Page 79 of A Hard Sell

“You—” Luka stared at the page of scribbles, dumbfounded. “You areunbelievable.”He turned to march out.

“Luka, wait,” Morgan pleaded. “Please. I need you here, just for a few minutes. I can’t do it like you.”

“No.”

Morgan sighed. “I hate to do this, but…maybe I will have to go chat with Ilona.”

Now? He was trying to pull this shitnow? A rage bubbled up in Luka’s chest. Maybe it was the newfound confidence… Maybe it was that everything in his world had shifted. He rested his hands on the desk and leaned forward until his nose was almost touching Morgan’s. “Do it.I fuckingdare you.” He spun on his heel. His heart was still racing when he got back to his office.

Thomas looked up at him, then his eyes widened. “Are you okay?”

“Ummm.” Luka paced the room. “Yes. No. I don’t know. I may have a problem. Fuck.”

“Tell me.” Thomas swiveled in his chair.

“Shit.Shit.”

“Luka.” It was a low rumble.

Luka paused his frantic pacing.

“Sit down, take a breath, and tell me. It’ll be okay.”

So Luka sat and told him the whole sad story.

When he was finished, Thomas looked stunned. “You’ve been doing his work for him?”

“I mean…not all of it. Just some, here and there.”

“I knew it,” Thomas muttered. His face was a thundercloud as he stood. “Let’s go talk to Ilona.”

“But I didn’t disclose the relationship either! What if I get fired?”

“You won’t get fired. I promise.” And he was off, striding down the hall. Luka scrambled after him.

Thomas paused to knock on Ilona’s door before he opened it and barged in. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but I…” He stopped.

Luka peered in from behind him. Morgan was sitting across from Ilona.

“Luka. How fortunate you’re here. Morgan has just been sharing some information with me. Please, come in.”

Luka glared at Morgan. He wanted to smack that smug little smirk off of his smug little face. Ilona waved a hand at Morgan for him to continue.

“So as I was saying, I just couldn’t live with myself anymore, keeping this secret from you. IbeggedLuka, but”—Morgan sighed—“he wouldn’t let me tell HR about our relationship.”

“I— You— What?” Luka sputtered. “You—”

“Luka,” Thomas interrupted. “Let’s all sit and talk about this.” His fists were clenched.

“Go on,” Ilona nodded to Morgan once the other two were settled.

Luka took a deep breath, trying to calm his racing heart.

“I’ve been wracked with guilt, and I just wanted to apologize, and disclose our relationship to you. Better late than never, right?” Morgan gave Ilona a self-deprecating smile, hands folded in his lap.

Ilona’s eyes shifted over to Luka and narrowed. “Luka?”

“Iwanted to disclose it, buthesaid no!” Luka protested.

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