Her words hit me in the chest. She might have a point.
Or maybe I’m just sick of staying away from him when I know how good we can be together.
Chapter 26
Damian
IendtheZoomcall and sit back in my chair, my arms hooked around the back of my neck. Another deal closed successfully. And another poach from Walt Burke. I can’t help the smile that spreads across my face, knowing how pissed he’s going to be when he finds out.
“You look comfortable. What’s got you smiling like the supervillain in a kids’ television show?” Louisa comes into my office with a stack of papers and a bemused expression. “I’m not going to find Brielle under your desk, am I?” she laughs.
I kick my ass out of my seat so fast, it rattles the floor. Thunder roars through my blood, my expression morphing from one of pride to outrage.
“I’m so sorry. That was out of line,” she says quickly. I can see on her face that she means it, but that doesn’t help settle my rage.
“Do not ever say that again, Louisa.” I speak quietly in case someone else happens to walk by, but no less forceful. “It isn’t funny. It isn’t factual. And it isn’t anyone else’s business. There is no place here for rumors and lies. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes, sir.” She nods once, holding my eye contact. Regret, embarrassment, possibly a little fear… good.
I level a hard stare at her a second longer before I retake my seat.
“Here is the contract that your lawyer left for you to sign, and I also have the agenda for the next board meeting…”
Louisa continues to talk about the endless mound of paperwork it takes to keep a corporation running, but my mind is elsewhere.
I never did figure out how Louisa knew anything was going on between Brielle and me. We’ve been careful from the beginning, never being seen alone together, never overly friendly at the office. But she caught on to us weeks ago, and I don’t know what’s being said around the office. If others are talking, it hasn’t gotten back to either of us. I know that if Brielle had heard even an inkling of this rumor, she would have told me. Either that, or disappeared entirely.
“Close the door,” I say suddenly.
Her eyes round, a flash of annoyance at having been cut off from whatever she was saying, but she’s too smart to make a scene about that right now. Another time, she probably would. She doesn’t take my shit most days. But she knows when to push and when to back off. It’s part of what makes her a great assistant.
“Of course.” She reaches the door and stops. “Um, which side of the door do you want me on?”
“We’re not done here. Sit.”
She closes the office door and takes a seat in one of the chairs in front of my desk, mumbling under her breath about not being a dog.
“What do you think you know about me and Brielle?”
She folds her hands on her lap, sitting up straight and proper. “I don’t know anything.”
“You’ve mentioned her twice now. That isn’t a coincidence. I need to know what you think you know.”
She diverts her eyes over my shoulder, clearly not liking this inquisition.
I don’t typically get involved in any gossip that goes around the office, whether it has to do with me—more often than not, it does—or not. Employees have speculated about my love life, dates that I have taken to events, what my bedroom must look like. I’ve heard it all, and I’ve never given it a second thought.
This is different though. It affects somebody else, somebody I care about, and I don’t like that.
“I know that your eyes track her whenever she walks by,” Louisa says in her Southern accent. “I know that you’ve found yourself in whichever room she’s in, be it the accounting office, marketing office, kitchen, or pod room. I know she looks at you in a way she doesn’t look at anyone else, specifically when she thinks no one is watching. I know you pulled her from accounting to head up one of the marketing teams despite having no qualifications.”
“I did that because she was the best person for the job. And she’s proven that to be the case, as evidenced by the Mitner Group joining our portfolio earlier today. Her work on the Vitales’ account is garnering attention in the industry and bringing new opportunities to our door. That was a business move, and I don’t need to explain it to anyone.”
“I wouldn’t dream of doubting you,” she says, pausing for a beat before continuing. “But it did strike me as odd that you knew one of our newest hires—in accounting, no less—was so skilled at marketing.” She raises her brow in mock question.
Shit. She has a point there. If it weren’t for our Valentine’s Day dinner, when she first started talking about advertising ideas, I would have no clue that she even had an interest in that side of the business,never mind a skill for it. Louisa can’t be the only one who questioned that decision or where it came from.
“Who else has been talking about it?”
