I felt myself get into a normal routine as the next week started. I had called Adam multiple times today, seeing as it was already Wednesday and he still wasn’t here with me. His work still wanted to keep him in California and I was getting frustrated. I tried to drown myself in my work and my writing, but nothing seemed to help. I knew after getting off work today I would try to drown out all of my negative thoughts again.

“Alexa, I was wondering if I could talk to you?” Greg stopped me before I entered the elevator. Lilly and Erica were already inside, giving me sympathetic looks. It was six, and I didn’t want to stay later than I had to. I turned around with what I knew was an attitude in my stance and voice.

“Greg, I’m sorry, but I really just want to go home today.”

“It won’t take much of your time, but if you don’t want to wait today, we can do it tomorrow. I just wanted you to know at least that Chase, the head of the publishing and editing department, wants to hire you as an Executive Assistant Editor.” That caught my attention. I perked up, waving Lilly and Erica away. I heard the doors close almost immediately, leaving me and Greg alone on the floor. “You would be working as his assistant and helping to manage all edits of works that come through The Ink Well. Are you good with that, Alexa?”

I hadn’t heard most of what Greg had said after Executive Assistant Editor. It definitely wasn’t the position that I had been expecting when I gave Max my application, but I had to say, that was definitely my dream job—reading manuscripts and editing them. Max was right. He had taken care of me.

“Yes!” I said, a little too loudly. I had to remind myself that I was still at work, even though there wasn’t anyone left and didn’t need to be freaking out. I tried to look calm, but I could still feel my arms shaking. “That would be amazing, and more than I could have asked for.”

“According to Chase, your internship in college did a great deal to land you the job.” I couldn’t tell by Greg’s behavior if he was happy for me or sad that he was losing me. He seemed genuine in the fact that he was congratulating me on the job, but I could tell that he was hesitant.

“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to come back to visit.” I couldn’t help but have a huge smile on my face.

“I know you will. Keeping you, Erica, and Lilly separated won’t last for long.” Greg’s face lit up as he chuckled. I relaxed, knowing that he was happy for me.

“You’re right, but we’ll work through it.” My mind was racing. This was my big break, and even though I hadn’t talked to Adam about it, I just knew he would be happy for me. He had to be. This was literally my dream job, the whole reason I went to college, and Max had made it happen.

“Well, have a good night, and when you come into work tomorrow, go ahead and meet Chase on the second floor. He and Max have already been informed you will start tomorrow. We all kind of figured you would accept the position no matter what.” Greg’s smirk before he left me made me laugh. I had to admit, even though Max and I got off on the wrong foot, he and Greg seemed to have gotten to know me perfectly in just the little time I had been here.

When I reached the lobby, both Erica and Lilly were waiting for me. They jumped up from the couch and rushed to me.

“You didn’t tell us you were leaving!” The shriek came from Lilly. She was pulling me into a hug without a care in the world that her hair was in my mouth, and then I was also being smothered by Erica on my other side.

“I gave Max the application on his birthday.” I felt shy telling the girls this. How would it be when I told Adam about it? I tried to not let it dampen the mood.

“That is perfect for you! We need to go out to celebrate!” Lilly was storming out of the office building with the spirit of a teenager, dragging both Erica and me by the hand. “We need booze and music! We need a club! We need sex!”

“Whoa there, crazy woman. I was thinking about heading home and letting Adam know about the good news. He still hasn’t called me to let me know when he will be here.”

The smile on Lilly’s face vanished instantly. “Fine, but I expect a girls’ night out tomorrow!” Erica gave us both hugs before we put her in a cab. Lilly and I linked arms as we crossed the street, letting the silence of the night engulf us. Even when we got inside, I went to my room without a word.

I sat on the bed and thumbed through my phone. I paused on Adam’s number, taking a deep breath before hitting the call button.

One ring.

Two rings.

“Hey, darling.” I exhaled, relieved that Adam picked the phone up.

“Hey.” I fisted my left hand into a ball to stop rubbing my fingers together.

“You okay?”

“Yeah, I just wanted to tell you something about work.”

“Speaking of work, Aaron said I could leave tomorrow for Atlanta, so I should be there by late afternoon.”

I shot off the bed. “Finally!” I screamed, and put my hand over my mouth before giggling. “This so beats the news I had to share with you!”

“And what would that news be?”

