I turned in my chair to face the street. From my office, I couldn’t see farther than the building on the other side of the street, but knowing Noah was in his office less than a mile away made me want to break the rules and be reckless.
My phone buzzed with a message. I unlocked the screen to find a selfie of him holding his shirt up to show his stomach. His jeans were partly undone, showing a trail of blond hair that disappeared into the waistband of his boxer shorts.
I saved the photo and put the phone away. If I replied, this slippery slope would turn into a slippery slide, and the next thing I knew, I’d be barging into his office to fuck him over his desk.
I didn’t even know what his desk looked like, and I was already imagining bending him over it and sinking deep inside him.
Working on the expansion into a new market with an online gift store dedicated exclusively to stained glass kept me busy all morning and then I did a quick visit to our closest factory.
My granddad would turn in his grave if he knew there was any kind of mass production of our products, but as a business, we had to do what it took to survive.
Our factories boosted local employment and we still used his techniques to produce our glass products. We just couldn’t afford to do it all manually, or we’d never meet the demand from retailers.
By the end of the day, I was eager to get home and hang out with Noah.
Tina, my dad’s secretary and general lifesaver, was busy typing at her computer when I walked out of the office.
“Tina, I’m heading out. Is there anything from today that I need to look at before tomorrow’s meetings?”
“Nothing today, Mr. Van Stern. You might be interested to know Mr. Dellcourt is with Mr. Getty. His secretary let me know earlier.”
What was Pierce doing here?
“Thank you, Tina. I hope you’re wrapping up soon to go home.”
“I am, sir.”
“Good. See you tomorrow.”
“Goodnight, sir.”
I would never get used to the formality of this place, but it was too soon after my father’s death. Hopefully, we’d transition out of it at some point, and everyone would just call me by my name.
Seeing Pierce wasn’t on my list of things I wanted to do today or any time soon, but as they say, keep your enemies closer.
Not that he was an enemy. Or at least I hoped he wasn’t. Him hanging out with Getty didn’t leave me with fuzzy feelings.
The elevator door opened on Getty’s floor and Pierce came in as I was about to get off.
“Lior.”
“Just the person I was looking for. Can I buy you a coffee?”
His expression went from lukewarm to happy. He looked at his watch. “Do you want to catch dinner instead?”
“No. I can’t stay long.”
“Oh. Okay, coffee it is.”
The coffee shop on the first floor of the building was closing down, so we went to another one across the road.
Pierce picked a table while I grabbed us a coffee each.
“No muffins?”
“Like I said, I can’t stay long. I just wanted to know how you’ve been.”
He stared at me quizzically. “I’ve been…managing. Why are you so concerned all of a sudden? Last time we talked, youcouldn’t wait to get rid of me while you flaunted your new young husband around.”
