Page 85 of Work with Me

“I was eighteen fucking years old. Don’t you think I’ve changed since then? This afternoon, you said I’d grown.”

“That was before I knew you and Alicia were here fucking instead of joining us at the team celebration.”

“She and I were nothing but colleagues in the office. Alicia is a consummate professional.”

“Apparently, she didn’t seem to think that professional integrity extended to events outside the office. Tyler said you two were together at your Halloween party.”

My blood went cold. Had he seen me kiss her? We’d been careless in front of him, thinking he was too hammered to remember. No,I’dbeen careless. And now I had to pay for it.

“Tyler was drunk that night. He ended up sleeping in my guest bedroom. But he misunderstood what he saw. Yes, I pursued Alicia, but she didn’t reciprocate. I kissed her at the party. She was too nice to slap me, but she told me she wasn’t interested. She left.”

“But you two left the office together tonight.”

I gritted my teeth. I hated lying to my friend, but Alicia’s business, her fucking career, was on the line. “I asked her for a ride. I tried to kiss her again in her car. She pulled over and kicked me out. I walked here. I guess neither of us felt like celebrating after that. She must’ve gone home.”

Cooper rubbed his temples. “Fucking hell, Jackson. Now I’ve got to protect the company against a sexual harassment suit. On top of—”

“I—I don’t think she’ll press charges. She probably just wants her testimonial.” I sank down onto the coffee table in front of my friend.

He scrubbed his face. “This isn’t even my biggest problem today.”

“What do you mean?” I held my breath. If he had a bigger problem than me, maybe he’d go back early to San Francisco and leave me alone.

“Weston. He’s got an all-hands-on-deck situation back at headquarters. We’ve got an activist shareholder questioning our relationship with that offshore outfit.”

I stiffened. “The one Weston brought on because they were cheaper than our team in Singapore?”

“That’s the one. Looks like they weren’t paying a living wage, and now we’ve got to do damage control.”

“And fucking reparations.”

He lowered his hands and stabbed me with his steely stare. “That’s why you’re going with me.”

“I’m—what?” I couldn’t go with him. Alicia and I had a date on Wednesday.

“All hands on deck includes our new VP of Development, under whose purview relationships with offshore developers fall.”

“What?” The gears in my brain were slipping.

“This is your fucking problem, too. You’re coming with me to fix it.”

“I—I can’t.”

“And why is that? We’re partners. Synergy is half your company.”

Because I lied to you, and I’m fucking our former consultant.Nope.Because I’ve fallen in love with our former consultant.True, but it still wouldn’t fly.

Fuck. Alicia wanted me to be a leader. Being a leader sucked.

“Fine. Are we leaving tonight?”

He stood. “Tomorrow morning. We’ll stop in the office for a quick talk with Tyler to straighten him out, and then we’ll head back on the jet. Pack your things tonight. The team will finish up here. No need for you to come back.”

“But—”

“When we get home, if I hear even a rumor of sexual harassment, I’m sending you to that monastery in the mountains near Big Sur. You can send your code down by donkey.”

Donkey? I was the one about to act like an ass.

---