Page 35 of Catalyst

CEO, Sidelines Sporting Goods.

This is probably going to bite me in the ass at some point, but I can’t just leave that asshole to potentially assault someone else because he knows he’ll get away with it. If I’m careful, I’ll be able to ruin him without Ellie ever finding out about it.

CHAPTER17

Ellie

I walkinto Adam’s office, the stillness of the morning surrounding me. I’ve come to love being in the office this early. It’s peaceful and allows my mind to focus on the day ahead. By the time everyone arrives, the frenetic energy of a productive day can sometimes be overwhelming. Having the day mapped out before that happens has become my secret weapon.

As my pen moves across the pad of paper, my smile stretches wide. I think Adam’s going to get a kick out of this note.

“Try to be a rainbow in someone else’s cloud.” —Maya Angelou

The man couldn’t be more of a cloud if he tried. It’s become one of my favorite things about him.

My other favorite thing about him? He’s absolutely insatiable. We spent all of Saturday in the hotel room, only putting enough clothes on to keep from scandalizing the room service waiters. One minute, we’d be talking about dumb things we did in high school—and let me tell you, my strait-laced CEO was a bad boy—and the next, he’d tackle me to the bed and ravish me until I could barely remember my name.

It still gives me shivers just thinking about it.

After telling Adam my story, I wasn’t sure if we’d be able to go back to the way things were before. Hearing the girl you’re seeing was raped can be a mood killer. It’s why I don’t tend to tell the men I date about what happened to me. But Adam treated me the exact same way he has from the beginning. It made me fall just a little harder for him, which I’m not sure is a good thing.

What happens when my time at Sidelines ends? I’d like to think we’d be able to make it work, but Adam barely wanted to date me while I work for him. What’s the likelihood he’ll want to keep this going after he no longer has easy access to me?

Footsteps coming down the hallway have me sprinting across Adam’s office to keep from getting caught.

I’m a little nervous about seeing Adam today. We flew back on Sunday, and he dropped me off at my house with a long, lingering kiss and a, “See you on Monday.” I was glad he didn’t ask me to stay with him. I needed the space to get my head wrapped around the intense connection between us. Granted, I didn’t end up accomplishing anything besides my laundry.

I’m not sure what the dynamic is going to look like today. Our relationship looks nothing like it did last week, and while I wouldn’t particularly mind if Adam decided to take me over his desk during lunch, I have a feeling he’s going to treat me as he did before our trip. I doubt his need for professionalism has changed just because we saw each other naked.

And I think I’m okay with that. I don’t need hearts and flowers from him to know where he stands. He showed me plenty of times over the weekend, not to mention the text message I got Sunday night telling me he wished we were still in bed at the hotel. My agreement with his wish led to an interesting phone call that ended satisfactorily for both of us.

A snort from Adam’s office has me grinning from ear to ear. I knew he’d find that one funny.

The rest of the day flies by as Adam and I find our groove. Our morning meeting was a little stiff at first until Adam stopped me by pulling me into a consuming kiss. It was exactly what I needed to reassure me when I didn’t even know I needed reassurance.

From then on, there was an ease in our interactions we’d never had before. We didn’t have to hide our feelings for each other any longer, which removed the building tension anytime we were in the same room. We both felt freer to show our affection, which, in turn, released the pressure.

“Good afternoon, everyone,” Adam says, striding into the conference room. He nods his head at Matthew, then looks at Linda and her team. “I’m ready when you are.”

Everyone settles in to see what the marketing team did with my drawings. I wonder if Linda is aware this is a test for her. I can’t imagine she isn’t. You don’t get an email throwing out your entire campaign and not have a little concern about the status of your job.

Linda stands, the projector behind her lit up with her presentation. “First, I’d like to say thank you to Ellie for your adorable drawings. We found them quite whimsical. Here’s what we’ve come up with for them.”

As the slides continue moving forward, I’m horrified by what she’s done. Each drawing has been manipulated to the point they barely look recognizable. I would never want my name attached to any of these. And the ad copy. It’s childish and bordering on offensive to both me and the company.

I look at Adam, whose face is a stone mask. How he’s capable of holding back his emotions I will never understand. This is too much for me.

As soon as Linda is finished with her presentation, a heavy silence ensues. Adam taps his finger on the table in an effort to either get his words together or his emotions. Potentially both, if I had to guess.

“Linda, I’d like to set up some time tomorrow to discuss this further, just the two of us. Thanks, everyone.”

The marketing team shuffles out of the room, a somber stoop to their shoulders. They know this didn’t go well. I can’t believe they thought this was the direction we’d want to go with this campaign.

“Sir.” Caleb, one of Linda’s team members, steps back into the room. He looks over his shoulder as if checking whether anyone noticed his separation from the team. “May I have a moment to discuss the campaign?”

Adam waves his hand toward the table.

“In any other circumstance, I wouldn’t say anything, but I can’t leave this meeting knowing you believe the whole team agreed with this campaign. To be honest, we haven’t agreed with many of Linda’s recent campaigns, but she’s our boss. She got her position because she deserved to be there, so we followed her direction.”

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