Yes, Dane wanted me in the carnal sense, but I would never be okay with that kind of a relationship. I didn’t have it in me to do the casual sex thing.
And that’s all Dane could offer.
CHAPTER 20
DANE
Isipped my coffee, staring out the window of my high-rise apartment. The city was blanketed in white. From my view, it all looked pretty and pristine. But I knew it was an illusion.
Just like last night.
But last night was all very real. And it had been perfect. And then I immediately panicked and fled like a coward.
I kissed my assistant. That was every corporate nightmare. You don’t shit where you eat. But I didn’t kiss my assistant. I kissedIna.
That’s what she’d become somewhere along the way. Not my employee. Not just the woman helping me with a marketing campaign. She was Ina, the person who made me laugh without trying and saw me for the man I was and not the billionaire CEO. The Ina that believed in magic and gave the most thoughtful gifts and made me want to be better than I was.
I crossed every line I’d ever drawn for myself and the company.
And God help me, I’d do it again.
My phone buzzed on the kitchen counter. I was ignoring it. Usually, the damn thing would be attached to my hand, but Ineeded a minute to get my head straight. But part of me was hoping it might be a text from her.
I knew that was ridiculous because she had zero reason to text me. I saw it was an email notification to my private email. I quickly checked and saw it was from Heidi.
I almost ignored it, but since she was sending it to my personal email, I figured I better see what was going on.
Dane,
I owe you an apology. You were right about the extended commercial concept. I got carried away with the metrics and lost sight of what’s actually important. We’re sticking with the original plan. One commercial, airing on Valentine’s Day, with the strategic photo releases we’ve already been doing.
I’ve talked to Lucas and we’re both in agreement. There will be no more schemes or pushing boundaries. What we have is working. The numbers are incredible and we don’t need to risk it by making anyone uncomfortable.
Thank you for keeping me in check. It’s why you’re the CEO and I’m just the person who occasionally gets too excited about campaign opportunities.
Heidi
I didn’t bother replying. It wasn’t the kind of email that required a response. She screwed up and she knew it. I went along with a lot of their wild ideas, but I would never use anyone.
At least that was one crisis averted. Ina’s privacy would be protected.
After the campaign was over, we’d both pretend we hadn’t spent the last few weeks falling for each other while pretending to date.
Perfect. Just perfect.
I needed to do something. Needed to move, to occupy my mind with something other than the wild spiral I was stuck in over a simple kiss.
Okay, simple was not a word I would use to describe that moment between us. It had been explosive. And so good. It took every ounce of self-control I had not to demand she show me her bedroom. I wasn’t being presumptuous to think she would have let me in.
I know she would have. I had a feeling if I called her right now, she would be happy to meet up.
But that would be a dick move. I couldn’t do it. I wouldn’t do it. That felt too much like something some jerk in college would do.
But I had to do something.
Shopping. I’d go shopping for Lucas’s next Cupid’s exchange gift. That would be productive and distracting.
I grabbed my coat and headed to HomeGoods. Lucas had been dropping not-so-subtle hints about wanting a particular smart toaster that apparently could be controlled via an app on your phone because we lived in a world where even kitchen appliances needed Wi-Fi. I couldn’t really judge, though, considering an app had made me a fortune.
