Chapter10
Ethan hadn’t realized how much he’d come to rely on Brianna’s presence in the office—and the relief of her availability to him—until the day came when she called in sick. He didn’t think for a second that she was faking it, either; she’d sounded sick indeed when she’d called him that morning, well before she needed to be in the office.
He sat back in his chair, looking up at the ceiling of his office. It was going to be an absolutely interminable day—he knew that without even having to know what was on his schedule. With no Brianna to break up the strains and tensions of the meetings, decisions, and phone calls that the day would be made up of, it was going to last seemingly forever.
The ringer for his office door buzzed and Ethan took a breath, reminding himself that he’d been in business for years without having someone like Brianna around; he could get through it, and he would, without taking his stress out on anyone. “Yeah?”
“It’s Cassidy,” the voice on the other end of the intercom said. “I wanted to go over today’s schedule with you, Mr. Hale.” Ethan tried not to exhale on a sigh.
“Come on in,” he said, pressing the button to unlock the door. He sat up in his chair and told himself not to spend the whole day dwelling on Brianna’s absence—that would just make it worse.
A moment later, Cassidy came in, letting the door close and lock behind her as she approached his desk, her notepad in hand and a pen tucked behind her ear. She did—Ethan had to admit—look beautiful, with her long, dark hair pulled away from her face in a bun, dressed in business-best: a skirt and blazer that had probably come from Nordstrom, shoes that he was pretty sure were Valentino or another designer, or at least a very good knockoff.
From the day of her interview with him for the position as his primary assistant, Cassidy had always dressed up; she always had her nails done, and he was pretty sure that the majority of her disposable income was spent on making sure she always looked like a “perfect 10.”
“So, tell me what’s on the docket for today, Cass,” Ethan said, turning his chair away from his computer to look at her as she sat down. Cassidy was—in a certain way—as different from Brianna as someone could get; both women were beautiful, but there was something about Cass, some lack of spark, something about the very normality of her beauty that just didn’t appeal to him. Not to mention the fact that you couldn’t imagine in a million years propositioning her the way you did Brianna, he thought absently. He pushed the comparison out of his mind and focused on the work in front of him.
“You’ve got a meeting with the Board of Directors right before lunch, about the ongoing investigations in HR and about the end-of-year profit reports,” Cassidy began, looking at her notes. “This afternoon, you’ve got three meetings: one with the guy from PowerTrain, about their contract with the company for marketing; that’s at two. The next one will be at three-thirty, and it’s with the Accounting Department here…” Ethan let his mind drift a bit, knowing that Cassidy would remind him of each individual engagement within twenty minutes of it happening—more than enough time for him to prepare for it.
He thought about the other things he had to do that day, apart from what Cassidy had on his itinerary; Ethan had always packed 48 hours worth of activities into every twenty-four-hour period when he wasn’t on vacation. Maybe after the year-end reports and all that are done, I can talk Brianna into going with me out of town somewhere. He let his mind wander a bit, paying just enough attention to Cassidy’s commentary to be able to follow her cues, to remind himself of the important factors.
“I was wondering—you’ll have an hour after the meeting with the board,” Cassidy said, cutting through Ethan’s thoughts. “I know you usually have some kind of lunch meeting—either with clients, or with Brianna, or something that comes up like that—but since you’ll be free, I was wondering if you might want to check out that new Tapas place on Fifth with me?” Ethan barely remembered himself enough not to frown at the invitation.
“I think I’m actually going to be meeting with my accountant—my personal accountant—today,” he said quickly. “He wants to talk to me about taxes, and that will go over better with some Chinese food.” Ethan gave Cassidy what he hoped was a reassuring smile.
“Oh! Oh, of course—I must have missed that appointment,” Cassidy said, looking mildly crestfallen that she didn’t have a note about that.
“I didn’t put it in formally, so it’s not your fault,” Ethan told her. “I only just talked to him after getting in.”
