oh yeah. She lives here in New York. She occasionally stops by the office too.”
Conversation moved on when a friend of Danny’s stopped by the table. We finished our dinner and then went our separate ways. I let myself into my quiet apartment later on. I slipped out of my shoes and my work uniform, a fitted skirt and blouse, and headed straight for the bathroom. After a bubble bath, I settled myself on my couch to watch television.
My phone buzzed as I was drifting off. Snagging it, I glanced down to see a text from Lucas.
I'll be home tomorrow. Can I persuade you to meet me for dinner?
I stared at his message, my pulse speeding and my belly executing a slow flip. It was ridiculous the effect he had on me. A text, nothing more than a text, and I was getting hot and bothered. The emotional side of me wanted to immediately type yes with a few too many exclamation points. Then, there was the rational side of me that knew a bit better. It was a bad idea for me to pursue anything much further with him. I had already had one situation with a former employer who threatened to give me a bad reference, and I’d never even gotten close to being intimate with him.
My reaction to Lucas was too powerful. I wanted too much. I had an annoying tendency to fall quickly for men in the past. I’d believed myself well beyond that. Now I felt silly because I was in a freefall. Just thinking about our night together made me hot all over.
Calling on my willpower, I took a deep breath, my thumbs hovering over the screen of my phone. I forced myself to type a rational reply.
I'm not so sure that's a good idea unless you're talking about a working dinner. Perhaps we should meet at the office.
I reread my reply twice before hitting send and setting my phone down. It buzzed almost instantly again. I couldn't resist the foolish urge to look at it right away.
I don't want a working dinner. I want you.
His blunt reply startled me and sent liquid need sliding through my veins. Oh. My. God. How was I going get a grip if he said things like this?
I had to forcefully ignore the little part of me that was jumping up and down for joy and flat out burning up with need for another night with him. I forced myself to reply rationally.
I work for you. The other night was a lapse in judgment on my part.
That was all I said. This time he didn't reply. I berated myself for being slightly disappointed. I fell asleep later, wishing I could be a more impulsive person. I wished I could throw caution to the wind and dive into a white-hot affair with him. One night with him had been the best sex of my life. It would be so amazing to let it play itself out. Yet, I couldn’t let myself lose my mind over him. There was that and the small matter of my heart.