I could tell the moment the words came out of my mouth that he was disappointed, and I was a little, too. Our conversations were becoming less strained. I felt like I was understanding exactly who Max was for the first time, and I had only known him for aweek.
“Wellington.” He answered his phone in one hand and motioned to the door with the other. I took that as my cue to leave, but instead of heading out of there with my tail between my legs, I realized Max was following me. His hand grazed the lower part of my back, brushing at the seam of my skirt, as he led me to the door. He didn’t pull away, and shockingly, neither did I. It wasn’t like it was an advance, was it? He was being agentleman.
I could let him be agentleman.
He stopped us just before letting me out. “Just remember, the offer stillstands.”
He left it at that and closed the door. I couldn’t tell if he was talking to me or whomever was on the phone with him. I made a pit stop to the bathroom to get ahold of Adam. I knew I had said later, but I was hoping I could at least get the arguing out before I started work. Three rings andnothing.
I knew he was upset, but I truly didn’t know what to do right now. We had never had this kind of thing happen before, and now that we weren’t in the same state, my mind started to race with all that could go wrong. Could he be so upset that he wouldn’t talk to me, period? Would he still come out here? Was I overthinking all of this? Something in the pit of my stomach told me that all of this was wrong, that something wasn’t the same between us anymore. My heart broke at the thought ofthis.
Lilly and Erica took me under their wing after I showed them the messages Adam had sent me. I was grateful to have them here for me. There were promises of alcohol tonight. The only thing I didn’t tell them about my meeting with Max was his offer to move me to another department. I didn’t know why, but it felt good to have something just for myself for once. Right before it was time to leave, Greg came by mydesk.
“Alexa, I was wondering if we could talk in my office before you leave?” I packed up my things and followed him into his office, waving goodbye to the girls. The concern on their faces didn’t help me. Two meetings. One day. Now I was worried, when I knew I shouldn’tbe.
When we walked into the office, I noticed more stacks of manuscripts on his desk. My worry went away and excitement filled me, especially with the prospect of Greg asking me to help out with another project. Even though I had told Max I wanted to be in financing, it didn’t mean I didn’t love reading and editing. “Please sitdown.”
Taking my seat, I looked around his office. Thinking about Max’s office today in comparison to Greg’s—they were totally opposite. I hadn’t noticed before, but Greg’s office was filled with color and paintings adorning his walls. It felt like a museum, but one that you could stay inforever.
“I wanted to thank you for helping me on that last proposal. Max thought that your estimate for the author was quiteaccurate.”
I perked up. “Thank you, Greg, but I thought that the rough-bound copy of the book was thanks enough. Especially since it was signed.” I was happy that he wanted to personally thank me, but I didn’t think it necessary. My enthusiasm left as Greg cocked aneyebrow.
“What book?” His question threw me as I pulled it out of my bag. since getting this book, I had finished it at least a half-dozen more times, marking my favorite spots with stickynotes.
“I’m sorry, Alexa, but I didn’t give that to you.” Now I was the confusedone.
“Then who did?” I was holding the book in my hands, staring at it. The book felt heavy in my hands. I knew what he was saying. I just didn’t want to admit it to myself yet. This book had been my friend for the past week. I read it almost every night beforebed.
“All I know is that the only people who knew about you working on the proposal were Max and me.” Max. His name coming from Greg sent chills up my spine. I didn’t know if that was bad or good. What I did know was that instead of being angry, which this time last week I probably would have been, I was grateful. Max said he wanted to get to know me, but it seemed that he was alreadythere.
“Max.” His name coming from my mouth felt like afirst.
I heard a sound from behind me. I turned around to see Max standing in the doorway, his arm braced against the frame. His face was in a hard line, like he didn’t know if he was going to say something or not. Our eyes locked just before he turned to leave without saying a word. I could see through the glass of Greg’s office that he was headed for the stairs. He didn’t even want to wait for the elevator to get away fromme.
“I didn’t know he was going to give you the book.” I couldn’t even look at Greg, because what had just happened was definitely not something my boss should have a partof.
“Is it okay if I head outnow?”
“Yeah, no problem.” Greg started to stand, but I shooed him to sit back down, still not able to meet his eyes. I placed the book back into my bag, feeling ashamed that my heart was fluttering so much. I left the room without either of us saying aword.
I mentally kicked myself as I took the elevator down. Just because Adam and I weren’t talking right now, it didn’t give me any right to have these feelings for anyone, especially not my boss. Yeah, sure, Adam and I had had our rough patches before, but they always ended in us working it out and making our relationship that muchstronger.
When I left the building, I got the same feeling I had last week when I left alone. I looked around, making sure I was good, and then headed towards the road. My mind wandered back to the texts Adam had sent. He was so angry. He had cursed at me and called me a cunt, his least favorite word. I flinched just thinking about it. It wasn’t until I almost stepped into the road and a hand grabbed my waist and pulled me back that I heard the sound of a car horn blaring. The vehicle in question shot past me, horn stillsounding.
Closeone.
I closed myeyes.
I wasn’talone.
I turned around to see who my savior was and came face to face withMax.
“You trying to get yourself killed?” He had one arm wrapped around my waist and the other hand on my cheek. I almost leaned into him but stopped myself. I stood frozen as he wrapped himself around me. His jaw was tight and lips in a thin line, but when his eyes searched mine, they were filled with concern. I didn’t understand how a man who was so hard on the outside, could be so caring on theinside.
“No, but thank you.” I tried to laugh it off and Max let me go, but his touch lingered on mybody.
“Why are you getting out so late? Greg asking for more help on his projects?” And there it was, back to work talk, a safe place for us. Greg must be a known procrastinator. “I can ask him to let up on the extrawork.”
