Page 7 of A Break in Communications

“He—”

The door squeaked, and I jumped back and up to my feet, stumbling, as Kelcey’s voice started saying something from the door, and cut off into, “Oh—my god, I am so sorry, I’m just—”

“Kelcey—” I turned back with my face hot, waving my hands. “Oh my god, you forgot your laptop again—”

“I can come back for it later, you two, uh—” She was fully blushing, the tips of her ears pink, not looking at me. “I don’t want to interrupt.”

Ah, Jesus Christ—I guess if I walked in on two people alone in the office, one sitting on the other’s lap turning back in her arms to look into her eyes, I’d think the same thing, but—I felt like I’d gag. “Kelcey, no—I promise you’re not interruptinganything,Masters is just harassing me—”

“It’s okay! I totally don’t even need my laptop. I’ll be back in the morning. Um… have fun, you two!”

“Kelcey—” I started, but she shut the door, heading back for the elevator. I thought I’d be sick. I stood there, taking a long breath, letting it out slowly, before I put a hand to my forehead. “That woman and her laptop…”

“Well, Preston,” Lucy said, standing up behind me, brushing her pants where I’d been sitting, “you know my offer. You can give me the documents at any point. If not, then I guess I’ll see you later tonight.”

Ugh.I could not afford to go reporting it to anybody. Maybe I’d just find a way to slip out of the building before she expected it—leave something at my desk and go to the bathroom, sneak to the elevators from there, so she couldn’tfollow me home. And repeat the process every day until I finished the project.

God, I was going to be sick.

Chapter 3

Anna

I jumped out of my skin when I turned out of the stairs and found Lucy Masters standing at my apartment door, leaning back with a casual look on her face, phone up to her ear nodding along, and I dropped my bag by my side, slipping from my hand and hitting the floor with a softthump.

“Lucy?” I put my hands up. “What the hell are you—how did you get here?”

She smiled wider, signaling for me to pause. I bristled, squeezing my hands by my sides, and she spoke into the phone. “Don’t worry, just my friend. I’ll see you tomorrow, okay? Mm… mm-hm. Love you too. Bye now.”

See you tomorrow? Love you too?Unless she was the type of daddy’s girl who had to visit her family every day after work, which I highly,highlydoubted, she was seeing someone. That someone in their right mind would date Lucy Masters, I couldn’t get my head around, but more pressingly, was she planning on ditching her partner to spend the night at my apartment?

She hung up, slipping her phone back into her pocket, and she beamed at me, hands in her pockets, kicking one foot up against the door behind her. “So, we’re on a first-name basis outside of work?”

“What—” I scowled, mostly at myself. I’d been so stunned I’d letLucyslip out of my mouth instead ofMasters,and now Ifelt gross. “Don’t dodge the question, Masters. How the hell did you get here before me? How do you know my address?”

“I looked it up. You’d be surprised how easy it is to find these things.”

I glowered, picking up my bag. “Well, great. Now we have a stalking case. Can you get lost?”

“I already set out the terms and conditions, sweetheart.”

“Don’tcallme that.” I sucked in a sharp breath. I was not letting her goad me. She wasn’t getting a rise out of me.

She smiled sweetly. “Baby girl?”

She was getting a rise out of me. “Get the fuck out of my sight, Masters.”

“Give me the documents, and I will.”

“Absolutely fucking not. Get your own path to the office.”

She narrowed her eyes. “What kind ofexecutive communications directordoesn’t share documents for an important task when it’s needed for the firm?”

“Me. Now getlost.”

She frowned. “Darling, I know you can’t get over me, but… you do realize this is bigger than a little competition between us, right? This is a delicate case, and if we lose it because of this, it’s not going to reflect well on you.”

I glared, squeezing my fists tight. “And it’s going to reflect well on you if you’re following me to my house?”

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