Fuck. Little does she know, it’s Brielle who’s got me in this mood. And there is nothing there to fuck up since our night together was a onetime thing.
Still, Brielle is going to flip. She had been adamant that no one find out that we were spending time together when we actually were. She’s extremely cautious of her surroundings before she even looks at me. Always casual and cool when I stop by her office. I know it must have been me that gave us away, but I don’t know how. I’ve been professional. Treated her the same as everyone else. Kept my distance.
At least I try to.
She pulls me in like a magnet though. Over the past two weeks, I may have found a reason or two to stop by her office. I may have asked for more updates to the Vitales’ marketing plan than I usually would this early in the stage.
I scrub my hand down my face.
She’s going to kill me if she finds out Louisa even suspects anything.
But what’s surprising is how little I care if people know. Being romantically linked to an employee is a bad look for a CEO. My standing with the board could be severely diminished, their trust in me irreparably broken. It isn’t that I’m unaware of that or that I don’t care. Because I do. I’ve put everything I have into this business. I’ve built it up, brick by brick, and I want nothing more than to grow it into something even bigger and better than it is today.
But would I risk it all?
My father’s voice is in my head, screaming at me to run. His warnings about letting a woman into my life suddenly holds a lot more weight.
I’m not sure I understood his situation before. It always seemed so reckless to me that he would marry someone without a prenup, just blind faith that it would all work out. And when it didn’t, when he left the business he helped build, heartbroken and betrayed, I felt bad for him. But a piece of me always thought he was naive to ever think it was going to end differently.
How my perspective has changed over the course of a few months.
I still wouldn’t risk it, but I understand it. The desire to believe you can have it all.
I’m starting to think Iwantit all. I want more. I want her.
I think another conversation may be in order because there is no way in hell I’m done with her yet.
Chapter 22
Brielle
Ugh.Myheadpoundsbehind my eyes. Even my third cup of coffee isn’t doing anything to dim the throbbing ache. If anything, it’s making things worse because now my belly feels sloshy and bloated, too. Maybe because I haven’t eaten anything today. Wait, did I have dinner last night? When was the last time I ate?
“Bri, thoughts?” Danielle asks.
I have no idea what she and Trent were discussing, and I look up at the large TV mounted on the wall where Danielle is sharing her screen. A picture of a father with two young boys decked out in fishing gear fills the screen, and a generic ad copy that reads “Make memories together” overlays the image. If it weren’t for the Cardinal West Outdoors logo, I would have thought it was pulled from a stock photo site exactly as is.
“Are you alright? You seem off,” Trent says, pulling my attention away from the TV.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Just a headache,” I tell him, adding a quick smile to show him I’m good. I know it’s because I haven’t been sleeping lately. There’s no time to sleep when I spend my workdays bouncing between two offices and my evenings catching up on everything Imissed while I was busy getting the other job done. Both teams are relying on me to pull my weight as a full-time member, and I don’t want to let either of them down.
And of course, the not-so-little issue of my mind conjuring up deliciously dirty images every time I close my eyes, that have me frustratingly horny with no means of satisfaction, isn’t helping matters. Even my vibrator isn’t getting the job done as thoroughly as it did before.
Nope. It seems like the man that stars in every one of these fantasies has a chokehold on my orgasms.
It’s a cruel, cruel joke.
And as I’ve learned over the past few weeks, you don’t need to speak the devil’s name out loud for him to appear. Just thinking about him seems to conjure him up for the depth of my imagination.
Sinfully sexy, the man who’s been plaguing my mind steps into the marketing office to ask for his daily report-out. A plain white dress shirt is tucked into his black suit pants, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, leaving his forearms on display. For the first time since I’ve been working here, he’s foregone the suit jacket, giving him a more casual look.
Both Trent and Danielle have told me that he has never been as invested in the initial planning process as he has with the Cardinal West account. Just like Rui has mentioned that Mr. Edgerton seems overly concerned with our accounting entries. I think he’s making everyone nervous that there’s something going on financially with CreativEdge. But I know the truth. I can see it in his eyes when he sweeps them over the room, landing a little too long on me. And the fact that only two very specific teams seem to be getting this undue attentionfrom him. My teams.
I’m about to pull my eyes away from him before I get caught staring when a dark bruise on his arm catches my attention.
“What happened? Are you okay?”
I pop out of my seat to get to him, taking his arm in my hand to get a better look at the injury.
