Page 58 of His Captor

A soft knock on the doorframe jolted me out of my swoony daydreams.

“Morning, Mr. Canton,” Lincoln said, stepping into my office with a small pile of folders. “I just have a couple things for you to sign.”

“Sure. Come in.” I cleared my throat and sat straighter, rolling my chair closer to my desk as Lincoln opened his folder and presented me with a few letters and requisitions that needed my signature.

Through the open office door, I noticed Hayden leaning way back in his chair, watching us with a curious look. The second I met his eyes, I smiled. I wondered if he was jealous of Lincoln. It would have been ridiculous, but also a little funny.

“Did you have a good weekend?” Lincoln asked slowly, twisting a little to look at Hayden, probably because I’d paused with my pen over the first document without signing it while taking the time to grin at Hayden.

We were so obvious. It didn’t matter that I was an alpha and serious about my business. Hayden and I had the weekend we’d just spent together written all over our faces.

I cleared my throat, frowned, and focused on what I was signing. It was something I definitely needed to pay attention to, since it was a response to Victory Holding’s lawsuit that needed to go to my lawyers.

“It was quiet and relaxing,” I said with a tight smile, handing the signed document back to Lincoln.

“Did you,” Lincoln paused, his mouth twitching and his eyes lighting with realization, “doanything interesting?”

I glanced up and sent him a flat look as I handed him the second document. “I had a quiet and relaxing weekend,” I repeated.

Lincoln managed to keep his mouth shut and smileless as I signed the rest of the things he’d brought me, but that wasn’t the end of it.

An hour or so later, Rachel stepped into my office and asked, “So, do we have any sort of plan in place for if you’re unable to be in the office, or working at all, for a day, or two, or a couple weeks?”

The false innocence and badly hidden smile as she asked the question made it clear she was subtly asking if I would need to take paternity leave when Junior—I refused to let my son end up with that name—was born.

“If anything ever happens to me,” I told her with a frank look, “I can either work remotely, like I did when we started here, or I trust you to keep the lid on things here.”

“I see,” Rachel said with a nod. “So there’s nothing coming up in, say, three-ish weeks that might inspire you to take some time off?” She darted a look out through the window to Hayden’s back as he dealt with some sort of phone call at his desk. She was enjoying the secrecy game a little too much for someone who knew the truth.

I sighed. “The company is new and unproven. We’ve got half a dozen critically important contracts that could launch us and sustain us for years on the verge of being won. Colin and his new friends are suing us and most likely attempting to sabotage the work we’ve done so far, with the threat of actual violence hanging in the air. But by all means, speculate away on my personal life.”

Rachel lost her smile. “Sorry.” She turned to go, looking more chastised than I was comfortable with, but she paused and turned back to me. “We all just want you to be happy,” she added in a quiet voice. “A lot of us owe you for everything you’ve done for us. We could have ended up unemployed and blackballed because of Colin. You deserve happiness, too.”

I smiled, feeling suddenly both loved and sheepish for being such a hard-ass.

“Thanks, Rachel,” I said, nodding to her.

As Rachel left the office, my gaze landed on Hayden again. He was still on the phone, but he watched Rachel walk away from my office door, then pivoted in his chair to look at me, eyebrows raised.

I sent him what I hoped was a reassuring look, then got back to work.

That still wasn’t the end of it.

I had too much to do to go out to lunch, but Hayden left the office with some of the friends he’d made, and when he came back, he had a bag for me from the deli in the building next door.

“I didn’t think you should eat something out of the vending machine,” he explained, unpacking the thick, meaty sandwich he’d bought along with chips and a massive soda that I might drink half of.

“You didn’t have to do this,” I said, smiling at him.

Hayden held his belly so it wouldn’t unbalance him as he leaned over my desk and whispered, “Isn’t that what an omega is supposed to do? Take care of his alpha?”

I huffed a laugh. “If you’re now responsible for taking care of me, then God help us all.”

“You didn’t say that when I was bouncing on your cock last night,” Hayden said in a wry, teasing voice.

I flushed hot, particularly because one of the IT guys was walking past the open office door when Hayden spoke and nearly tripped over his own feet.

It occurred to me as I ate my sandwich that Hayden was pushing things on purpose. It also occurred to me that the entire office probably already knew about us, and if they didn’t already, they would find out soon. Hayden deserved better than to be the boss’s secret side-piece.

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