Page 89 of Bossman

“Working.”

“Are you alone?”

“None of your business.”

She ducked under Chase’s arm and saw me inside.

Chase’s voice indicated that his patience was wearing thin. “What did you need, Sam?”

“I was going to see if you wanted to grab a bite to eat tonight instead of tomorrow night.”

“I have plans tonight.”

“With Reese?”

He hesitated, and Sam decided his response for him.

“That’s what I thought. I’ll join you. How about six?”

Chase grumbled something and let out a frustrated sigh. “Fine.”

Shutting the door, he turned back to me, shaking his head. “I’m sorry.”

I tried not to look panicked. “She knows. What are we going to say?”

He was suddenly serious as he gazed into my eyes. “You tell me.”

Chapter 27

REESE

I had no idea what I was going to say if Samantha asked point blank.

We were meeting her at the restaurant, a small Italian place a few blocks from the office that I’d never been to before. Clearly Chase had. The manager, Benito, greeted him by name and showed us to “Chase’s special romantica table.” It was in the back, in a dark corner by a large, rustic brick fireplace.

Chase pulled out my chair.

“I take it you’ve been here before.”

He sat while the busboy set up a third place setting. We were a few minutes early, and Samantha hadn’t arrived yet.

“Sam loves this place. Pretty sure Benito thinks we’re a couple. She likes to sit by the fireplace.”

I was quiet, and I’m certain doubt registered on my face.

Chase sat back in his chair. “She’s my friend. And there’s not much she can do about it if she doesn’t like it anyway.”

I frowned. “It’s so much easier for you.”

He leaned in. “Is that what you think?”

“You’re the boss. No one is going to look at you differently or think your ideas were accepted because of who you slept with.”

“I get that. I can even understand it. So if you decide you’d rather keep things between us secret, I’ll accept that.” Chase edged closer. “But don’t think this is easy for me. You’re the first woman who’s been anything more to me than a casual f—”

He caught himself, stopping short of painting the visual he’d been about to throw out. “Anything more than a casual relationship in seven years. And we’re sitting down at a restaurant, about to have dinner with my dead ex-fiancée’s best friend, who is also the vice president of human resources for the company I own. A company where I entrust her to write policies such as the no fucking in the office policy I want to violate every goddamn time I look at you.”

Chase looked away. I stared at him. It had never occurred to me how difficult it would be for him to come clean with Samantha. For me, it was a job and stupid mistakes from my past that formed my fears. For him, it was so much more. He just made everything seem so easy to do. God, sometimes I was a giant, selfish idiot.