Page 17 of Secret Desire
The silver lining to the whole thing – besides Grace and Nicole falling in love that is – was that thanks to her parents’ bad reaction to us losing the bid, Grace had finally cut ties with her family company and was working with us at AGM full-time.
“This is exactly what we’re looking for,” I continued. “You’re hired. Ashley, can you go grab a sample contract for Nicole to take with her?”
Theo, Ashley and I had planned for this part like we were staging a Broadway performance.
“Sure.”
Ashley left the room, and per our plan, five minutes later she texted me.
“It looks like Ashley needs help. She hasn’t been working here that long,” I told Nicole. “Excuse me, I’ll be right back.”
I hurried out of the room, knowing that Theo would duck out next, then make an excuse to bring Grace to the conference room. I wasn’t sure what he’d planned next – I wanted plausible deniability in case it didn’t work out and Grace got mad – but I had no doubt he’d give it his best effort.
As I walked down the hallway I saw Ashley going into the supply room. Looking around to see if anyone else was around, I slipped in behind her, closing the door and leaning against it.
She looked over her shoulder and smirked. “Are you looking for a new notebook too?”
I shook my head and walked closer. Ashley turned around, leaning her back against the shelf behind her as she watched me with hooded eyes.
“Then what are you doing in here?” she asked softly.
I reached up and pushed her hair behind her ear, then left my hand on the side of her head, fingers stroking her hair.
“I’ve missed you this week,” I said softly.
“We’ve seen each other every day,” she reminded me.
“Not the way we saw each other Saturday night. I’ve missed that a lot.”
Her eyes darkened at the memory. “I thought you needed time to get over your freak out.”
“I do. I did.”
She nodded. “We shouldn’t do this here.”
“I know.”
We stared at each other for so long my eyes started to lose focus, making her face turn almost blurry. Maybe it was the close quarters, maybe it was hot in here, but the air turned heavy and I suddenly felt like I was standing at the edge of a cliff.
“Are you just planning to stare at me?” she finally asked.
I shook my head. “No.”
I moved closer and then we were kissing again. Finally.
Ashley
I’d missed this. It was funny to say really. Maeve and I’d made out in the limo and then we’d had that one incredible night in her condo – was it only six days ago? – but I’d spent the entire week jonesing for another kiss like an addict looking for her next hit.
I didn’t understand this strong draw I felt for my boss. At first I’d told myself it was just residual emotions from when I was younger and had a crush on her. Then I tried to tell myself that it was the thrill of the forbidden. Or maybe I was having some kind of midlife crisis. Sure, I was only twenty-eight, but I’d always been an early bloomer.
After living my entire life without knowing what it felt like to have Maeve kiss me, suddenly I needed it like I needed oxygen.Except we kissed each other for so long I started to doubt I even needed that.
When we finally pulled apart, we were both gasping for breath.
“This is completely inappropriate,” Maeve said without conviction.
Oh God, she was back to this again. The back and forth between her words and actions was killing me. I knew logically it was inappropriate, but it wasn’t unwanted. Not like with that lech Johan. And she was one of the owners of a privately held company. As long as I consented – which I did enthusiastically – there was nothing anyone could do about us being together. Gossip was the worst thing that could happen. Maybe…
