13. Pleasant and Professional

Chapter 13

Pleasant and Professional

Leo

I stared at my computer screen, not really able to pay attention to the various tabs of news I was trying to sift through. My mind kept drifting back to the night before and the way Libby felt under me, her intoxicating taste, the way she’d called out my name as she came.

I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts. This was exactly why I shouldn’t have given in to temptation.

“Goo’ ‘orning, ‘oss.” Carter’s voice interrupted my thoughts. He stood in my office doorway, looking worse for wear with a cup of coffee and his tongue hanging out.

I was grateful for the distraction. “You know they make iced coffees.” I picked up my own iced drink and sipped dramatically. “Ah, so good, and it doesn’t burn my tongue when I’m an impatient bastard.”

Carter dropped his bag and slumped into a chair. “How’s the roommate life treating you?”

I sighed, running a hand down my face. “You don’t even want to know.”

“The offer still stands to stay with me.” Carter removed the lid on his coffee and blew on it. “Maybe you’re onto something with the iced coffee.”

“You literally live in a warehouse, and I’m not going to move my shit when I’m hardly there. Besides, my flooring should be here in the next few weeks.” I turned back to my computer, hoping to end the conversation. “Why are you here today anyway?”

“What kind of man would I be if I wasn’t here to help our new employee get settled?”

I side-eyed him. “What? There’s no fraternization, Carter.” Suddenly, I felt like I needed twelve cups of coffee. I did not have the mental fortitude to deal with his need to push my buttons.

“Says the man who kissed her.”

Would it be a bad look for the director of a non-profit to jump over the desk and strangle an employee? I wished I had never told him that, and I was for sure not telling him I slept with her.

“Carter.” The warning in my voice made things very clear, yet he didn’t care.

“I think she’d really like to see my warehouse. A nice candlelit dinner on the roof with the skyline should really set the mood.” He drank a big gulp of coffee before sitting back in his seat, looking smug as fuck.

My jaw clenched.

“Now is the time for me to make my move, before time runs out.” He reached into his bag and pulled out his tablet. “It’s only a matter of time until the fae prince claims his princess.”

He handed it to me, and right there on the lockscreen was a picture of Libby and Ethan from the ribbon-cutting ceremony. It served as a reminder of how fucked up it had been for me to make any kind of move on her when her best friend looked at her like she was his entire world and he wanted to eat her for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

I couldn’t be certain, but I was sure he’d come back from the gym and heard us going at it, if his sudden headache and locking himself in his room was any indication.

Unfortunately, now that I’d spent more time with Libby and tasted her sweet lips—among other things—I only wanted her more.

I stared at the picture longer than necessary. Seeing them together sent a pang of longing through my chest. “It’ll never happen.”

“Sure it will, especially since they are living together now.” Carter stood, moved around my desk, and swiped open his photo album.

“They sleep in the same bed all the time and nothing has happened.”

“Oh, really? This picture right here says they’ve done more than innocently share a bed.” He pointed to a shot of Ethan touching Libby’s cheek.

“It doesn’t matter.” I handed the tablet back, unable to look at any more photos. “I have work to do.”

Carter glanced at my screen. “Dude, you pay someone to monitor that for you.”

“I know that.” I minimized the browser, embarrassed to be caught. “It might still get missed.”

My worst nightmare was waking up one morning and finding my dirty laundry plastered all over the internet. On slow news days, the paparazzi and gossip columnists were sharks waiting for any bloody morsel to latch onto.

“I still think the wiser choice would have been to go to the police or FBI instead of giving them what they wanted.”

“Hi.” Libby’s voice from the doorway made my heart nearly stop, and not just because it was her, but because… how much of that conversation had she heard?

I straightened in my chair, trying to regain my composure, even though the red dress she was wearing made it hard to form words.

She looked between us. “Am I interrupting?”

“Not at all. Carter was on his way out.”

Carter, ever the troublemaker, squeezed my shoulder. “I was showing him the amazing photos from the event this weekend. Would you like to see them?”

“Uh... Maybe later?” Libby looked uncertain, and I felt a surge of protectiveness.

“Perfect! I can show you at lunch if you want to grab a bite to eat?” Carter offered smoothly.

I shrugged off his hand and stood, shooting him a glare. “You’re fired.”

“On what grounds?”

“You’re a pain in the ass.” I grabbed my iced coffee and rounded the desk, focusing on Libby. “Let me show you to your office and give you a tour.”

“I’ll see you at lunch, Libby,” Carter called out as we walked out.

I clenched my jaw, leading Libby down the short hallway to her office. “How are you today?” Might as well have asked her how she felt about the weather.

I went to put my hand on the small of her back and she entered in front of me. I pulled my hand away like I’d touched a hot stove.

“I’m good…” She didn’t sound so sure. “What were you talking about the FBI for?”

I didn’t want to lie to her, but I also didn’t want to tell her the truth. “Just some bullshit that happened last summer on my yacht.”

