Page 24 of Billionaire Boss's One Night Stand

I hated to agree with her that it was time to “move on”, but maybe that was all that could happen between us. One hot night, done and dusted.

Because if she’s content with Tom flirting with her and won’t report how poorly we see eye-to-eye, maybe I’m barking up the wrong tree.

There was a very real and solid chance that the attraction I felt for her wasn’t mutual.

And damn, was that depressing as hell. She was clearly embracing and celebrating all her changes in life here. New job, new place to live.

What aboutme?I hated that I’d seenheras a change in my life too, a halt to the rut of working overtime in the office and having no real life at all.

9

LOREN

The second Thursday into my job at Richards Consultation, Tom upped his approach and asked me out as a team meeting wrapped up.

“I was wondering if you’d like to get dinner with me tonight, short stuff,” he said as we all got our things gathered up to leave the conference room.

I paused in standing up to look at him.

Stop. Calling. Me. That!

“No thanks, Tom,” I replied instead, smiling to keep the rejection polite and friendly.

“What about tomorrow?—”

“Leave her alone,” Matt warned as he exited.

But Tom didn’t leave me alone. For the next week, he kept at it, flirting, teasing, and just being in my face. Sure, we had to work together, but the man just would not stop.

The aggravation of warding off one man while being loathed by another really wrecked my sanity. I was tired, so, so tired of the drama, and I wondered if it was time to go to HR.

I damn well couldn’t go to my boss, my direct supervisor. If I broke down to ask Matt for help in telling Tom to lay off the flirting, he’d take that not as my boss but as a former lover.Since he had already accused me of being some sort of female distraction, I was intimidated to approach him.

If I went to HR, I worried they’d ask why I didn’t tell Matt, and then I’d need to lie about why I wasn’t a fan of talking with him. Besides, I’d be a hypocrite to tattle to HR that Tom was overly flirty with me when I still harbored a secret crush on Matt, residue from our torrid and wild one night together. I couldn’t reject one coworker but lust for my boss.

In short, I prayed Tom would actually hear me when I told him to please give me space and to back off. Over and over, I told him that I wasn’t interested, but he just didn’t listen.

By the time Friday rolled around, I yawned and stretched at the front of the conference room. It was another late evening in the office, but I felt good about the progress we’d made. Getting Matt to agree on colors and fonts was a whole other animal, but between me, Brad, and even Matt, we were getting a solid grasp on the Gammon mission statement and how to tweak it to this specific rebrand.

“So if we skip the traditional pink and blue themes,” I said, pointing at the screen, “and go with the trendier neutrals, we’d align with what the majority of younger adults would be interested in.”

“The neutrals are too plain,” Matt argued.

I groaned and let my head drop back. Rupert, Brad, and Eli did the same, equally exasperated with Matt’s color input. The man did have an eye for the aesthetics. And he was familiar with the color wheel, like a walking Pantone agent.

It still tickled me that he not only recalled the color of my eyes but could be more specific thangreen, calling themjadeinstead.

“Anyway…” I said, wrapping up my portion of the presentation. Another yawn escaped me as I finished. Eli did the same, the next in the contagious line of yawning.

“That was a great presentation,” Tom praised.

“Thanks,” I replied without facing him. I tidied my papers, feeling like I was dragging my feet. And I still had to walk home.

“How about we relax over dinner now?” he asked.

I sighed, looking him dead in the eye. “No, Tom. I’m not interested.”

“How about?—”

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