“How was she, though?” he asked after a second, his curiosity getting the better of him.
“You don’t even want to know…” I groaned.
“Careful, Chester,” he warned. “I better go. I’ll let you know about Vegas.”
“Break a leg,” I said, hanging up the phone and sliding it across my desk. I frowned slightly. I thought getting it off my chest would make me feel better, but sharing what happened with Juliet only made me feel worse. Will was right. I needed to get a handle on this before it blew up in my face.
It just seemed impossible, like we were on a train heading toward a broken track. At full speed. Naked. I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to stop it, or if I really wanted to.
I sighed frustratedly as I rubbed my hands down my cheeks. Just then, the lights in the hallway flickered on. For a brief second, I wondered if Juliet had forgotten something and had come back to retrieve it. But then I saw the cleaning crew pushing their cart down the hallway. It was late. I grabbed the bottle of bourbon off my desk and screwed the top back on before carefully placing it back in the bottom drawer.
As I emerged from my office, the two women nodded a hello at me before getting back to their vacuuming and dusting. I gave them an easy smile and strode for the elevators, feeling foolish for thinking it was Juliet. After I had just told myself I needed to get a handle on things.
Idiot.
That was how much that girl had a hold on me. I swore I could smell her vanilla perfume in the elevator as I rode down to the lobby.
I would get a handle on things. Eventually.
What Will didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him, and I had no plans of getting caught. Juliet and I could still keep up this little game. We weren’t hurting anybody, and no lines had been crossed. Not again. I wasn’t about to fire her, and it would look fishy if I transferred her again. At least, that was what I told myself.
When the elevator doors opened, I stepped out into the lobby, surprised to find a few people working and sipping on coffee at some nearby tables. The glow of their laptops contorted their features just so in the dim lighting of the grand entryway. They had a cardboard tray of coffees in between them, fuel to burn through some late-night work hours. I wasn’t sure what department they were from, and they were, thankfully, unaware of my presence. I headed for the large glass door to get in my limo that waited just outside.
“Hello,” said a woman’s voice to my right, making me jump slightly.
I looked over to see a dark-haired woman, her hair cut close to her head, accentuating the sharp features of her face. Her eyes glittered through the dim lighting as she smiled at me like she knew me. Unable to place her and not in the mood to talk, I nodded politely, and kept heading for the doors, leaving the mystery woman leaning against a marble pillar of the lobby.
Chapter 19
Juliet
The sun was close to beginning its descent down, the sky turning a pale orange and blue, as I sat in the golf cart with my feet propped up on the dash. We were on the last hole of the golf course, Chester, me, and a few executives from the government he had treated to a round of golf. He had told me it was all about wining and dining these people, even if it meant a long round of golf in the hot New York summer.
I was surprised Chester had invited me along. Even though I wasn’t golfing myself, I had dressed for the occasion in a white golf skirt and matching sleeveless polo, with a crisp white visor to shield the sun. I adjusted my ponytail high on my head and leaned my head against the seat as I watched each man take their best swing. I refrained from rolling my eyes as one of the older gentlemen made another braggy remark about how good heusuallywas, and that today he was just “off his game.”
When Chester went up to the tee, I sat up a little straighter. Up until today, I had never seen the man in anything other than a suit. Or naked that one time. He looked sexy wearing a light blue polo and khaki pants, a golf cap sitting snug on his head. I watched as the muscles tensed in his arm on his backswing just before his club met the ball with a sharp thwack, causing it to go soaring. The men clapped softly, except for the one braggy guy with the “off day.”
Chester shot me a smile as he approached the golf cart, the others climbing into the two behind us.
“Bored?” he asked, cocking a brow.
“Not at all,” I said with a shake of my head.
“Almost done,” he said. “I think I have this deal in the bag.”
“Didn’t doubt it for a second.”
He grinned at me as he put the golf cart into drive, maneuvering it around the course. I had purposefully left my feet propped up, giving him a very good look at the bare skin of my legs up to my upper thighs. I caught him stealing a few glances as he drove, making me bite back a smile.
After another thirty minutes on the course, and an unnecessary amount of hearing the word “balls” thrown around, we were headed back to the office in Chester’s limo. The sky was now a rich red and purple, as his driver wound the car through the curved roads back to the city skyline.
“So, what’s the deal with those guys?” I asked curiously. “Why do you want to be in business with them?”
“Thoseguys…” he chuckled. “Are a head of a department of government that I have been desperately trying to get into business with for months. It has nothing to do with the non-profit or any of the other mergers. It’s solely for Brandfield Enterprises.”
“And what will that do for you?”
“Earn me billions.” He shrugged with a touch of arrogance that was annoyingly sexy. Further clarifying, he continued. “This deal will essentially allow me to bypass a lot of annoying red tape in my acquisitions, saving me time and resources. It’s very lucrative. Could double my stream of income in just Brandfield Enterprises, further trickling down to other business ventures.”
