“He’s a gentleman.”
“So why would he—”
“Because he knows you fucked my boyfriend and he’s big on loyalty.”
Startling Terra was one thing, Allan was a different matter, though she wasn’t fixated on her boss.The woman next to her just sat there, stunned.Okay, that was unfair.Mason was the one who’d promised loyalty, Terra owed her nothing.
But Cam.
Cam was the subject at hand.It didn’t matter that she’d trust Cam to keep things professional.Terra would push those boundaries, of that she had no doubt.Except, damnit, what right did she have to demand professionalism?If she was moving to New York… if this client meeting went well… There it was again, life, dot, dot, dot.
“Okay,” she said in an exhale because what else could she do?“You want me to ease the transition?Let’s get this over with.”
Cam would not be a happy camper.It would actually be better for Terra if she went in first to soften up the—they needed to talk about her potential new job before they could… Goddamnit.
As soon as she left Allan’s office, Mason was there as just a wall of human.Before she could meet his eye, he grabbed her arm to pull her down the quiet corridor.
“You didn’t reply to my message,” he said.“I want to get lunch—”
“Good for you,” she said, extricating her arm from his grasp.“Go get lunch, I’m happy for you.”
“With you.I want to get lunch with you.We have to talk.”
“About what?We weren’t married.We have no shared assets.”Not that he’d cared about that, or seeing her, after they broke up.“There’s literally nothing I have to say to you and nothing I want to hear.”
“Come on, we can keep this friendly.We can be friends.”
Talk about laughing in someone’s face.“I don’t want to be your friend.”
“I know it’s difficult.”His hand came toward her face.Yeah, that wasn’t happening, she took a long, deliberate and exaggerated step backward.No mixed signals here.“Elle—”
“This is closer to you than I ever want to be again.I left my security guy downstairs with the car, but, boy, you want to lose my number fast.”
“Is this because of Crimson?”
And… she frowned.“What has Crimson got to do with anything?”He huffed.“One picture and suddenly—”
“You never told me you knew the Stream Queen.”
“There were a lot of things I never told you,” she said.“A lot of things you didn’t ask either.”She wasn’t sure he knew about her marriage.“Cheating was a shitty way to go about it, but you did us both a favor.I am a million times happier now that I was for even a second in our relationship.”And given the whole shit/fan thing, that was quite a statement.“Live your life, Mason.And keep it as far away from me as possible.”
Walking away, back toward Allan’s office, she could tell Terra was curious.Though there was still some of that deer in the headlights thing going on.Had Allan asked about—was it ever a good thing for your boss to know your mistakes?
Not long ago, she’d have said no, but Cam knew hers and it brought them closer.
She didn’t miss a step in passing Terra on her way to the elevator.
“Train’s moving,” she said, side-nodding for the woman to follow.
The moment she stepped out of the building, the driver was there, opening the vehicle’s rear door.Security right at his side.
“Wow, is this your—”
“Get in,” she said to Terra and shifted a little closer to the men.“You might want to message ahead I won’t be alone when we arrive at Cam’s.”
The guys nodded.Maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing to have allies at her side.Could prove useful.
TWENTY-SIX