“I got a promotion at work.” I wasn’t at all shy about telling him, like I had been with the girls. I heard heavy breathing coming from Adam’s end. “You there, babe?”

“What do you mean promotion? Isn’t this only your fourth week?”

“Yeah, but my boss Max recommended I apply for the publishing department—”

“Wait. I thought Greg was your boss.” The confusion in his voice didn’t seem to make the anger go away. I was scared to answer him.

“He’s—” I paused and caught breathe before I continued. Choosing my words as wisely as possible “—my immediate boss, but Max owns the company.”

“No.”

I stopped pacing and stood in the center of my room. “No?” I was confused now. What did he mean?

“You aren’t taking a position that some hotshot decided to give you.”

I was shocked. This wasn’t my Adam speaking. I didn’t know who this was. “You don’t even know him, Adam.”

“I don’t need to. You don’t need that kind of job. You have me.” I tried to answer him, but the line went dead. I called back, but the phone went straight to voicemail. I tried to stop the tears that were running down my cheeks, but every time I pushed a few away, more replaced them.

I was frustrated. Not with the fact that Adam wasn’t happy for me, but that he didn’t even let me talk about it. I lay down on the bed, pounded my head into the pillow, and screamed. I could have explained what the job was and how it related to my college major, but no. He wasn’t having it. And that was the hardest part to stomach. My husband didn’t see me as a working wife, and I did. We had had this fight numerous times before, when I was offered promotions through the years when I was working retail. It was the only thing we could never agree upon, so we ignored it until it came up, and this time, I was the one who detonated the bomb. I just thought that this time it would be different. I thought he would be proud of me.

I rolled over, looking at the ceiling, not wanting to have to discuss this with anyone just yet. I needed some alone time with my thoughts to figure out my next step. I was keeping the job, I knew that much. But what would Adam do when he found out? Sleep consumed me all too soon, and even though my reality wasn’t shining, my dreams sure were.

I walked into an apartment, looking around to see only my books and a large bed. There were candles lit across the floor, and Adam was lying in the bed. My breath caught at the sight of him. My man. He had been working out since I last saw him, his arms bigger and his stomach now adorned with rigid abs. I licked my lips as I made my way to him, crawling onto the bed next to his sleeping figure. I trailed a finger down his stomach.

Dark gray eyes met mine, but they didn’t stop me. The kisses that I trailed down his stomach turned into love bites. My nails raked down to the elastic band of his boxers, sliding my hand down his front and feeling his hardness. He pulled me up immediately and stopped me. His hands moved to my waist and brought my hips up to meet his. His erection pressed against my sex, and he reached down to grab my ass. I was already wet and becoming more turned on by the second. Adam had never been this aggressive, but I loved it. I was craving it.

I looked down and we were both naked. I rubbed myself against his length. His hands crept towards my breasts, tightly pinching my nipples, making my back arch. He trailed one hand down to my throbbing clit. I closed my eyes but couldn’t open them again. I basked in the feeling of losing control. I raked my fingers through the hair on his chest, and his thumb circled faster against me. A load moan escaped me, and I rubbed harder against his hard cock. My hands went to his hair. It was much longer than normal, but I pulled it, leaning down to latch my lips onto his neck, marking him. He was mine and everyone would know it.

He did the same. A hand landed across my ass, and nails dug in. I would have half-moons planted there for days, and the excitement rose in me. Foreplay had never been our thing, but damn, I could do this all day. I moved faster. I felt the my orgasm forming inside of me, and by the twitching below me, I knew he was close. So close.

The wave of pleasures crashed through both of us at the same time as cum coated my stomach and my legs contracted around his hips. I raked my nails down his chest, humming in enjoyment. I opened my eyes, but it wasn’t Adam’s face that I saw, it was Max’s.

I gasped, sitting up straight in my bed. I looked around to see that I was still in Lilly’s apartment. This wasn’t happening. I wasn’t having these types of thoughts about Max. I refused to believe it. I closed my eyes and wished for it to be tomorrow afternoon, to be in Adam’s arms again, where I truly belonged.

* * *

“You did what?!” Lilly was practically screaming at me as we walked out of her building. “I need all the details tonight. I can’t believe you waited until now to tell me this!”

The scowl on her face definitely made my morning, even if my night wasn’t so good.

“It wasn’t like it was intentional!”

