Page 11 of Wedding Season
Alex felt one side of his mouth twitch.
“It’s okay, Glenna. Mariella and I go way back.”
The normally sweet-natured millennial gave Mariella a wicked side-eye. “I know. I’ve seen the video. We all have. Everyone has.”
Something in the air crackled as he felt an unwanted pang of sympathy for Mariella. Would she ever live those few minutes down? Alex certainly wanted to forget them.
“Yes, well... I’m sure this won’t take long,” he said and walked forward, closing the door as Glenna took an automatic step back. It was clear she would have liked to stay, whether as a pseudo-guard for him or so that she could report back to the rest of the staff he didn’t know.
“For someone who wants to stay out of the public eye, storming into my company headquarters in the middle of the workweek isn’t the smartest choice.”
“Did you send Luann to me?”
He turned from the door, nonplussed, and that’s when he realized his mistake. He shouldn’t have moved toward her. He should have instructed Glenna to shut the door because now he was standing next to Mariella. Close enough that he could smell her shampoo and see the flecks of gold in her blue eyes. And the pain she was trying to mask with anger. Anger was definitely her go-to emotion, but he knew without a doubt that it barely scratched the surface of what she was feeling.
“First, I know nothing about Luann coming to you. I have no control over how she spends her time outside of work hours.”
“You’re her boss.” Mariella flung the words at him like an accusation and then stalked toward the window that looked out to the woods behind the building. She’d been smart to move away from him. At least one of them had a decent self-preservation instinct.
“Only because I’m the CEO,” he conceded. “It’s only for the org chart. In most ways, we’re partners. And in all ways, she does what she wants.”
“She wants to hire me.” Mariella didn’t turn around as she dropped that bombshell, which was a blessing. Alex needed a moment to school his features.
“Why in the hell would she give you that impression?” he asked when he was certain he could speak without emotion.
“It’s no impression. She wants me to take over her role as the chief designer and creative director for the Fit Collective.”
“That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.”
“At least there’s one thing we agree on,” Mariella said with a soft laugh. That laugh did dangerous things to Alex’s body.
“I don’t understand what you’re talking about or why she would say that.”
Mariella finally turned and he noticed he wasn’t the only one who’d gotten control of his emotions in the past few seconds. “She’s worried about messing things up with her candid comments. She told me about suggesting you take off your shirt. From what I know about Luann, that kind of PG-rated comment is going to be the least of your concerns.”
“We can handle it.”
She gave him a long once-over. “Who knows? It could be a morale booster. Replace casual Friday with shirtless Thursday?”
He knew she was trying to rattle him and damned if he didn’t feel heat steal up his neck.
“You would be less of a wild card of impulsivity how?”
“I made that point.” Mariella nodded. “Forcefully with many swear words. Luann is convinced, and if you didn’t know about it—”
“Of course not.”
“Then you have to help me unconvince her.”
“Have you heard of the wordno?”
“I tried, but I’m not sure she’ll give up.” Mariella glanced at the floor for a moment. “I wanted to make sure it wasn’t something you’d come up with as a way to lure me in and then publicly humiliate me.”
“It’s been three years since my wedding day,” he reminded her. “I don’t care what they say about revenge being served cold, Mariella. You don’t matter enough to me to work that hard.”
He expected her to call him out on his lie. He thought about her far too much, especially in the quiet, lonely hours of the night. But something that looked like pain flashed in her crystal-blue eyes, and he realized he’d hurt her with his callous comment. He shouldn’t feel guilty for that and yet...
They both glanced at the door as Heather entered with a knock.
