Page 39 of The Workaholic Down the Hall

She nodded. “Okay, Aubrey. I don't believe you feel nothing for my brother, but I'm not going to beg you to give him another chance. Just…Just don't give up on him entirely.”

Damn it. I guess I wasn't as good a liar as I'd hoped. “I have to, May,” I said. “I can't keep living in this limbo. I need to move on and so does he.”

“Do you want me to stay? We could eat ice cream and watch movies.”

“No,” I said, as gently as I could. “I'm so relaxed after that spa day, I think I'm just going to go to bed.”

May gave me a small smile and left. I waited until her footsteps faded and the front door shut, and then I dropped onto my bed and cried for everything I'd given up and all the dreams I'd lost.

CHAPTER TEN

Noah

“I told you not to come back,” Jill said. She was standing in the doorway to my office, looking way too chipper and cheery. My head ached, I hadn't slept well at all, and I was staring down a pile of paperwork and a backlog of emails that was going to keep me in that office until late in the night.

“You lied when you said you'd found another buyer,” I said, without even the energy to glare at her. “I know your tells.”

She sighed. “I will find another buyer, Noah. They're prime properties and they should go without any problem. Alex Owings has been hinting around that he might be interested.”

The flare of rage that socked me in the gut made no sense. I was probably just angry that he'd stolen the best assistant I'd ever had. An assistant I'd texted three times in the past twelve hours and received no response from. “That guy is an idiot and an asshole,” I said. “He'd run those properties right into the ground.”

Jill shrugged. “He is an asshole and incompetent in most areas of life, but he's a good businessman. Owings properties is doing really well for themselves.”

Unlike us, she didn't have to say. And I was in no position to be choosy about who bought those properties as long as we got the money we needed to save the company.”

“What do you think he's waiting for?”

She rubbed a hand over her eyes. “If I had to guess, he's just waiting for us to get desperate enough to lower the price again.”

“Fucking shark.”

“There's blood in the water,” she said. “Everyone knows we're struggling, they know Dad made some poor choices, some bad deals and…” She pinched her lips shut tight, but I knew what she was going to say.

“I'm doing the best I can with what Dad left us. I've given everything I can to this job.”

She straightened up, stalked into my office, and plopped into one of the comfy chairs in front of my desk. “You've given everything to a job you quite honestly aren't very good at.”

I reeled back. How many times was I going to get verbally punched this week? “I'm here every day, putting in the hours and getting shit done.”

“You hate every minute of it and it shows, Noah. You bow down and you work your ass off, you check all the right boxes, but you…Alex loves running his company, he's ruthless and creative and willing to take risks, because it's fun for him. His love of the work shows in the profits his company makes.”

Anger warmed me and it felt good. I was tired of everyone telling me how badly I was fucking everything up. I didn't need to be told, I was well aware. But I was going to fix it. “That sounds like some line Mom fed you.”

She looked so sad, her attention focused on me for once, even as her cell phone chimed away at her. “It's not a line, Noah. May sent me a video from Aubrey's baby shower and you were smiling. I even saw you laugh. Do you know how often you smile or laugh here? You've been trying really hard, but this isn't your passion.”

“I've given everything to this company. I've given my time, my energy, my social life. I couldn't possibly give any more.”

Jill glared hard at me. “I could get on stage every day and sing for twelve hours a day and I'd never be an opera singer. I could go back to school and get a third degree in psychology, and I'd never be anyone's idea of a good therapist. I like numbers, I like money, and I like figuring out how to make more of it. Talent matters in any field, but passion, desire, and love of the job is even more important. You don't love this job, you don't even like it, and quite honestly, you aren't very good at it.”

I sighed. “I just need to get the company back in the black. No one enjoys running a company that's got one foot in bankruptcy.”

She leaned forward like she was going to argue, but then she sighed and nodded. “With things the way they are now we wouldn't be able to attract a CEO who could do a better job than you're doing, anyway.”

“Gee, thanks. I can really feel the love.”

She smirked. “Good. My work here is done.” She hopped to her feet and was halfway out of my office when she spun and faced me. “Dinner tonight? My place?”

I stared at her. “You're cooking?”

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