Page 20 of Ruined Promises

Is he seriously hitting on my girl?Woah, she’s not even your girl, Ben.Okay, it’s time to break up this little shitshow unraveling before more me before I break my brother’s face.

“Lexi here is our events director.”

“I see.” Asher looks her up and down and acts as if he actually cares. I want to slap the shit out of him for even looking at her. He looks back at me, and I try to relax my expression. But it’s too late; Asher takes in my demeanor and Lexi once more.

Thankfully he doesn’t say anything, just rubs his jaw and gives me a sly smile.

“Well, I won’t keep you any longer. It was nice to meet you, Asher.” She then turns back to me. “Ben, if you can give me a few moments of your time later, that would be great.”

“Yeah, I’ll come down to your office in say twenty-five minutes? I’ll have Taylor run out and pick us up some lunch, and we can eat and go over all of that. Just tell her whatever you want to order.”

She bites her lip nervously, and my mind goes back to the night when she knew what I liked. I loved it when she bit her lip as I explored her with my hands.Fuck! Get your head out of the gutter, Harrington.Maybe I should take a leave of absence or something or perhaps attempt dating.

“Oh, okay. Sure.”

“You didn’t have other plans, did you?” I shouldn’t have assumed she was free.

She seems so nervous. Was that too much? Too forward? “No, that’s fine. I’ll see you then.”

Lexi gives Asher a small wave and exits my office. Asher watches her leave, his eye homing in on her round ass, while I watch him. My fists clench again, my nails digging into my palms.

Once she is entirely out of range, I wait for it in 3… 2… 1…

Asher spins around and slams his hands to my desk. “Holy shit, you did find her. You even hired her? Damn, that must be some magical pussy that you gave her a job, and a director job at that.”

I slump down in my chair. “Asher, it’s not like that.”

“Oh? Because it sure as hell looks like that to me.”

“Will you keep your voice down?” My voice is harsh. The last thing I need is a rumor going around the office about not only myself but Lexi. I rise again from my chair and shut the door before strolling over to the bar set up in the corner of the office.

Yes, I know it’s only 11:15 in the morning, but if I’m going to explain this, especially to my arrogant younger brother, I’m going to need something more substantial than coffee.

I pour two small tumblers, each with a splash of whiskey that was given to me as a present by the previous owner at the official sale of the company.

“You know I will never deny a drink at any hour,” Asher says as he accepts the glass. “But for you to drink during the middle of a workday, I’d say you better start spilling.”

I lean against my desk, crossing my ankles and staring at the amber liquid. I swirl it around for a moment before I take a swig and enjoy the smooth, crisp liquid as it goes down my throat. This woman is my undoing, leading me to drink in the middle of the workday.

“Yes, Lexi is the girl from the club. No, I didn’t hire her; she already worked here.”

“I knew it!” Asher shouts with a giant smile on his face. “You got all defensive around her. I thought you were about to pounce. You’re quite the caveman, Ben.” Asher smirks before taking another drink.

“It’s a fucking mess.” I set the glass down on my desk and scrape my hands over my face, exhaling loudly. “I spent all weekend thinking about her only to come in Monday morning and learn that the woman stuck in my brain is none other than my employee. And someone that I have to work with regularly getting ready for the big Best Of event this company puts on.”

“You didn’t google her?”

I’m shocked by his question. “Why the hell would I google her?”

“I don’t know; maybe you googled the employees when you took over the company? I always google women before I go on a date. I don’t see why it would be any different here?” He googles women before he goes out with them?Yeah, I know. Pot, meet kettle since I did, in fact, google Lex, but at least that was after the fact and not before.

I shake my head. “Wow. You are…” I don’t even know how to react or respond to him right now. “Anyways, no, I didnotgoogle my employees, or dates I go on for that matter.”

He raises his eyebrows in question. “You go on dates?” I flip him off, but that doesn’t stop him from continuing. “So you wham, bam, thank you, ma’am, and then she was gone.” I take another sip. Does he have to be so crude? “So, what next? You find out when you show up at work and then fuck each other’s brains out on the conference table? Ooo, or on your desk?” He cringes. “Ew, gross, I touched that earlier; I sure hope you sanitized.”

I groan. “No, I mean, yes, I mean no. We found out on Monday morning when I walked into the conference room, and bam, thereshe is, but we managed to get through the meeting. Then afterward, we both agreed what happened was a mistake and we needed to keep it strictly professional.”

Asher stares at me, trying to read me, cocking his head side to side. He smirks. “Right, professional.Sothen you haven’t made any additional passes at her, then.”

---