Page 36 of Business or Pleasure

Fortunately, Harlee finished up in a little over a quarter hour, giving me the time to decide that I wanted to do something about the situation rather than ignoring it. The idea that I could return home with her feeling negatively toward me bothered me, but I couldn’t see how to do it without rousing Brigh’s suspicions, and that was the last thing I needed.

“And that’s everything I have right now.” Harlee’s tone was perfectly polite.

I hated that with a passion.

“Do you have any questions?”

I had one, but I wouldn’t ask it with Brigh here. “Not at this time.” I stood.

“Then I’ll bid you a good day.”

After a moment, it became clear that she wasn’t going to say anything else, so I excused myself and Brigh, my brain going a hundred miles an hour, trying to figure out some way to handle what was happening between Harlee and me. When we reached the hotel, I had a partial plan.

“I’ll make dinner reservations,” Brigh said as we entered the lobby. “Is there something specific you’d like?”

I shook my head. “I have a bit of a headache. I think I’ll stay for the rest of the evening. Order some room service after I take a bit of a lie down.”

“Is there anything I can get for you?” Brigh asked, concern in her voice.

“No, but thank you.” I gave her what I hoped was a polite but pained smile. “You should go out somewhere nice, have a good meal, maybe some dessert.”

“Oh. All right.”

She didn’t sound all right. In fact, she sounded annoyed, but I wasn’t going to concern myself with that. It wasn’t my job to entertain her or spend time with her. I was her employer, not her friend, and if the way she was acting recently was any indication, she was beginning to blur that line.

But that was an issue for another time.

“I believe I’ll stay in as well,” she said. “There’s work to be done back home.”

“Aye. Send me an email with anything I need to handle.”

She nodded, disappearing into her room without a word. As soon as I was in my own room, I took out my phone and called the direct line to Harlee’s office.

“Hello?”

“Harlee, it’s Baylen.” Using our given names was perhaps unwise considering I was going to try to come at this from a business standpoint, but I was tired of hearing her call me Mr. McFann, so I hoped I could set the standard with my simple introduction.

“Oh. Can I help you?”

“I’d like to go over some of your ideas. Could you come to my hotel?” I winced even as I said it. Perhaps I should have thought more before I made this call, but it was too late now. “I had some time on the ride over to do a bit of thinking and I’d like to speak with you as soon as possible. I thought if you stopped by here on your way home, we could have a chat.”

“I – I’m not so sure that’s a good idea.”

Fuck. I knew something was wrong.

“Ms. Flitton wouldn’t be joining us.” I hoped my tone was convincingly nonchalant. “She has other business matters to attend to.”

After a moment of silence, Harlee spoke, “Okay. I’ll be there in about an hour.”

“Brilliant. I’ll meet you at the hotel bar, if that will be all right.”

“Sounds good. See you then.”

She hung up before I could add anything else, but that was fine as I didn’t have anything else to say. Not over the phone anyway.

After the longest forty minutes I could remember, I headed downstairs to the bar, sparing only a quick glance at Brigh’s door. The odds of her opening it at the exact moment I was leaving my room were low, but I didn’t want to be caught off-guard. I already had an excuse prepared, but didn’t need to use it as I made it to the elevator without any sign of my assistant.

I ordered a beer and settled into the seat with the best view of the entrance and waited. It wasn’t long before Harlee appeared, and I hoped the fact that she was early meant she was as eager to see me as I was to see her. With her expression carefully masked, however, it was impossible for me to tell.

---