I vowed to show up four hours early every day. That way, I’d only have to be around him for five hours in the morning, the same time when our teams were around us and he wouldn’t be able to get me alone.
“Good morning, Miss Lauren!” His secretary greeted me as soon as I stepped off the elevator. “You’re here super early today. Why?”
“Good morning, Linda,” I said. “I just have lots of work to do.”
“Need help with anything?”
Avoiding your boss... “Just the key to the conference room. Is Mr. Dalton here?”
“This early?” She laughed and tossed me a key. “Never. It’s just you and me.”
“Great.” I carried my files to the conference room and looked over the past week’s press coverage. Everything was positive, again.
I checked my emails to make sure his event appearances were still set and noticed I had more emails from other PR firms.
Subject: Please tell me he’s at least paying you a million...You deserve it.
Subject: What. A. Turnaround. Congrats!
Subject: No, really. What type of drugs did you get Mr. Dalton to take?
I laughed and leaned back in my chair. I began writing out my team’s assignments for the week, and when I looked up I saw Ryan staring at me from the doorway. Looking tempting as hell, he was dressed in grey lounge pants and a black T-shirt.
“Mind if I join you?” He didn’t wait for an answer. He simply walked over to me.
“What if I told you that I do mind?”
“I’d say tough shit.” He smiled. “Why are you here four hours early?”
“I couldn’t sleep.” I shrugged. “Plus, I figured it made perfect sense to get here and be ready for your board’s final stock strategy meeting.” I paused. “Why are you here four hours early?”
“I live in the penthouse across the street,” he said. “I also have an alarm that goes off anytime someone other than Linda accesses my floor during off-hours.”
“Good to know.”
“I think you’re attempting to avoid me lately.” He looked into my eyes. “Because we’ve fucked and you honestly think I would hold that over your head...”
“I’m not attempting to avoid you.” I lied. “You have quite the schedule coming up and I want to be sure it’s still on track.”
“You’ve had my schedule on track since the day you started,” he said. “And if you think you’re going to get away with getting here four hours early every day so you’ll only have to deal with me for five, you’re sadly mistaken.”
I didn’t say anything. I just sat there, completely speechless.
Without another word, he stacked all my files and placed them into my box. Then he grabbed my hand and pulled me out of my chair.
“You’re going to let me into your office so I can finish?” I asked.
“No.” He led me out of the conference room and to the elevator. I’m going to show you exactly where you need to go whenever you feel like coming to work four hours early. Hint, it’s my penthouse.”
“And if I decide I’d rather come here instead?”
“I’ll come here to get you again.” He pressed his lips against mine as the doors closed. “Or I’ll fuck you in the boardroom. I’ll be a gentleman and let you choose.”
THE CLIENT
RYAN
Several weeks later...
I could still smell the sweet scent of champagne in the boardroom when I walked by a few days later. My board members had spent all night celebrating the end of my successful press tour, and I’d surprised them all by leaving early.
Of course, my excuse to them was that I was “tired,” but I’d spent my night in the same way I’d become accustomed to in the recent weeks. With Penelope.
Her firm’s initial contract with us ended today, and not a single person on the board objected to extending it for another six months. They even offered to increase the amount by more than triple.
There were just a few things I needed to personally amend before we pursued the deal.
“Okay, lay it on me,” my brother said as soon as I stepped into my office. “I’ve got three meetings today and I’m hoping I can make two of them less than ten minutes long. Where are we with the contract extension with Penelope Lauren and Associates?”
“Everything is set, but I’d like us to amend the fraternization clause.”
“Amend it or end it?”
“End it.”
“Why?” He shrugged, laughing. “Are you going to sleep with Penelope? I can’t imagine her ever doing that with you. She’s too classy, too smart, too—” He immediately stopped talking as if the truth was dawning on him. And then he began to pace my floor. “Please don’t tell me that you have fucked Penelope...”
“Okay, I won’t.”
“Are you shitting me?” He paced even faster. “Just when I thought you’d changed, just when I thought, ‘He finally gets it,’ you find a way to not get it. No wonder you were doing so well on your press tour...”
“I like your rants better when you prepare them in advance,” I said. “They sound less juvenile that way.”
“Have you two been fucking this whole time?”
“Not the whole time. We didn’t fuck at all yesterday.”
“Be serious with me.” He stood still, looking concerned. “Is this a fling that could come back to bite us in the form of a sexual harassment lawsuit, or is this an actual relationship?”
“The latter.”
“Okay, that’s a start.” He plopped down on the couch, holding his hand over his heart. “That’s a very good start. For covering your ass purposes, when did this begin?”
“Before she started here. She was the reason I missed the ribbon cutting ceremony at Oasis. We met at a club and had a one night stand, and I saw her again when I showed up to her firm. The irony in that is that I might’ve pursued her anyway if that hadn’t been the case.”
“You really expect me to believe that?”
“I don’t have a reason to lie.”
“True.” He sighed. “Continue.”
“The sex didn’t start until thirty days into her contract,” I said. “And even then, sex with her wasn’t like it previously was with other women.”
“You mean there were rainbows and butterflies?”
“There were feelings. Small feelings, but feelings nonetheless.”
He raised his eyebrow, looking as if that was the most shocking thing I’d ever said. “So, you want to end that clause so you can continue sleeping with her?”
“I would prefer the term dating.”
He stood up and walked over to me, placing his open palm against my forehead. “Are you sick today?”
“I’m very well, thank you.” I ignored his laughter. “Just say you’ll agree to end the clause.”
“I’ll definitely agree to it,” he said, looking at his watch. “But we’re going to discuss this—thoroughly, and I’m going to be sure there won’t be any legal ramifications from her or objections from the board.”
“Sounds fair.”
“It’s more than fair.” He headed toward the door. “I’ll call you tonight.”
I took a seat at my desk and wrote the number twenty million in place of the six million for Penelope’s pending contract. Then I began masking the fraternization clause with a tube of white-out.
“Mr. Dalton?” Linda’s voice came over my speakers. “Miss Lauren is here. Shall I send her in?”
“Yes, please.”
The door opened and Penelope walked right over to me, looking as if she wasn’t sure whether she should kiss me or not. It’d become a habit to do so when we went out on private dates or met up at each other’s places, but there was still that awkward ‘pause and deflect’ reflex when we saw each other at work.
“You can have a seat, Miss Lauren,” I said.
“Miss Lauren?” She sat down, looking slightly confused. “I thought this was supposed to be a personal meeting for us.”