Page 4 of Office Affairs

Quiet descended on the room, the employees watching with a sense of anticipation and awe. Did they not come down here often?

The three men took no notice of the disturbance they caused but continued to the coffee bar and commenced pouring and flavoring their own drinks. Okay, so I likely wouldn’t be bringing Chase coffee if he liked to make it himself. That made me feel better about the position I’d accepted. Maybe I would be doing something that would help me once I graduated with my MBA.

Chase turned toward the room and my face flamed hot when he looked my way. I couldn’t tell if he saw me. His gaze swept the room so fast that he might not have noticed that I sat ogling him. I wasn’t the only one. All the women I’d spoken to, and some of the men, stared at the three power players. I swore Laura had drool dripping off her chin before Chase, Russell, and Garrett continued their stroll.

“What are they doing down here?” Laura’s voice hissed out in a sharp whisper. She fluffed her hair and bit her bottom lip. “It’s too bad about the dating clauses in the work contracts. I’d be all over that.” She made a purring sound, and I slapped a hand over my mouth to stifle the giggle.

Bit late for that. I scolded myself for the thought but grinned when I caught Miranda’s eye. She looked as awe-struck as the others. Okay, so I wasn’t the only one who had the hots for the CEOs.

Why did that piss me off? They were off-limits … for everyone. I shoved my raging hormones down. They were too old for me. I knew that. My body didn’t seem to care, and honestly, neither did my mind. What did matter was that they were my bosses, and Dad’s best friends. That placed them all firmly in the do-not-have-sex-with box.

I choked back my sigh. “I’m guessing you don’t see them often?” I crossed my ankles and tucked them beneath the chair. I could at least present an aura of sophistication.

Miranda blinked as though coming out of a daze. “No. No. They don’t come down to the lounge often.” Her eyes flashed over to me, then back to where they’d disappeared around the corner.

Conversations picked up again, and I twirled my espresso cup around in the saucer to distract myself. I’m sure my face would give me away if Miranda looked too long.

“There have been a few changes happening lately.” Miranda pursed her lips and stopped.

“Oh, don’t quit now. I’m an employee, you have to tell me all the juicy gossip.” She would do it anyway because she knew I loved hearing all about work drama. I had plenty in my personal life, but this didn’t apply to me, so I enjoyed the soap opera aspect of it all.

She looked left, then right, and leaned even closer, reminding me of a really bad spy trying not to get caught. “There have been rumors that the business is having problems.”

My heart stuttered. Dad hadn’t said anything about Grady folding. He might not know. If that was the case, it meant that Chase had probable cause for stealing from other companies. “You think they’re out of ideas for apps?” Seemed unlikely but stranger things had happened in the businesses I’d studied this year.

Miranda splayed her hands out with her palms up. “I don’t know. It’s all rumors at this point. But I know the last board meeting was a disaster.”

“Board meeting? Isn’t it just Chase, Russell, and Garrett?” I shouldn’t let on that I know so much about them, but Miranda is too busy gossiping to notice.

“They have regular board meetings. Like once a month. Just the three of them in the conference room on the tenth floor. No one else uses that floor, and their actual offices are higher up.” She was getting into her story now, her eyes lighting up the longer she talked.

I imagined the three of them holed up in that room. If those walls could talk, I’d pay a fortune to know what they’d said up there. Had one of them admitted to stealing from Dad and the others wanted to hush it up? My pulse rushed faster.

“No one else is allowed in?” Why would they bother holding meetings here when they could talk anytime?

Miranda shook her head, sending her curls bouncing again. “This last meeting, they were shouting so loud that I heard them on the ninth.”

“What did they say?” The question scraped up my throat with a desperate need to find answers.

Miranda’s frown created three creases on her forehead. “I couldn’t tell. Their voices were too muffled, but I’ve never heard them yell like that.” She smoothed her finger over the wrinkles, working them out. “I’ve been hearing rumors since then, though. I’ve heard there’s something big happening. Tech being stolen or something like that.”

3

CHASE

I stood alongside Russell and Garrett on the outer fringe of the lounge. We stood far enough back that everyone lost sight of us and resumed their conversations.

“Anything?” Russell sipped his plain black coffee and arched a brow when I snorted. “You’re the one who wanted to come down here and scope out the employees. What did you expect to find?”

“Nothing.” I settled my arms over my stomach and raised the cup of coffee to my lips. I’d hoped to find someone who didn’t belong. Someone who might be the reason behind all our problems.

Instead, I found Sabrina. She owned the room without even realizing it. Her body language said she didn’t give a fuck, even if she did have her ankles tucked under the table in a proper way that would make royalty proud.

It was in the tilt of her chin, the way she focused on the woman across from her and ignored the looks daggering her way.

“Where’s the new one?” Garrett stood on my left, his shoulder against my back.

“Center of the room. Red dress.” My cock throbbed when she opened her mouth and laughed. She’d turned me on the instant she tilted that pretty head at me upstairs. The challenge in those soulful brown eyes begged me to close the distance and take what I wanted. We’d exchanged sexually charged innuendo without hesitation. And now that I’d hired her, she was strictly forbidden. What an idiot.

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