Page 17 of Tempting Him

“So, does that mean you knew?” Jay asks.

I ignore him, not willing to have this conversation right now.

“Mr. Brooks, are you aware there’s a—”

“No, wait. Ale—”

I cut him off with a stern glare as Zola’s head swings in our direction.

“Sorry, I mean, Mr. uhh,” his eyes give him away. He has no idea what my last name is. Why would he? Obviously his father didn’t tell him my name, and Jay didn’t look into this job at all to be able to find out on his own.

“Mr. Drakos,” Zola says with a bite in her tone.

“Right,” Jay offers, pretending like he forgot. “Drakos. Yes, Mr. Drakos.”

The elevators open and I gesture for Zola and her interns to go in first. The second elevator dings, informing us it’ll be ready. “We’ll take this one,” I say with a smile. She nods, her eyes roaming to Jay once more before we step into the neighboring car.

Jay exhales as soon as we’re alone. “Shit, I’m sorry.”

“This is a place of business, Mr. Brooks, and I am in charge. I will never be Alek or Aleksander in this building.”

“And I clearly won’t be Jay.”

“No, you won’t.”

“Did you know? Who I was, I mean.”

“I did not, and had I known, it never would’ve happened.”

“No?” he questions, moving into a position where I can see him.

I meet his gaze. “No. You are Calvin’s son, and not only am I your boss, but I’m his, and more importantly, your father and I are friends.”

His shoulders drop. “Friends? You’refriendswith my dad?”

“Is it so unbelievable that either of us would have friends?”

He laughs. “Kind of, yes. Also, I thought you said you didn’t have friends.”

“I don’t have any here.”

“You never saw any photos of me?”

“No, I never saw any pictures , but don’t worry, I’m sure your father dotes on you.”

“This is so crazy,” he muses, mostly to himself.

I focus on the doors as they open up and then make my way to my office with Jay on my heels.

Once behind my desk, I say, “Okay, are you aware there’s a music festival coming this summer?”

“Wait. Well, no, but hold on, can we talk about this?”

He sits in a chair across from me, his dark eyes focused on mine. He looks worried.

With a soft sigh, I sit back in my chair. “What are you concerned about?”

His hands go up. “This whole thing. I’m working for you, but we slept together, which I’m sure there will be some rules about. I could get disqualified from the program, you could lose your job, and what the fuck are we gonna do about my dad?”