“Oh, good,” Cassidy said, relieved. “I’ll add that into your calendar, in case anyone is looking for you.” Ethan nodded his assent. In truth, he thought he might get the Chinese to go, and maybe go to see how Brianna was doing; he knew just what she’d like, and even if the visit didn’t end up with the two of them having sex, it would be good to see her.
“Is there anything else?” Ethan shifted in his chair again, feeling a little uncomfortable with Cassidy’s invitation still. Cassidy rose from her seat and nodded.
“Yeah—no, I’ve got everything else under control. I’ll let you know when to get ready for that board meeting,” she said, with her usual smile. Ethan nodded again as she turned to leave and, when the door had closed behind her he sighed.
“That was awkward as hell,” he muttered, partly to himself. He’d known that Cassidy liked him—she wouldn’t have been so dedicated, so thorough in her work if she didn’t. He had always thought it was more along the lines of the kind of liking that a student had to their teacher, or maybe their principal; he had never expected her to make even as mild-mannered a move as inviting him to lunch.
Of course, Ethan reminded himself, he could always just point out to her that with the HR investigation going on, it would be unseemly for him to see her socially. He snorted. If Cassidy knew that he was already seeing Brianna, he was fairly certain that the brunette assistant would flip her lid. Cassidy knew that she was beautiful, and probably—like many beautiful women—thought that it was enough, on its own, to get her whatever man she wanted. The idea that she just didn’t do anything for Ethan would never occur to her.
Ethan opened up his email and got down to work, thinking about what the rest of his day would hold. He had a call to make, before the board meeting, and he needed to work with Jennifer on something between the call and the meeting—he would need to keep the chat with one of the clients he’d brought to the ad agency short. He pulled up the menu for his favorite Chinese restaurant, only a handful of blocks away from the office, and started in on an order to pick up after his meeting. He ordered wonton soup and eggrolls for Brianna, and an order of dumplings and Szechuan chicken for himself, and set the pick-up time, without even a second thought.
He unplugged his phone from the charger and found the number he needed in his contacts list, making note of the time. Twenty minutes should be enough time to get it done, and then I can meet with Jenn, and then the board. He might—Ethan thought—make his lunch a little longer, if Brianna was up to it. The fact that she was such an integral part of his daily life had scared him a bit; he’d hired her for the position in the hopes of creating a kind of convenience for himself, following his friend’s example. Instead he’d found himself thoroughly attached to her, in a way that he’d never been with any other woman.
His email notification chimed, and Ethan glanced at his inbox; there was another report from HR, detailing the ongoing investigation. It was marked Urgent. He rolled his eyes and opened it, downloading the report to look at once he’d finished the call, before he talked to Jennifer about the projects she had going on.
But even as he turned away from his computer to call his contact, a random line from the report caught Ethan’s attention. We’re finding suggestions of more malpractice and abuse of position higher up in the organization… Ethan put the call out of his mind and focused on the report, feeling his heart beating faster with sudden consciousness of how far out on a limb he was: the CEO and owner of the company, conducting an illicit relationship with his own employee, in the midst of an investigation into relationships very like the one he was in.
The fact that he and Brianna were both—then—completely involved in it willingly, that he’d removed any form of real power he had over her, was irrelevant. He was her boss, they were involved sexually, and that would be enough to cause problems if it was discovered.
As he read, Ethan sighed in relief. The HR investigation was looking into reports and rumors from the people directly under the members of the board—it wasn’t a danger to him, at least not at the moment. They’d heard that one of the executives had hired his girlfriend to a position she wasn’t entirely qualified for, and was keeping her there via blackmail to the people who reported her—some kind of bitter grudge, Ethan thought.
Even if it turned out to be completely false, the investigation would have to check it out. He pushed the worry out of his mind and reminded himself—briefly—about what he needed to talk to his contact about. There was no danger to him or to Brianna yet; he would worry about the impending disaster when it was a little bit closer to hand.