Page 21 of Vesper Martinis

“Well, lying for one. I never should’ve said I didn’t know you when I did. That was immature. I’m also sorry for yelling at you. I was a jealous prick. And… as for what happened in the office…”

Just by how his voice trails off and his eyes darken, I know he’s thinking about it.

Same, buddy.

“Listen,” I say. “I started it… what happened in the office. I should be apologizing. I was just really pissed at you. I knew you knew me, and I wanted to prove it, and I did it… wrong. If you want to fire me, I understand.”

Now, it’s his turn to raise his eyebrows.

“No,” he says. “I don’t want to fire you. I should, but let’s be honest, what we did was both our doing. I could have stopped it, but I didn’t.”

I nod, agreeing. Then, my mind goes back to what he said earlier.

Was he jealous?

“Wait, you were jealous?”

Pierce pulls his bottom lip between his teeth, then slowly releases it, making me hold back a moan.

“Yes. I know that because I’m your boss, we can’t… let’s say, pick up where we left off. But nevertheless, just the thought of you with someone else got me jealous.”

I grin. I can’t help it. The infallible Pierce Donnelly is jealous.

“I’m glad you’re enjoying this,” he says.

I chuckle. “Well, it’s not every day you get the guy who never says how he’s feeling admitting to you that he’s jealous. No one’s ever been jealous in regards to me.”

His body shifts, and he takes a step towards me.

“Truly? Never?”

I shake my head.

“I find that hard to believe. You’ve never had someone who couldn’t stand the thought of you being in someone else’s arms?” he asks.

Pierce clears his throat and continues, “I tried feeling sorry for what happened in the office. I knew it shouldn’t have happened, but every time I think about it… I don’t feel regret. My only regret attached to that moment was that I made you so mad. You were right, obviously. I do remember you. I haven’t forgotten about you.”

His admission makes me take a step back. I barely expected an apology when he finally admitted to knowing me. Still, I didn’t expect him to say he’d never forget me.

I walk to him, his cologne making my mouth water.

“Then what the fuck was all that? Telling me you didn’t know me crap. And making my life miserable.”

Another bout of regret seems to hit him in the gut again, but I don’t take it back. It sucked.

“I thought,” Pierce explains. “That if I didn’t acknowledge knowing you, it would keep us at a distance. Making you… miserable around me was meant to make you hate me so nothing would happen. I needed you to hate me. I thought it was easier that way.”

“Well, it worked,” I say, but as soon as the words exit my mouth, I regret them. Because I don’t hate him. Yeah, he’s irritated the shit out of me, but I never hated him.

“I’m very sorry,” Pierce says solemnly.

“I believe you,” I reply, slapping him on the shoulder and then sitting on my bed.

My mind is whirling. Why did he choose to ignore me? Why couldn’t he have just said that what happened that night will never be mentioned again and leave it at that? There is something there. I think he’s afraid of something. And I want to know what it is.

I also want to know what comes next after this apology?

Chapter 7

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