Page 53 of The Boss Problem

A familiar flare of irritation coursed through me. Why was I even considering this? I didn’t have to be nice to Erin. No one expected me to, and God knew, I didn’t care about what people expected of me. But all I knew was when I had heard Chloe talk about her brother, it had hit me that I had a half-sibling, too, out there somewhere. Someone who was interested in knowing me and building a relationship with me based on us having the same mom. When so much of Chloe’s conversations had involved references to her brother—references made with love—it’d reminded me of how cold I’d been to Erin’s approaches to conversation in the past.

I wouldn’t kindle a fling with Chloe. That was given. But I could let her influence me.

Later next week, Erin would be landing in the airport, and I needed to see exactly what kind of a brother I was capable of being.

I kept my distance from Chloe at work, realizing that being around her was changing how I felt.

I had almost convinced myself that I was glad she was going out with Will. She couldn’t be anything to me really. She deserved a man who didn’t have a reputation for being ruthless.

Not me.

By lunchtime, as I swept past her desk on my way to the elevator, my gaze drifted to her. Her blonde hair caught the lights and shone, and I had another moment of weakness.

She stood up, a lunch bag in hand, and walked over to me.

I could see the curve of her breasts under her blouse and the outline of her hard nipples through the fabric.

Fuck. Either she wasn’t wearing a bra or she was wearing something too thin.

I set my jaw as my cock hardened in my pants. I imagined taking her off to the stairwell. I imagined pinning her hands to the wall behind her, her lips parting in a surprised moan, and my lips on every part of her. I would then suck on those pointed nipples through the smooth satin of her silver blouse, licking and biting down on them until she writhed in my arms for release, begging me to make her come. I imagined half the office hearing the sex-crazed noises coming from the stairwell and making guesses about who was in there, having the time of their lives. Because I’d give Chloe that, and nothing less.

My throat worked, and it was a while before I could speak. “Which floor?” I asked finally.

“The lobby, please.”

We got into the elevator, and I pressed the button. The doors closed, and I stayed rooted in place, acutely aware of her presence beside me as the elevator began its descent.

There was an edgy guardedness in her expression when she looked up at me. She stared at my lips before looking away. Like she was anxious, but also filled with desire. The anxiety had never been there before. Damn.

I crossed my arms and leaned against the wall, trying to keep our conversation safe. I could see signs of her peanut butter sandwich in her see-through box and felt a stab of frustration that she’d had to make a lunch reservation for me at Balthazar.

“How do you like working here so far? After working for Gary at Mindwell?” I asked, determined to show that we could carry on a normal conversation, like before.

She looked at me and didn’t respond for a bit.

The desire in her eyes burned out in a moment, and I felt a sudden disappointment.

When she spoke, she looked and sounded extremely indifferent. “I don’t really miss my job at Mindwell,” she said at last. “Or Mr. Chalk. He always told me that if shit hit the fan, he’d leave. I saw him do that with his ex-wife during their marriage, and when the business started to fail, he said he had no use for a woman like me.”

“Like you?” I couldn’t help but ask, feeling enraged on her behalf.

She had a nice voice, feminine and cheery, like a ray of sunlight. Gary must have been a monster of an entirely different sort if he could talk to her like that.

“Yes.” Her eyes darted, and she looked away. “When I asked him if I could take time off after my wedding, he responded that if I did, I could forget about getting maternity leave later on. He had no use for people who needed vacations, it seemed.”

That jerk. How could Gary treat her like that? If the man were still working for me … well, he’d been outed, but if he hadn’t been, he’d definitely be out the door now. It wasn’t fair that Chloe had had to suffer the collateral damage.

“Why didn’t you report him?” I asked as we got into the elevator. “To HR?”

She swallowed. “The head of HR was Mr. Chalk’s brother. He had been known to stick by Mr. Chalk whenever required.”

Damn it.

“Well, I’ll have you know that HR doesn’t usually work like that,” I began when my gaze went to the watch on her hand with a worn-out strap. The glass face had scratches on it, and I wondered why she couldn’t afford better things in her life. I looked at her clothes before it struck me that I’d seen this blouse at least three times this week and the skirt at least twice.

“Though I guess you must have a pretty low opinion of HR at the moment,” I said when the elevator came to a stop.

I strode out to the lobby with her. Had we really kissed last Friday? I longed to reach out and hold her to me again, but the lobby stretched out before us, the marble floor gleaming. Sunlight filtered in through the glass walls, and the peaceful sound of water trickling into the sculpted fountains met my ears as we walked through the employees standing and talking. People’s heads swiveled, and conversations ceased as we went past, only to pick up once we were sufficiently far away. Everyone’s eyes tracked the meager lunch box in Chloe’s hands before going to her attire, a look of distaste in their gaze.

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