Page 37 of Falling for Them

I didn’t want to lie to her, but I also didn’t want to tell her the truth. “Just some bullshit that happened last summer on my yacht.”

“You didn’t use concrete shoes on anyone, did you?” She went to the desk and put down her bag, turning to face me.

“No concrete shoes.” Although it was fun to imagine doing that to people who took advantage of a situation to get millions of dollars. “Is this office okay? I really did mean it when I said we could switch.”

“I don’t need a corner office. I think it’s excessive spending when we could have rented out a smaller office space in Queens, closer to where the permanent office will be.”

“This building belongs to my family, and with the discount I was able to work out, it’s cheaper here than it would be renting a space elsewhere. It’s a little inconvenient for some meetings, but I just go there or rent out a day space if needed.”

“Oh…” She stared down at the desk and picked at an invisible sticker on the top. “I guess I should have looked at the financial paperwork Ryker sent me months ago.”

There was an awkward silence that I didn’t know how to fill. We didn’t talk about what had happened between us, even when we had eaten dinner. Instead, we’d put on a comedy and ignored each other.

“Do you want me to show you around or…”

She finally looked up, her cheeks pinker than they had been. “I think I’d like to explore for myself, if that’s okay?”

“Of course. I’ll, uh… leave you to it.” I gave her a small wave and backed out of her office, feeling like a complete fool for the gesture.

I quickly turned on my heel and practically ran back to my office. Luckily, Carter had gone to his own, and I shut my door, leaning back against it.

I thought my days of making bad decisions were behind me, but I was pretty sure this was one of my worst.

The temptation to follow Libby and Carter to lunch was so overwhelming, I had to lock myself in my office and pretend to be on a call.

The morning had gone smoothly with Libby already getting started on reaching out to schools to set up meetings and working on job descriptions for employees that would need to be hired.

But then lunchtime had come, and Carter had swooped in and whisked her off to lunch. Was I jealous as fuck? Maybe. If anything, I was pissed at him for using Libby to get a rise out of me. In the past, I did the same to him, but this was so much different.

There was a firm knock on my office door, and I glanced at my calendar reminders, seeing no one on the agenda. “Come in.”

The door opened slowly at first, as if the person were peeking inside, and then opened fully. I should have known Ethan would eventually confront me again. The look on his face left no question that he knew about the night before. Whether it was Libby who told him or the noise, I wasn’t certain.

“Where’s Libby?”

“Wow, what a pleasant and professional greeting.” I shut my laptop and stood. “What can I help you with?”

“Where’s Libby? She didn’t answer my text and she’s not in any of the offices.” He had some balls wandering around my office suite without permission.

“I really need to hire a receptionist… or a security guard.” I rounded the desk and leaned against the front of it. “Libby wentto lunch with Carter.” I couldn’t keep the annoyance out of my voice and had to remind myself that Libby wasn’t mine.

His frown deepened. “Is he…” He shook his head, reconsidering whatever he was about to say. “It doesn’t matter. I’ve decided I’m going to take the next step with Libby.”

I crossed my arms over my chest, not surprised but also feeling like he’d just punched me. “How are you going to go about that?”

“That’s none of your business.”

“It is my business when I’m taking the next step too.” What the hell was I doing? “Also, how do you plan to explain to her you’ve been pretending to be gay all this time?”

He reeled back like I’d smacked him, but then his expression turned indifferent. “And how are you going to explain to her you’ve been pretending to be straight?”

“Excuse me?” There was no way he could know about what happened on the yacht with the woman and her husband.

“You tried to fuck me.” He looked me up and down in disgust.

“What the hell are you even talking about, Ethan?” I was frozen in place, even though I wanted to shove him out of my office and lock the door.

“The Christmas party.”

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