“You didn’t use concrete shoes on anyone, did you?” She went to the desk and put down her bag, turning to face me.

“No concrete shoes.” Although it was fun to imagine doing that to people who took advantage of a situation to get millions of dollars. “Is this office okay? I really did mean it when I said we could switch.”

“I don’t need a corner office. I think it’s excessive spending when we could have rented out a smaller office space in Queens, closer to where the permanent office will be.”

“This building belongs to my family, and with the discount I was able to work out, it’s cheaper here than it would be renting a space elsewhere. It’s a little inconvenient for some meetings, but I just go there or rent out a day space if needed.”

“Oh…” She stared down at the desk and picked at an invisible sticker on the top. “I guess I should have looked at the financial paperwork Ryker sent me months ago.”

There was an awkward silence that I didn’t know how to fill. We didn’t talk about what had happened between us, even when we had eaten dinner. Instead, we’d put on a comedy and ignored each other.

“Do you want me to show you around or…”

She finally looked up, her cheeks pinker than they had been. “I think I’d like to explore for myself, if that’s okay?”

“Of course. I’ll, uh… leave you to it.” I gave her a small wave and backed out of her office, feeling like a complete fool for the gesture.

I quickly turned on my heel and practically ran back to my office. Luckily, Carter had gone to his own, and I shut my door, leaning back against it.

I thought my days of making bad decisions were behind me, but I was pretty sure this was one of my worst.

The temptation to follow Libby and Carter to lunch was so overwhelming, I had to lock myself in my office and pretend to be on a call.

The morning had gone smoothly with Libby already getting started on reaching out to schools to set up meetings and working on job descriptions for employees that would need to be hired.

But then lunchtime had come, and Carter had swooped in and whisked her off to lunch. Was I jealous as fuck? Maybe. If anything, I was pissed at him for using Libby to get a rise out of me. In the past, I did the same to him, but this was so much different.

There was a firm knock on my office door, and I glanced at my calendar reminders, seeing no one on the agenda. “Come in.”

The door opened slowly at first, as if the person were peeking inside, and then opened fully. I should have known Ethan would eventually confront me again. The look on his face left no question that he knew about the night before. Whether it was Libby who told him or the noise, I wasn’t certain.

“Where’s Libby?”

“Wow, what a pleasant and professional greeting.” I shut my laptop and stood. “What can I help you with?”

“Where’s Libby? She didn’t answer my text and she’s not in any of the offices.” He had some balls wandering around my office suite without permission.

“I really need to hire a receptionist… or a security guard.” I rounded the desk and leaned against the front of it. “Libby went to lunch with Carter.” I couldn’t keep the annoyance out of my voice and had to remind myself that Libby wasn’t mine.

His frown deepened. “Is he…” He shook his head, reconsidering whatever he was about to say. “It doesn’t matter. I’ve decided I’m going to take the next step with Libby.”

I crossed my arms over my chest, not surprised but also feeling like he’d just punched me. “How are you going to go about that?”

“That’s none of your business.”

“It is my business when I’m taking the next step too.” What the hell was I doing? “Also, how do you plan to explain to her you’ve been pretending to be gay all this time?”

He reeled back like I’d smacked him, but then his expression turned indifferent. “And how are you going to explain to her you’ve been pretending to be straight?”

“Excuse me?” There was no way he could know about what happened on the yacht with the woman and her husband.

“You tried to fuck me.” He looked me up and down in disgust.

“What the hell are you even talking about, Ethan?” I was frozen in place, even though I wanted to shove him out of my office and lock the door.

“The Christmas party.”

The Christmas party? I tried to remember that night, but it was a bit of a blur, mainly because I’d gotten into yet another argument with my father over what a fuck-up I was.

“I don’t remember, but I don’t fuck men… and I would never fuck you.” What I left unsaid was that the one time I did fuck a man, it ended up biting me in the ass—no pun intended.

He rolled his eyes. “Jesus, you really are a piece of shit, aren’t you? Did you forget that you fucked Ryker’s sister last night?”

The way he chose to refer to Libby immediately put me on guard, and I pushed away from my desk. “You wouldn’t.”

He shrugged. “If I feel like my best friend is being taken advantage of, there’s nothing I wouldn’t do.”

Why was this man so damn infuriating? “I’m not taking advantage of her; I can guarantee you that.”

“Yet you let her go out to lunch with another man who was flirting with her at lunch last weekend?” He shook his head. “Not caring shows exactly how you felt about last night.”

“You need to leave before I make you leave.” I adjusted my tie. “Now.”

The asshole threw his head back and laughed.

It triggered a flash of a memory buried somewhere in my mind. One of him laughing the same way as I sat next to him at the hotel bar, shot glasses spread out in front of us like we’d been drinking water and not tequila.

I tried to imagine it—me and him stumbling up to the hotel room I always had on standby—but it was hard to picture given how he had been treating me.

“This is the last time I’ll tell you to keep your hands and your dick away from her.” He turned to leave and ran right into Libby.