“Do not tell me it wasn’t intentional or else it wouldn’t have happened!” Lilly poked my shoulder hard as we headed into the building. We both stopped when we saw Max by the front desk. I could feel my face turn a horrible shade of crimson. I bolted for the elevator, hitting the up button as fast as I could.

“You look well today, Alexa.” I heard Max’s voice come from behind me. Lilly hadn’t gotten to the elevator yet, but she didn’t seem to want to come any closer. I looked over my shoulder and she was slipping into the stairwell. She snickered and mouthed that she was sorry. Sorry, my ass.

“Not today, Max.” As fast as I was to the elevator, it didn’t seem to come fast enough. I waited there until the doors opened, with Max standing next to me,, a smile planted on his face until the doors closed. I thought maybe I could do this whole be-nice-and-friendly-to-Max thing, but after that fantasy about him… Nope. It wasn’t even his fault. It was all mine, and I couldn’t even face the fact that it was.

I stepped off onto the second floor and saw one of the men who was at Stone Mountain with Max. He was staring at his phone and muttering to himself.

“Chase?” He looked up immediately and a smile beamed across his face. His features were totally opposite from Greg and Max. Chase was soft and his demeanor was a lot more calm. The short light brown hair, full beard, and piercing green eyes contrasted the tan and muscles that he sported.

“You must be Alexa!” The normal professional handshake just didn’t do with him, though, and before I knew it I was brought in for a bear hug, lifting me a little. Definitely nothing like Max or Greg. “Greg and Max were able to tell me a lot about you already, and I’m so excited that you decided to apply for the job.”

“When did they have a chance to talk about me?” I laughed it off slightly as he put me back down, but felt a tinge of embarrassment to be talked about by my bosses. “I mean, I just applied a few days ago.”

“Oh well, Max had mentioned you a while ago, and Greg just jumped on board, too. I’m surprised they couldn’t get you to change over to my department sooner. Your college résumé is impressive and I would love to make good use of you, since Greg said how fast you could read and review a book. Max also hadn’t realized you did an internship in college for editing.” I was fidgeting with my hands now, trying to digest all the words coming from Chase. I always seemed to get nervous with compliments about my work. I didn’t try to be anything special. I just did my job like I was supposed to.

“It was only a class I took, so not really an internship.”

“Don’t discredit your work. I’m sure you ended up putting in more time then you needed to.”

I laughed. He had no idea.

“Yeah, staying three hours after my other classes to read entries from prisoners and editing sub-par college entries.” That internship had been the highlight of my college career and I wouldn’t have changed a second of it.

“Now that’s what I’m talking about!” Excitement oozed from Chase. He was just as welcoming as Greg, but I could tell that he was going to be a different kind of boss than Greg. “Follow me and let’s get some paperwork for the new job done. Your salary will be doubling, and we have to resubmit any vacation requests you may have, and then we can be on our way.”

Chase tried to lead my to the back to fill out paperwork, but I couldn’t move. Doubling my salary? That wasn’t expected. I tried not to show just how much this meant to me. This was beyond anything I was expecting. I took a deep breath, centering myself, and followed to where Chase was waiting for me.

We were on the second floor for no more than an hour, before Chase ushered me up to the third floor. I looked around at the same cubicles that lined the financing floor but saw none that were open for me. It wasn’t till we were at Chase’s door that I saw the smaller office room to its left. It was empty, and the name on the door read Alexa Cartwright - Executive Assistant Editor.

“You don’t waste any time, do you?” I pointed the door out to Chase. I wondered if anyone would judge me if took a photo. I smiled to myself, proud that I had made this choice in my career.

“Of course not! When you told Greg last night that this was good to go, we had them put it on first thing this morning since you’ll be starting right away. I have a lot of books that need to be gone through and have final edits done. That is your main job here now, in case Greg forgot to mention it. Once books are prepared to be published, then you’ll do one last overlook and approve them for publishing. There will be times when you might be asked to assist with full editing, but as of right now, you are my final go-to. So if you see something, make sure to flag it.” Chase showed me into my office, which already had a pile of six manuscripts on the desk. “I’ll get Dyllan, our new intern, to get you some supplies.”

“That won’t be needed, but thank you.” The confused look on Chase’s face made me laugh. I guess it was something odd to say when the only things in this room were bookshelves, my desk, a chair, and manuscripts. “I always carry a red pen.”

