Page 66 of The Wrong Boss

This had to stop.

Talking to my daughter had done more to remind me of what was at stake than running into my boss’s fiancée. Yes, he was attractive. Yes, our evening together was burned into my memory. Yes, he was the only man who’d ever made me feel like there was more to life than drudgery and small pleasures. I’d never felt as good as those few hours we spent together. Never met a man who could take me to such heights.

But I had to be realistic. We were never going to be together. He wouldn’t meet my daughter and decide that he wanted to play at being a family. It was much more likely that he’d either turn his back on us or try to muscle his way into our lives in a way that I didn’t want.

How could a few hours of pleasure compete with the responsibility of raising my child? How could I even let myself entertain the teasing glances and borderline flirtations?

The very first day I’d worked for his company, I’d told him I wanted to keep things professional. I might be at a resort, feeling the warm breeze on my skin, soaking up the early evening sun while I felt like I wasalmoston vacation—but I wasn’t.

I was still at work, and he was still my boss. It was time to get my head on straight again. These were the final days before the truth came out. I had to use them to prepare myself for the upheaval that would undoubtedly come.

I avoided looking over at his table, even though I could hear Chuck’s boisterous voice from across the space. I kept my eyes on my plate, on my glass, and on the view of the ocean beyond the windows. Then, dabbing my mouth with my napkin one last time, I smiled at the waiter, gathered my purse, and made my way back to my room.

Once I was safe inside, I let out a deep breath.

Mothers made sacrifices for their children every day, and I was no different. Cole Christianson would never again be mine the way he had been seven years ago, and that was okay. It was time for me to bury these latent feelings somewhere deep and inaccessible, once and for all.

TWENTY-SIX

COLE

She was ignoring me.I tracked her journey from her table to the dining room exit, gaze caught on the nip of her waist and the way her dress swayed as she walked.

Alba was wrong. I wasn’t in love with Carrie. How could I be, when we hardly knew each other?

But Ididwant her. The wanting was a hot coal in the pit of my stomach, so hot it was impossible to ignore. From the moment she’d walked into my office and fainted on her first day of work, I’d burned to be closer to her.

Alba had seen it, even though I’d told her—and myself—that I was marryingher, and I wouldn’t break my word.

But the wedding was off.

Still reeling from my conversation with my fiancée—ex-fiancée—I struggled to keep up with my father’s tired old banter and Ted’s gentle ribbing. She hadn’t told her father that we were broken up. He was still slapping me on the back andgiving me the same genial smile, calling me his future son-in-law.

I didn’t know what to do. The only thing I knew was that Carrie held my gaze for a few long seconds, and then she didn’t look at me again.

And it should have been a gift. I should have followed her lead, because her reappearance in my life was the reason that my engagement had fallen apart, and shouldn’t I be more upset about that? Shouldn’t I be running after Alba and begging her to come back?

Instead, I felt the shameful, nonsensical, undeniable cool wash of relief.

I was relieved that Alba had broken up with me, that I hadn’t had to march onward to my wedding day like a man facing the gallows. I was relieved that I wouldn’t have to reject her transactional sexual advances when I did her a favor. I was relieved to be free.

And I was ashamed of myself for it.

Alba’s words ran through my mind on a loop.

I thought you were incapable of really loving a woman, Cole, and so I thought we could come to an understanding. I thought this marriage would be…simple. But I was wrong.

I’m in love with someone else.

I can’t marry you.

She’d been ready to marry me on paper, because she thought I was a heartless bastard who only wanted a businesslike union. She was prepared to marry someone incapable of loving her—as long as I didn’t love anyone else.

How had I been so wrong about her? And what would itmean for my life once the other men sitting at this very table discovered that my engagement was off?

What would it mean for me and Carrie?

“You still sulking about your double loss today?” my father asked, pulling me from my thoughts.

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