Chase’s voice came across loud and clear in my otherwise quiet room. “Atlas, how are you?”
I sighed, deciding to share a little bit of the truth. We were in that weird gray area between colleague and friend, so I felt like it would be okay. “I’ve had a bit of a rough day, but I’m headed to my high school reunion in a bit, so hopefully things will turn around.”
“I’m sorry to hear that, but I have news that will hopefully brighten your day.”
“Oh?” I smoothed the mascara wand over my eyelashes for a final touch. My eyeshadow and subtle but striking liner was already perfect.
“I have that job for you.”
I froze for the second time this afternoon, grateful I hadn’t jolted and poked myself in the eye. Carefully, I returned themascara to its tube, twisting it closed and setting it down. “You . . . you have a job for me?”
Chase chuckled, probably at how ridiculous I sounded parroting his words back to him. “Yes. I want you to join my C-suite as my Chief Marketing Officer, as discussed. All the benefits we talked about plus a few more I threw in to sweeten the pot.”
My jaw dropped as he outlined said benefits. It would be ridiculous to turn this down, but . . .
“That all sounds incredible, Chase, but I’m seeing someone right now. Can I have some time to think about it, talk it over with him?”
“Absolutely. Feel free to bring him along! The apartment I have set up for you is plenty big enough for two.”
I coughed, nearly choking on air at the idea of Miles moving across the country to be with me. I couldn’t picture him in a high-rise apartment in Seattle, but who knew?
Shit, now that I’d imagined it, the idea had me in a chokehold. But would he even want to move across the country with me?
No, his life was here. Claudia and Ophelia—who he’d told me the other day had just gotten engaged—were nearby, and he’d grown up here. It would be selfish of me to even ask him to consider it.
But this job offer was too good to pass up. And given that I was unemployed as of like an hour ago, I wasn’t sure what choice I had. “Can I sleep on it? I can let you know sometime tomorrow.”
“Of course. And listen . . . I hate to be so pushy before you even accept the job, but we have a major client starting with the firm on Monday, and the project kickoff is at nine am. I know that’s a super quick turnaround, but I’d love to have you here for that if possible, even if you need to go back to tie up loose ends once we onboard you and that client. We’ll pay for the travel back and forth, of course.”
I swallowed a gasp. Chase must really want me to offer me all of this. The benefits package alone told me that. “I’ll reach out tomorrow evening, Chase. I really appreciate the offer. You don’t even know how timely this is.” I sniffed out a derisive chuckle.
He mirrored the sound. “Sounds good. We would love to have you, Atlas. There’s an early morning flight on Sunday, and we’d like to have you on it. I’ll send you an email with all the details. Let me know what you decide.”
After he’d hung up, I sat at my vanity staring at myself in the mirror. I couldn’t believe the timing of this. Who got laid off then got a dream job offer in the same afternoon?
The timing was wild. But what did I do about Miles?
I only moved when I heard Miles opening the front door I’d left unlocked for him. Glancing at my reflection for a final appraisal—and giving myself a mental thumbs-up—I pushed from my chair and walked out into the hall to greet him with a kiss.
He accepted it eagerly but kept the kiss light, trained after months of dating me not to mess up my lipstick. When I pulled away with a small smile, his eyes scanned my entire body. He took in my royal blue suit and whistled. “Damn, Daddy. You look incredible.”
“Thanks, sweet boy. Feeling a little they/them tonight.” I looked him over as well, and my breath caught at his black button-up shirt—with the sleeves rolled up in the most gratuitous of forearm porn, of course—and gray dress pants with a black leather belt and shoes. “Fuck, Miles, you clean up well.”
He blushed, chuckling in the most adorable way. “Thanks, Daddy. I have a suit for tomorrow night with a purple satin pocket square and tie, as requested.”
I grinned. We were going to prom—coordinating outfits were pretty much required, even though we weren’t going as each other’s date. Even if it wouldn’t be obvious, I was leaning intothe cheese; isn’t that what high school reunions were about, anyway? “Good boy.”
Miles’s face lit up, and warmth bloomed in my chest. I loved watching his reaction to those two words, so I used them as often as I could.
“Ready to go? I thought we could take my car.”
Miles nodded, glancing around my small home. “Are you all set? Do you need to grab anything?” He glanced down and smirked. “Like shoes?”
I had a delicate shoulder bag that matched my sparkly white heels, too, but both were still in the bedroom. “Be right back.”
We were on the road in less than five minutes.
Chapter fourteen
