Page 23 of The Bargain

Sebastian had said he’d returned to the office for some paperwork and had found me on Friday. But that wasn’t the case. Declan had found me when he’d dropped those financial numbers off on his desk. The CFO had found me passed out drunk in the CEO’s office.

Holy. Fuck.

“Mr. Foster,” I choked, my voice trembling as the horror of my reality sank in. “I am so sorry that you found me like that. It was completely inexcusable. I-I-I?—”

Sebastian grabbed my ice-cold fingers and squeezed them tight enough to hurt, trying to capture my attention, but I couldn’t look away from Declan. “Byron, don’t. You don’t owe him an apology.”

“He’s correct. You don’t need to apologize. Sebastian explained you were dealing with a family issue and that you had his permission to work in his office after hours. Like Sebastian, I just want to be sure that you don’t hurt yourself. You’re very valuable to Courtland Enterprises.”

“Thank you, Mr. Foster. I don’t feel worthy of your kind words, but they are appreciated. I promise it will never happen again.”

Sebastian squeezed my hand, and I finally glanced at him. He was smiling, but there was worry still filling his honey-brown eyes. “After my meeting with Declan, I’ll come find you so we can finish the rundown of the day.”

“Yes, sir.” Sebastian’s calm words about work put me on even footing and allowed me to escape with no further embarrassment.

But I still didn’t know if Friday’s debacle was going to prove to be a disaster for my career or a stepping-stone to the best decision of my life. Thankfully, I had a very busy day of work ahead of me.

8

SEBASTIAN COURTLAND

Opal’s,across the Ohio River in Northern Kentucky, was one of my favorite restaurants to hit when I was leaving the office. I’d secured a reservation—without Byron’s help—for a table on their patio, which provided an excellent view of downtown Cincinnati as the sun was setting. The food was also superb, and the vibe was classy but relaxed.

The only problem was that there was a slight chance of someone recognizing us, so I had to behave and keep my hands to myself. Byron and I had gone out plenty of times for meals during work hours, and we could easily say this was yet another working-late meal between colleagues.

Not that I wanted to talk about work.

Nor could my thoughts about him be described as professional.

“Nice choice,” Byron praised after the hostess left us with menus. “This has been on my list of places to try since it opened.”

There was no stopping my grin at his words. I might have even wiggled in my seat a bit, but I didn’t think he noticed, because his eyes were taking in the view.

God, he was sexy. A few strands of his dark-brown hair fell forward as he bent his head to peruse his menu. He tugged on his bottom lip with his teeth, and part of me wanted to steal that lip from him. Really show him how to take care of it properly with my teeth and my tongue. As I watched him, his pale skin was turning a rosy shade, and he stopped playing with his lip.

“You’re staring at me,” he mumbled without looking directly at me.

“I can’t help it. I can’t do it in the office because you sit too far away.”

Byron snorted and lifted his eyes to my face. “I suspect if my desk was next to yours, neither of us would get anything done during the day.”

I gasped, pressing one hand to my chest. “Are you saying that I would be a distraction?”

“An enormous one. You were the kid in school who couldn’t stop talking and drove the teacher crazy.”

A laugh jumped past my lips. It was almost scary how well he could read me—but then, that was part of his job and why he was so successful at it. Byron could anticipate my needs before I even realized what they were. The only thing I’d surprised him with was my attraction to him.

“How did your meeting go with Marsha?” he inquired, referring to my final meeting of the day with the marketing director for our home goods division. As I opened my mouth to answer, Byron’s face scrunched up, and he seemed to curse himself. “Sorry. You don’t want to talk about work now. This is supposed to be our time off.”

“It’s okay. Work is common ground for us,” I said. There was no way I could fault him. My first three ideas for conversation starters had all been about work. “I know you like to read nonfiction books about business. What about movies? What kind of movies are you into?”

Our server appeared a second later with a rundown of the specials. When she left, Byron offered a small smile and answered, “I don’t watch a lot of movies, but I am a fan of anything with a lot of action or drama. I’m not much into comedies, because most of them I find stupid rather than funny.”

“Sci-fi or fantasy?”

“Both.”

“Horror?”

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