Page 7 of Untroubled Heart

My palms fall to the desk, catching me before I pass out. “Two. Weeks.” I choke.

Steven presses his lips together in a gentle smile. Some days, it feels like he’s the boss, since he knows so much of what goes on and handles it with such ease, even jumping in to help Beth on occasion, since she refuses to have a dedicated assistant of her own. He expects me to be okay with not only losing him, but so quickly?

I sit back in my chair, crossing my arms over my chest. “No.”

“Two weeks is a perfectly reasonable notice period.”

“I reject any and all notice. You’re not going. I need you more.”

“Than my husband?” He quirks a brow in amusement. “It’s plenty of time to find someone and train them to the standard you’ve grown to expect. You know I would never leave you in a bad position.”

A sly grin tugs at the corner of my mouth as I drag my keyboard closer to me, angling my screen just enough so Steven can see me bringing up my emails. “You’re right. Such a valuable, efficient assistant.” I beam as I type the opening sentence to my brother Caleb, who manages my investment portfolio. “I hope you know, no one will ever truly replace you, and I shall certainly miss seeing your loud and wonderful collection of ties.” Some days, they blind me, but I can admit Steven is a lot more fashionable than I am, so what do I know? His husband is a fashion photographer after all. I continue to add zeroes to the number I’m typing out for Caleb to move into an investment for Steven’s new endeavour, my finger tapping slow and deliberate so he notices. “And, of course, I’d love to show my appreciation with a parting gift that should in no way influence you to stay longer than you can.”

“You can keep typing. My end date won’t change.”

With a huff, I hit the backspace, glaring at him as I go, which only makes him chuckle.

He places a hand over mine. “I have loved working here. I would never have considered leaving if it weren’t for the divine intervention.”

Ah, yes, the supposed sign from the universe. Steven was attempting to book a room for their anniversary at the place they met when he stumbled across their shutdown notice just as Barrett came home, announcing a jackpot lotto win.

“Fine.” I finish my email, still instructing Caleb to arrange the paperwork required for me to make an official investment in Steven and Barrett’s resort. If he’s going to leave me, I won’t have it be for nothing. “I expect there to be a suite named after me.”

Steven’s perfectly groomed eyebrows jump to his equally perfect hairline. “That was a million dollars,” he says, pointing at my screen.

“Like I said.” I lean back in my chair, linking my fingers behind my head. “I expect my own suite.”

“You really are too nice for a billionaire.”

“I’m all about sharing.”

“Oh, god.” Beth grimaces as she comes to a stop at my office door. “Do I need to come back?”

“I was talking about my generous heart,” I say, laying a hand over my chest.

Beth walks in, dropping into the chair beside Steven. “What a nice reprieve for your generous ego.”

“What do you want?” I bark.

“Rude.” She scoffs, rolling her eyes. “Are you still cranky over that girl, or that your self-imposed celibacy remains intact?”

My eyes shift to Steven before landing back on Beth. “Shut up,” I say under my breath.

I was ready to break my dry spell Saturday night, convincing myself to get over whatever stage fright I’d adopted following the new jewellery, but I still couldn’t get a reaction from my dick. I talked, flirted, did all my usual tricks. Nada.

Except with her.

She smelled like something sweet, like something I wanted to consume. Little gold stars were braided through her hair. She didn’t wear a lot of makeup so I could see every freckle scattered across her cheeks, the little cluster of three under her left eye, and one that sat on top of her lip. She wore a long skirt, with a big split that came high on her thigh, and at the end of all that glorious, golden skin were high-top sneakers.

She was beautiful, effortlessly so, but that wasn’t what kept me intrigued. The way she was so unaffected is what truly did me in. Every time she pushed back, instead of swooning over my charm, like most girls did, my dick did a little happy dance. She was clearly the perfect one to break my somewhat self-imposed celibacy, but it turned out her playing hard to get was actually no game at all.

I kept an eye on her all night, desperate for her to come back to the bar, but she never did. I could have gone up to her at any time, but she made it pretty clear she wasn’t interested. My brain was fixated on figuring out why.

Not long after she left, Beth walked in, immediately picking up on my mood. She called me a loser and told me to get over myself with the sarcastic love I’m used to from her. I laughed it off, matching her teasing, but for the rest of the night, until I left the bar alone, my thoughts were still plagued by the mystery girl.

“Wait.” Steven clutches his temples. “I don’t know what to ask first. Girl or celibacy?!”

I shake my head slightly at Beth. Only my family knows of my recent upgrade, and honestly, that’s a whole family too much.