I pulled it out of my purse to show him. He just chuckled and walked out of the room, leaving me to my reading. I didn’t realize it was lunchtime until I looked up to see Lilly taking a photo of me hunched over my desk.

“We thought maybe you could use some food.” Erica popped her head from around the corner.

“That actually sounds perfect.” I didn’t hesitate to put down my pen and book. I needed a break. I had been on the same page for what seemed like all day. The chapter I was on just wasn’t making any sense and I couldn’t put my thoughts into words. I checked my phone before leaving, still not seeing anything from Adam. He should have been in town by now, or at least I had hoped. I just didn’t want his boss to change his mind again.

Baker’s was unusually packed today, so when we finally got our food, we had no choice but to head back to the office. I had my meatball sub in hand as we walked across the street. I almost dropped it when I saw Adam waiting outside of the office building.

“Adam.” He didn’t look like himself. It looked like he hadn’t shaved since I left. He was wearing torn jeans and a tight white shirt. I could tell he had been working out. It wasn’t just the voice on the phone that didn’t sound like my Adam anymore, the man standing in front of me didn’t look like my Adam either. I handed my sub over to Lilly and even wait to see if the girls were going to go inside.

When my hands were free I tried to jump into Adam’s arms but was stopped mid-stride. Adam’s hands stopped me in my tracks. He didn’t like public displays of affection, but who cared? My husband was finally here and standing in front of me!

“I didn’t think I was coming today, but I knew I had to.” He reached out to grab my arm, pulling me closer. He smelled like home, and tears started to form in my eyes. Oh, how I had missed this man, but even though I was being held tight, I still felt a distance between us. I wanted it gone.

“What does that mean, Adam?” I pulled myself away from him as my voice started to crack. I quickly wiped away the tears that were falling. “I’ve missed you so much.”

“I know, baby. Meet me at this address tonight.” He slipped a paper into my hands. I stared down at it, not sure what to do. Not sure why he was giving me this. “Please.”

He kissed me on the forehead and then turned around to leave. What I would have once considered a sweet act, left me with more questions. This wasn’t my Adam. Why was he being so cryptic?

“Adam!” I screamed after him as he walked away. He didn’t look back at me. He didn’t even flinch at my scream. My feet wouldn’t move. I was paralyzed with the fear of what was to come, but I had no idea what was happening. “Adam!”

I was yelling at myself now. People around me were staring. Heat rose to my cheeks, and then I ran. I ran to the only place I knew wouldn’t reject me. My work.

I barely made it into the lobby bathroom before breaking down. I didn’t even know what had just happened. I sank down to the floor with tears streaming down my face. It was times like this that I felt grateful for not wearing makeup. My nose was already starting to stuff up. The tears come faster the more I tried to stop them.

“Are you okay, Alexa?” I looked up, startled to see Max standing before me.

“I’m fine.” I wiped away the tears with the back of my hand and stood up. I didn’t want to let Max see me like this. “Why are you in the girls’ bathroom?”

“Darlin’, this is the men’s room.” I knew the look on my face must have shown how mortified I was, because Max couldn’t stop laughing. I tried to push past him to the door, but he wouldn’t let me pass. His hands were planted on my shoulders, holding me in place. “I’m sorry. It’s not funny.”

“You’re right. It’s not.” I shoved at his chest, but instead of pushing him away, I grabbed fistfuls of his shirt. He grabbed onto my wrists and held them tight between us.

“Alexa.” He looked down at me. My name on his lips soothed me. One of his hands moved to my face and wiped away a stray tear that had managed to sneak out again. “I was serious when I asked if you were okay.”

I didn’t answer him. The words wouldn’t form in my mouth because what was happening was something that I couldn’t explain.

“Go home.” Max released me and granted me access to the door.

“What?” I was confused as what he was telling me to do.

“Go home, Alexa.” The look on his face said that he understood what was going on, even though he had no clue why. I checked the lobby for anyone before bolting. Once I hit the sidewalk, I looked down at the note that Adam had handed me. An address was on it, so I hailed a cab and ended up 20 minutes outside the city in front of a two-story Victorian-style house. A sold sign adorned the front yard and a moving truck was in the driveway, but what I wasn’t expecting was Adam on the front porch, holding another woman.