Page 100 of Only Forever

“The first matter to discuss is the behavior of our CEO, Beckett Dempsey.”

What? I quit rifling through my notes and whip my head up to look at Leonard. “Excuse me?”

“It has come to my attention that you’ve been accused of harassing an employee under your direct supervision.”

I inhale a deep breath to calm myself before I lash out at the chairman of the board. Damnit. I knew not firing Brandi would come back to bite me in the ass.

“Human Resources is investigating the charge of sexual harassment. In the meantime, I’ve ensured the employee has no direct contact with me.” In other words, I’ve followed the employee manual to the letter.

“The employee in question is currently working as my personal assistant and I’ve already reprimanded her twice,” Stan adds. “You can review her employee record if you wish.”

“It sounds as if the matter has been satisfactorily handled,” Norman says. “Shall we move on to the Q2 numbers?”

I switch on the beamer to begin the presentation, but Leonard stops me. “Not so quick. I believe there is another matter to discuss.”

When he doesn’t indicate what the matter is, I ask, “Which is?”

“You having a relationship with an employee.”

Crap. How did they find out about me and Lilac? Despite what she thinks, I’ve been discreet in the office. How should I respond? Do I deny the relationship? Do I ask who’s been spreading rumors? Or do I admit I’m in love with one of our engineers?

Shit. I should have been prepared for this. But I was convinced no one knew about me and Lilac. She’s going to lose it when she finds out. I need to make sure she never finds out.

“Perhaps you can explain.” I need to know what he knows before I accidentally admit to things he’s unaware of.

“You can deny it all you want, but I have a witness who has seen you and another engineer in the throes of passion in your office.”

“The throes of passion?” Stan chuckles next to me.

I’m not finding anything amusing. Who saw us in my office? I always shut and lock the door when Lilac’s with me. But there is one person who has a key besides me.

“Fuck. Brandi,” I mutter.

Stan’s eyes widen at the mention of my former PA. “Please tell me you’re not screwing around with her. She’ll stab you in the back the first chance she gets.”

“She already has. She already has,” I mutter under my breath before admitting to the room, “It’s true. I’m in a relationship with Lilac West.”

“I move we vote whether to remove Beckett Dempsey from his position as CEO of Clean Mountain Environment. Who seconds the motion?” Leonard looks around the room with a gleam in his eyes.

I knew he didn’t approve of me from day one. It wasn’t hard to figure out when he called me a city boy with no background in environmental engineering. I didn’t realize his dislike would lead him to try to fire me, though. My mistake. Know your enemies is lesson one of management.

“Now, hold on.” Stan holds up his hands. “Shouldn’t we discuss the situation first?”

Leonard frowns. “What is there to discuss? Do you want details of what their encounters entail?”

Stan scoffs. “No, I don’t want details of their sexual encounters. I want to know about their relationship.”

Norman clears his throat. “I agree. We can reprimand him and move on to more important things if this was merely a one time thing such as having dinner together.”

Fucking hell. Why did I ever brag about having dinner with Lilac in a meeting? Because I was a jealous idiot.

Leonard motions to me. “Go ahead.”

I run a hand through my hair as I consider how I should answer. “Lilac West and I have been dating for approximately a month now.”

“And Lilac is under your direct supervision?” Norman asks.

“Yes, she’s an environmental engineer and is a project leader who reports directly to me.”

---