Page 65 of Foreplay with the Boss

I turned to see an older lady.

“Oh, I was just talking to a bird. I’m not crazy,” I quickly clarified—you know, like super sane people do. “I know birds don’t talk. I just haven’t had anyone to talk to about my…I don’t even know if I can call it a breakup, but since I definitely feel broken, I’m going to say I can.”

“Men,” she said with a sigh. “Can’t live with them, can’t kill them.” She scratched her head and put on an expression of mock confusion. “Isn’t that the saying?”

I laughed, the first laugh or even hint of happiness I’d experienced in days. “I think it’s can’t live with them, can’t kill them unless you look good in prison orange.”

She chuckled. “Well, I happen to look amazing in orange.” “Then I’ve got a guy that needs offing,” I said, then I clenched my jaw to stop my tears. “Actually, if you could just off him in my head so I could stop thinking about him, that’d be great.”

She put her hand over mine and squeezed. “That comes in time, dear. Unless he’s the guy. Then you sometimes have to overlook the fact that he’s a frustrating idiot and focus on how much better your life is with him in it—that’s how you know you’ve found the one. And if that’s the case, like I suspect it might be with you judging by the look in your eye at the briefest mention of him, you’ll find a way to work it out. Then you’ll only want to kill him once in a while, in the most loving way.”

“What stories are you telling people about me now?” An older gentleman approached, wrapped his arm around her, and kissed her cheek.

“It’s not always about you,” she said, but she broke into a wide grin that was aimed right at him. She slowly returned her attention to me. “You going to be okay, dear?”

“Yeah, I’m fine, thank you.” I tried to push away the longing that flooded me as I looked at them and wished things had turned out differently. My guy was definitely a frustrating idiot, but I wanted to overlook that because this past month had been the best month of my life. I learned how to be bolder and how to say what I wanted, and for a little while, I’d felt like I belonged. So even though things were too complicated and messy for Jameson and me to work things out—not to mention his aversion to long-term—I’d always be grateful for that. Even if I feared I’d also have to settle for vanilla sex and a heart that never quite beat right for the rest of my life. “You guys have a good day.”

My phone rang, and speak of the devil, it was from the office, except for not from Jameson’s usual line. I didn’t dare answer. No, I preferred to torture myself by listening to his voicemail messages after he left them, replaying them again and again so I could hear his voice, even as I hated how weak it made me feel.

As soon as my message chime went off, I listened to the voicemail. It was Debra, saying she just wanted to check in and to tell me that Jameson wasn’t himself, and she thought I should know, even if he was too stubborn to tell me.

I had no idea how she even knew something like that, but I didn’t doubt that she did.

Actually, that wasn’t true. She reminded me of Lisa, our receptionist at the home office, like companies only hired a certain type for that job, and they had this crazy sixth sense, where they knew everything about everyone in the office.

Like how she knew that Neil and I were on our way to breaking up, even before I did.

In twenty-four hours, there’s not going to be a home office, not for long.

Here I was feeling sorry for myself and several people— people I’d known my whole life—were going to lose their jobs. It was time to stop moping. To pick myself up, brush off the dust, and be bold.

I wasn’t going to give up on my career and let all Jameson’s helpful training go to waste. I needed to put together my own presentation and fight back. I had to at least try.

CHAPTER 38

Jameson

I stepped off the elevator and into the front part of the office, my thoughts on the presentation and numbers I knew backward and forward.

“Some of the board members have already arrived,” Debra said from behind her seat at the reception desk. “I sat them in the conference room and gave them coffee.”

“Thanks.”

“Did you happen to…think about what we discussed yesterday? About a certain someone who used to work here?”

“You have a funny definition of we and discussed.” I wished I could tell her that her words changed me, but she was appealing to my emotions, and at work, I didn’t have any. “Let me know when everyone’s arrived.”

“Yes, Mr. Stone.”

What really got to me was last night. After Stu and I had parted ways, I’d walked the few blocks to Savor in need of a strong drink and a friendly face. But what happened instead was that Ben had come over and excitedly asked if Kat was with me. I’d told him she wasn’t, and never would be again, and he’d given me a look of such strong disappointment, you’d think I had told him that I’d ridded the world of puppies.

“You’re not seriously going to let her get away, are you?” he’d asked, and I’d clenched my jaw, realizing that I should’ve at least tried to hide my reaction to the mention of her name. So I decided to just get it all out and over and done with, so I could try to move on. “She chose to leave. She can’t deal with what it takes to run a business, and when I tried to get her to sign the NDA, she freaked.”

“Freaked? Of course she did. You basically told her you don’t trust her. You’re lucky she wasn’t pissed.”

“I wouldn’t go saying she was unpissed.”

Ben shook his head. “I can’t believe you took Nate’s advice on that. He doesn’t understand love or trust, or anything besides being the best at his job. Someday he’ll meet a woman who makes him rethink everything, and he’ll get it, the way you finally did with Kat.”

---