Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 66753 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 334(@200wpm)___ 267(@250wpm)___ 223(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66753 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 334(@200wpm)___ 267(@250wpm)___ 223(@300wpm)
Chapter Eighteen
Bella
My lips tingle from Tyler’s kiss and my mind races.
The walk back to the office is a wild ride. I can’t seem to calm the sensations Tyler has once again created in my body any more than I really, truly, understand what just happened between me and Tyler. I’m fairly certain he just admitted to having feelings for me.
I think. I don’t know.
Maybe this thing between us, whatever it is, is just plain about sex and a contractual obligation he has to meet to protect the company. Not that he doesn’t like me well enough. I actually do believe he’d rather suffer this fifteen-month sentence with me rather than someone else, but it’s hard to decipher exactly what that means when we’re one big lust bomb. Only it’s more than lust to me. By the time I plant myself in my chair behind my desk, I decide that means that one of the two of us is going to get hurt, and it won’t be him.
I don’t like how that feels already, and when my phone rings, I’m eager for a distraction that turns into chaos. One of my clients was just exposed for cheating on his wife by a notoriously brutal gossip rag. This translates to about ten calls and a Zoom meeting with him and his PR person, trying to save his reputation. Even his wife calls me and rather than screaming and shouting, her soft voice radiates pain I feel in every part of me. It’s a reminder that love is always a risk, especially when one person is more committed than the other.
The only commitment I have from Tyler is a contract.
Tyler isn’t a commitment guy. In all the years I’ve known him, there has never been one woman. Of course, I can’t say much better of myself, but I was willing to find the right guy. I’m not sure Tyler can say the same of the right woman, which is perhaps how he ended up with me, the person he trusts because I’m a friend. It’s a strange, confusing place to be.
I really don’t know if I’m going straight into the fire or veering left or right.
Chapter Nineteen
Tyler
Hour after that kiss I shared with Bella, I can still taste her on my lips.
It’s fucking nuts, considering I’ve been busy as hell.
My afternoon is a clusterfuck of clients and one difficult partner who just can’t accept we’ve moved on from my father’s scandal. Nowhere in this picture is food, and since I never went back to talk to Dash, my lunch ended up his. I’m about to head to the café and grab something to eat before the Zoom meeting when Debbie pokes her head into my office.
“Boss, I don’t know what’s going on. There are literally several stacked carts of boxes in the lobby right now, addressed to you. Do you know what that’s about?”
“That’s the delivery from Gavin I told you to expect. Have them brought into my office.”
Her eyes go wide. “Oh. Wow. Okay. Are you sure? It’s a lot of boxes.”
“Positive.”
“Okay,” she murmurs, seeming anything but convinced, but then she has no clue how important those boxes are to the future of this company, nor will she find out. “I’ll make it happen,” she adds, and when she would leave, I hold up a hand.
“Wait,” I say, my conversation with Gavin rightfully on my mind. I motion her into the room. “The boxes can wait. Come, sit.”
She hurries inside and joins me.
Debbie’s a pretty blonde, with delicate features and a soft voice that I have no doubt plenty of men find hot. But when she walks into my office, she’s an employee. Bella is another story. When she enters a room, there is a shift in the air, a change in me, an awareness of her as a woman. I force myself to remember she’s my employee. Or I did. That ship has sailed.
Gavin didn’t wake me up to Debbie as a woman.
She’s worked for me for two years and he knows more about her than I do. How shitty a boss does that make me? She settles into the chair across from me, and I lean forward in my seat. “Tell me about your family, Debbie.”
She blanches. “What?” The look that follows is akin to a deer in headlights. “Why are you asking that? You’ve never asked me anything personal before now.”
I don’t bother to blame my father’s teachings. I’m the one who chose how I managed. I’m the one who makes my own decisions. “I’m not proud of that,” I admit. “I think it’s about time I know who you are and what you want out of your career.”
She motions behind her, a nervous tremble to her hand. “Shouldn’t I take care of the delivery?”
“Debbie,” I say, a push in my voice.