Chapter Twenty-Three
Oliver
Two days. It has been two days since Sloane Pierce completely shattered my entire world.
Two days since I’ve seen Robbie. Two days since I found myself wondering how I’m going to continue with this damn charade.
I have to tell Sloane the truth. I have to. I can’t continue to do this. I can’t hurt him.
Every day spent with him feels like an absolute dream. It’s not about the money or the gifts—companybenefits, he calls them—or even about how utterly sexy and dreamy he is, which he is those things and so much more, but it’s this feeling. This buzzing, vibrant feeling that makes me feel like the sky is the limit and there’s nothing I can’t have that’s not in my reach.Being in the same room with him is so comfortable. Even though he sits at his desk most of the time and I’m at the table in front of the window, it never feels like he’s far away.
Even now as I sit at this conference table with Sloane at the other end, he feels closer than ever.
Ericson grins as he turns the projector on. Chicora swivels in her chair next to me as I set up my docs for note taking, and I catch her grin.
“What?”
“Has that man told you you’re doing a good job yet?” she asks. Her voice is low, and I note Sloane engrossed in his phone. Maria and Bill tidy up their papers as everyone gets set up for this meeting Ericson called rather promptly.
“Um…” I think of how to answer her, because I’m not sure. I don’t know if he’s said it inwords, but… there’s a sense of knowing. A sense of understanding. I’m still here, for one. I’ve been here almost a week.
The party is tomorrow, and suddenly my stomach drops, realizing it could all possibly end.
And I don’t want it to…
My phone goes off, the light catching my attention. A text from Missy.
Missy
Come over tonight.
It’s three words. Three simple words. But yet it feels like so much more.
I haven’t spoken much to Robbie since the other night. Since heapologized.I’ve stayed late the past couple nights to help Sloane with the details for the gala, and get everything sorted with Chicora regarding my paperwork and my company benefits, which include a company car among a very generous 401k and the best insurance I’ve ever had.
Guilt festers within me that I could lose this. I could lose this job and it would be more than devastating considering how hard the last few months have been, but it’s more than just the benefits that I am terrified of losing.
I like this job. I like that things are not always the same and that Sloane and Chicora throw a number of things at me, and I have to figure out how to fix problems and schedule events, and I get to sit in on meetings and learn about technology that I might not understand but am seriously impressed with.
I like the environment, too. The people are chill, the building is beautiful… and of course, there’s Sloane. Mr. Pierce.
The man at the helm of this ship. The self-made billionaire who defies all my expectations. I look forward to seeing his BMW pull into my parking lot. I look forward to his little sarcastic remarks about my food choices. I look forward to those little hidden moments—the brush of his shoulder when we pass each other in the hallway. Those stolen moments in the morning when we kiss, or the way we taunt each other, edging one another all day until one of us breaks. That moment when we get in the car at the end of the day is the best part of the day, hands down. Yesterday, I nearly set the car horn off trying to get his dick out of his pants so I could jerk us both off after he’d been pushing my buttons all day with a catered lunch—for the whole building—and a delivery of a very expensive Stone Timeworks watch he said I needed for theparty.I refused it, of course, but when Sloane backed me into his locked office and kissed me until I couldn’t breathe, I felt him latch it on me. And before I could take it off, he grabbedbothmy wrists and held them behind my back and told me if I wanted to come, I’d have to bite my tongue.
And suddenly I forgot how to speak, so all I could do was squeeze his hand once in submission.
I don’t want to lose this. I don’t want to lose this job or him.
Which is why I know what Ineedto do, but I also know it’s going to be difficult.
I look up from my phone at Sloane, hoping to find the courage I need because I’ve made my choice. I just hope it’s the right one…
Ericson presents not one, buttwoPhantom prototypes he is happy to announce have successfully bonded with the tech.
“Are you saying Oliver’s reader idea worked?” Sloane asks, his lips curling up into a bright grin.
“Yes,” Maria says with a smile. “It more than worked. The Phantom software is thriving inside the host. Compared to its competitors, Phantom’s response time is two times faster and almost completely undetectable.”
Sloane smiles at me as Chicora squeezes my shoulder.
