Page 343 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 1
"Secret fiancé, secret troubled past, a secret black eye..." Tavon had counted off the secrets on his fingers so that he was holding them up in front of me. "You're quite mysterious, Penny."
"Shouldn't we be working?"
"The boss said we're supposed to bond. And the three of us already did while you were sneaking off somewhere secretive for lunch. Yet another secret."
My phone started buzzing again. I didn't bother looking at the caller ID, I just ignored it.
"And you're trying to avoid someone."
"Leave her alone," Zach said. "Clearly she doesn't want to talk about it."
I couldn't help but think he was being nice because he thought I had an abusive fiancé. And he probably thought that I had tried to escape from the abuse by moving to New York. Why had I said personal reasons?
My phone vibrated again. I picked it up. "I'm a little busy right now. Can this wait till after work?"
James sighed. "I figured you saw her when I had pizza waiting for me. I'm sorry about lunch. Can you please come to my office real quick so I can explain?"
I tried to lower my voice. "After work. Please, James."
"You're upset. I just want to tell you why she was here. If you're worried about people knowing, just say you need to go to the bathroom and excuse yourself."
I didn't care why Isabella was there. I didn't care about anything she had to say. What I cared about was why he decided to talk to her and keep me out of the loop. He let me wander off to Brooklyn so I'd be out of the way. It felt dirty and I just needed some time to calm down about it. "Later. Please." I hung up.
All three of my pod mates were staring at me. I glued my eyes to my computer screen and tried to read the article I had found earlier about one of Hunter Tech's competitors.
"Was that your fiancé?" Tavon asked. "Seems a little controlling."
"Nope. Telemarketer."
"The mystery grows."
My phone vibrated again.
"Aren't you going to answer James the telemarketer's phone call?" Tavon asked.
"I'll let it go to voicemail this time," I said and continued to stare at the computer screen without actually reading anything. "Dirty spammers."
"Oh my God, he's coming over here," Sierra said.
I looked over my shoulder. James was walking toward our pod of desks. I looked back at my computer. "I'm sure he's on his way to talk to Anderson or something."
"I think he's coming to talk to us!" Sierra sounded way too excited.
"Chill out, stalker," Tavon said.
"How's the new marketing team getting on?" James asked as he stopped by my desk.
Son of a bitch.I glanced at him from out of the corner of my eye.
"Really great," Sierra said. Her voice oozed with charm.
"And what about you guys?" James asked. "Settling in okay?"
They both nodded their heads. "This place is awesome," Tavon said. "So much cooler than the place I interned at last summer."
"Glad to hear it." James tapped on the top of my desk with the knuckle of his index finger. "Can I have a quick word, Miss Taylor?"
"We have these assignments from Anderson that we really have to get done by the end of the day," I said.
