Page 15 of Sensual Games

“I knew it,” he gritted out.

“But,” I bit out. “You weren’t working here at that time, genius. The press release announcing your appointment as vice president didn’t come out for another week, remember? And the only reason I was paying attention to that was we had just heard the buyout was definitely going through. I didn’t know you had anything to do with it at the wedding, and I sure as hell didn’t know I’d end up holding the hand of a manchild three years younger than me while he got his feet wet in the real world.”

I was trembling but somehow managed to hold myself together as I lifted my chin and took in his slightly open mouth and wide eyes. He wasn’t expecting that. “Now that I’ve wasted more than enough time explaining myself to you,” I concluded as I pulled the door open. “I’m going to get some actual work done, and not because I want to make somebody else look bad. I actually care about the success of this division.”

I’d gotten the last word, which was a victory in and of itself. Why didn’t I feel victorious as I hurried to my desk, blinded by the tears I frantically tried to blink back? I ended up ducking into the ladies’ room, instead, hiding from the world in the stall at the far end of the row and crying with one hand clamped over my mouth to muffle the sound.

Everything I had worked for was slipping through my fingers, no matter how hard I tried to hold on. And there was nothing I could do but sit back and let it happen.

Was that true, though?

Once the first wave of emotion passed, I blew my nose and dabbed my eyes. What was I thinking? I wasn’t a victim. Okay, so I needed a moment to collect myself. There was no crime in that. Better to weep in a bathroom stall than unleash hell on somebody who was supposed to be my boss. Some little pissant with a trust fund who couldn’t for the life of him handle anybody knowing more than he did.

Still, there were ways for me to come out on top. All at once, I went from quietly weeping to smiling when I imagined how it would get under his skin. My body hummed with renewed energy by the time I left the stall to splash my face and freshen up my makeup.

It was almost a shame to find Lucian away from his desk when I reached mine. Maybe he did have another meeting, or maybe he knew better than to show his face after saying he did. Either way, it didn’t matter.

I sat at my desk, opened my MacBook, and typed out an email to the digital team.

To: Digital Team – All

CC: Connor Diamond

Re: Meeting Outcomes

Thank you all so much for such a successful first meeting. As we discussed, I have attached a rundown of the underserved markets where our influence could be asserted, along with plans for how to move forward. I would love to circle back on this as soon as possible, and I’m more than happy to answer any questions you might have.

Thank you again, everyone.

Kind Regards,

Ivy St. James

After attachingthe file I was referring to, I made one last tweak. I cc’d Connor. Now, it looked like I had run the meeting and was following up with valuable information that I naturally wanted to share with the company’s CEO.

And Lucian would look like a nobody, someone who sat back and let the expert do all the talking.

He wanted to act like a nasty little shit? I could play that game too. At this rate, I had no choice. Not with Mom in such a bad condition, needing more care all the time.

Though I couldn’t tell myself I was doing it all for her. Not when a rush of pure satisfaction washed over me after I hit send on the email and imagined what Lucian’s reaction would be.

7

LUCIAN

If things kept up the way they were, I’d have to send a company-wide memo. Yes, we knew there was a retreat on the horizon, but work still needed to be done. After hearing about nothing else for the past week since we made the announcement, I was ready to fire the next motherfucker I overheard talking about the lodge or who they hoped their room would be close to. Like this was summer camp and we were all a bunch of kids. Did these people have nothing better to think about? Were their lives that empty?

I passed the break room, where a cluster of women went on and on about what they wanted to bring and whether it would be enough for a weekend. Did they never go away on trips?

“It would’ve been nice to get a little more warning,” one of the women added. Obviously, none of them noticed me lingering near the doorway. “I had to scramble to find a sitter for the kids.”

That was something she hadn’t considered when she came up with this idea. The thought made me smile to myself as I continued to my office, ignoring the excited chatter. Her desk was empty—no doubt she was checking in with Cynthia, making sure she’d considered every factor. Cynthia had been planning pointless wastes of time like this retreat for years and had it down to a science.

I had done most of my communicating with Ivy via email in the five days since our meeting, and that was much more her doing than mine. The coward could hardly face me. Funny how she started this wanting to play nice and be professional, then turned around and cc’d my father on an email that had nothing to do with him so she could kiss his ass.

It was almost enough to make me double back and tell those harpies in the break room if they had trouble getting childcare lined up, they could thank Ivy for it. She would find out what happened to people who went over my head to make me look like shit.

You started it.Like I needed my inner voice’s reminder. When I’d looked back over the timeline of events—the wedding, Dad’s job offer that was more of a demand, the press release and buyout finalization—it was perfectly believable that she hadn’t known we’d be working together. Would she have fucked me in hopes of getting close to the CEO? When I checked in with myself and looked at the situation honestly, I couldn’t believe it. She hadn’t made any effort to stay in touch, for one thing. What good would one isolated night have done for her career?

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