Page 47 of Insufferable Boss

"Exactly."

"And today? You two finally went all the way, right? Tell me it was a disappointment, or else I will be jealous.”

I shut my eyes, the pangs of our time in the shower stall vividly coming to mind. I still felt quite weak in my bones, the satisfaction from our time together so intense that I knew it was going to be stuck in my mind for a while to come.

"I haven't had sex like that... ever," I told her. "And we were standing. Through it all. Well, he was standing; I was wrapped around him."

She laughed at this, and although it truly didn't seem to be doing me any benefit to talk like this to her, I didn't feel terrible about it. Perhaps if I let it out rather than bottling it up, it would dissipate and be easier to forget, along with the lightness we were speaking with now. The entire morning had been tense, and I decided that this was what I needed.

We spoke a bit more, and by the time we were done, my entire bottle of wine had nearly been emptied. I drank the rest from the bottle and crawled into bed, worried about how I had consumed it as though it was nothing. I was a lightweight, so the effects were already telling on me, and in no time, I was soundly asleep.

21

Kane

At the sound of my ringing phone, I wondered if she had returned. It had been so sudden, the way she had left, that although I had expected it, I had still not exactly expected her to leave in that way. But she had, and I had forced myself to continue on with my day as though she hadn't even shown up at the apartment at all. It had been a feat, especially since our time in the shower stall wasn't something that I could easily forget. But it had put me in a rare mood to actually take advantage of Sunday to relax, so when the incoming call came, I wasn't exactly thrilled.

But then, as I got up and headed over to the counter to pick up my phone, my heart skipped a beat at the thought that it was probably her.

I found, however, that it was from the concierge, and this made me wonder.

"Hello?"

"Mr. Lazarus?" the elderly concierge called.

"Harrison, how are you?"

"I'm doing great, Sir," he replied, and then he stopped briefly. "There is someone here to see you."

"Who?" I asked.

"Mercer," he said, and I cocked my head. This was Lena, or her surname, but they were one and the same. She was coming up again.

I wanted to speak to her, wondering why she didn't just come up, but then I changed my mind, refusing to give her any reason not to return to the apartment.

"Let her up," I said, and before Harrison could say another word, I ended the call.

In the time she had left, I had a quick breakfast, but now I couldn't help but wonder if it would make sense to start with some actual cooking in order to give her a reason or something to stay longer. However, the idea reeked of distasteful desperation that I wanted nothing to do with, so I instead returned to my couch and continued watching the car race. A little while later, the doorbell rang, followed by a knock, and I turned to the door.

I was very willing to taunt her for a bit and ignore her for a bit, but in the end, I got up and answered the door.

I didn't look through the peephole. I didn't think there was a need to, so when I pulled the door open and saw that instead of her, it was her distasteful brother, I didn't quite know what to think.

I stared at him, the smirk on his face, and I didn't move aside even when he sought to come in.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, and he smiled again.

"Guess who I ran into in the lobby," he responded, and I sighed. Of course, it was Lena he was referring to. No wonder he had used only the surname Mercer because otherwise, I might not have paid any attention whatsoever to him.

"What do you want?" I asked.

"You're not even going to offer me a drink or something?" he asked, trying to look inside, and I resisted the urge to push him out of the archway so that I could shut the door. I did inform him that I was going to, however.

"C'mon," he said. "I mean, I know I'm not my sister, but there has to be some sort of courtesy due to me since you're sleeping with her, no?"

I went silent, and he stared at me.

"I see why she came to New York," he said.

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