Page 9 of Betrayal & New Beginnings

She looked at me like she thoughtIwas crazy.Notwanting to give her more time to ask questions,Igrabbed my bag, said goodbye, and then made my way out.Ididn’t look at the bar asIpassed it but instead pulled out my phone to textKatieand see how she was doing.Iknew she was getting ready to go on vacation with her family soon and she needed the break.

I felt eyes on me asIreached the door.Iturned around and sawWade’seyes locked with mine.Ismiled and waved at him like a total dork and then walked out.Hegrinned back at me, and let me tell you…Wadewas gorgeous when he wasn’t smiling, but when he grinned like that with a hint of wickedness, he was downright dangerous to a woman’s self-control.Idefinitely needed to be careful around him, especially since my focus right now needed to be on myself, not a man.

* * *

Just under an hour later,RuthieandIwere walking through the entrance to the main trail at the river park.Iwas stunned at how beautiful it was and how many trees there were.Itwas summer, and a very hot one, but with all the trees providing shade it felt at least fifteen degrees cooler on this trail, which made it very pleasant.

“Atlanta is called a city in a forest,”Ruthieinformed me.

“I admitIhaven’t ventured out much, but if the rest of the city looks like this,Iwould believe that,”Iconfirmed.

“Supposedly fifty percent ofAtlantais covered in trees, which makes it one of the most forested cities or something like that,”Ruthieinformed me. “WadeandVinceare both from here originally, so whenIfirst moved here, they filled me with all kinds of facts about the city.”

“I’m surprised you could get that much out ofWade.He’snot very chatty, at least not to me,”Inoted, and also, admittedly said it to fish for information.Shealso worked with him, but in a different capacity, so she may have some insight.

She laughed a little. “Sotrue.Honestly, none of them are particularly chatty, unless they’re complaining to me about paperwork.Then, suddenly they’re all chatty and telling me how awesomeIam and howIwould be their favorite person in thewhole worldifIdid their paperwork for them.EspeciallyWade.Basedoff the paperworkIdo for him, we should be besties by now.”

I knew she meant it in a joking manner, butIcouldn’t help but feel a bit of jealousy about that.Ishouldn’t, but there was definitely a twinge of envy in me.Partof me wanted to offer to help with the paperwork to ease his burden.He’ddone so much for me already.Itwould be nice to help him out.Atleast that was the reasonItold myselfIwould be doing it.

Ruthie andIwalked for another forty minutes or so, chatting and taking in the sights.Ididn’t realize how muchI’dneeded this.Itfelt good to get out in the fresh air.Itfelt good to make a new friend.Ialso found myself wondering what it would be like to hike withWadeout here and just sit on one of the benches along the river.Maybeone dayIwould work up the courage to ask him.Onsecond thought, maybe that wasn’t the smartest idea since he was my boss.

4

WADE

I stared at the endless abyss of paperwork that was sitting on my desk, willing me to finish it, and realizedIwould rather do anything else.Mymind drifted to last night—it had been my first time working withEllie.

I had been intentionally trying to avoid shifts with her because every time she was near allIseemed to do was picture her naked and other inappropriate things.So, in an effort to avoid temptation,Iarranged the schedule so she andIwouldn’t work the same shift.Instead,Ispent most of my time holed up in the back office or upstairs withArcherandVincewhenElliewas on shift.

Yesterday, however, whenSamcalled in sick,Ihad no choice but to step in and work with her.

IfIwas being honest, yes, whenIasked her to leave last night, we were still pretty busy, butIneededEllieto go.Shewas a great employee, butIwas getting twitchy being in such a close space with her.Mybody craved being next to her, and every time a strand of her hair fell loose from behind her ear,Ihad to keep myself from reaching over and pushing it back in place.

I recalled the moment about an hour into my shift whenIhad been leaning over the bar talking toDiegoMartin, one of our regulars, when he grinned and told me the new girl was checking out my ass.Therewas only one person he could mean –Ellie.Idecided at that moment to have her clock out and head home.Anylonger of her standing next to me, especially knowing she was checking me out, could lead to me doing something stupid.

Then she smiled and waved goodbye to me as she walked out the door, andIwas a goner.Igrinned like a high school boy.Mydick twitched, andIrealized maybeIneeded to get laid.Otherwise, that woman was going to be the death of me.

“You don’t strike me as the type to shit where you eat,”Diegohad said to me asI’dwatchedEllieleave.Hemust have taken my pause to meanIdidn’t understand, so he’d explained further.“Imean, you don’t seem like the kind to sleep with someone you work with.”

“I knew what you meant,”I’dtold him.“Andno,Idon’t.Plus, she’sJack’slittle sister.”

“Ahh.Theother guy in the security company?”he’d asked.“Theone who’s still overseas?”

I’d nodded.

“Well, uh,Iwas asking ‘cause if you weren’t gonna ask her out,Iwas going to, but maybe not just in caseIdo decide to work with you,” he’s said, a huge grin on his face.

I’d known it was just a casual remark, but the thought of him asking her out had made me irrationally pissed off.

I had no claim to her, andDiegoseemed like a nice guy, so it wasn’t even likeIcould claimIwas protecting her from some asshole.Itried not to think too hard about why that had bothered me all night.

My thoughts of last night were interrupted by someone opening my office door.Asthe handle turned and the door opened,Istood up from my chair, ready to giveTammyorBethhell since neither of them ever knocked before coming in, whenIsawElliewalk in and slide to the small couch to the right of the door in front of my desk.Shemust have seen my movement, though, because she let out a small shriek and instantly fell to the ground, purse thrown down with her hands covering her head like she was expecting me to attack her.

“Ellie, it’s just me,”Isaid, finding her reaction a bit odd.

Her eyes opened and she looked up at me as red color began to fill in the paleness of her face.

“OhGod,Wade,I’mso sorry,” she said, slowly rising from her spot on the ground.

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