A Workplace Affair (11 page)

“I, I have to think about it.” I smile, doing my best to mask the emotions so close to the surface.

“Of course you do, it’s a big decision. If you had just jumped and said yes you wouldn’t be you.” I knew she couldn’t just jump into it, but I had hoped to see something different in her eyes. I try not to be hurt, but it’s hard not to be. “My brother has asked us to meet him for dinner, would you like to go?” Not a very smooth transition, but damn, at least I tried.

“Oh,” once again she’s surprised, “Of course, I’d love to meet your brother, where are we going?”

“Gordon Ramsey at the London, did I mention that my brother is obsessed with Gordon Ramsey?”

“No, I think you left that part out.” We both laugh lightly, lifting the tension in the room.

“I think that red dress you bought today would be perfect.” She looks amazing in anything, but for the sake of sibling rivalry, the red dress accentuates all of Victoria’s assets. I leave the room to let her get ready and call and confirm our reservation. Then make a call to my little brother. As I’m finishing up the call, Victoria walks out of the bedroom and asks me to zip up her dress. She steps away and I enjoy the view. The dress is simple, with a short sleeves and a sweetheart neckline that hugs the curve of her full breasts. The fabric hugs tight against her skin and ends about six inches above her knees. Her long legs look amazing, and I have to resist the urge to strip it off of her. “So, Teagan and I have a long standing rivalry, ever since he stole my girlfriend in high school. And I think I just won.” Victoria laughs and I’m pretty sure I’ve found my new favorite sound.

At 32, Teagan is two years younger than me, and he is my best friend. When I was 18 our parents got divorced. Our dad decided to leave Georgia and move to New York where his company was located, as well as his girlfriend, and Teagan and I moved with him and went to work for his company. When I decided to leave, I asked him to come work with me, but his loyalties to our father were too great and he turned me down. One day I’ll get him to work for me. When we arrive at the restaurant he is already at the table looking excitedly over the menu.

“Don’t get too excited.” He stands up to greet us, and gives me a big hug. “Victoria, I’d like you to meet my brother, Teagan Ambrose.” She offers her hand to shake his, but he grabs her up in a big hug. The competition has started. Every time I bring a woman to meet Teagan, he competes with me for their attention; it’s his way of testing them.

“It’s very nice to meet you Teagan, Leland has told me a lot about you.” She pulls away and slips her arm into mine. The look he gives me says she’s passed the first test. Rolling my eyes, I pull out her chair and sit between her and Teagan.

Chapter 29

Teagan is very charming, but he’s not Leland. The brothers share the same dark hair, and chiseled features, but where Leland has blue eyes, Teagan’s eyes are green. Both of them have eyes that stand out against their dark features like tinted crystal. At Teagan’s collar, a thin black line peeks out, hinting that there may be a tattoo hiding under his well-tailored suit. As we sit down, the men start talking business and I take a look at the menu. The words are all very fancy, but the thing that stands out to me is the price, a three course meal with wine pairings is $220 at the low end. I sneak a peek at Leland as he looks at his menu, but his only reaction is how good everything sounds. He’s used to paying high prices for a good meal, but I’m not. I put on a happy face as the waiter comes by and we order.

“So Victoria, how did you and Leland meet?” Teagan seems only mildly interested in the answer, but does his best to fake it.

“I’m Leland’s secretary.” Teagan slaps Leland on the back and laughs.

“I always wanted to live out the naughty secretary fantasy, but I guess you beat me to it.”  Our appetizers come and I dig in.

During each course of the meal I participate in the conversation, even though Teagan is blatantly hitting on me, and enjoy the delicious food. Inside I’m tortured by the differences in Leland and I that have become so obvious. I do my best not to over-analyze, which is what I am best at, and enjoy the dinner, but when dessert comes, I’m ready to go.

“Are you ok, Victoria?” As soon as we get into the cab, Leland lets his concern show.

“Yeah, I’m ok, just tired is all.” To prove my point I lay my head on his shoulder and close my eyes. Breathing him in, I start to fall asleep.

When the taxi stops in front of the apartment building Leland does his best not to wake me, but when goes to pick me up, I’m awake. We head into the building and ride the elevator to his apartment in silence. Once we are in the bedroom he speaks again.

“I’m sorry you’re not enjoying this trip.” Disappointment shows on his face.

“I’m sorry, I really am just tired. Thank you for such a sweet idea, I love being able to see where you live.”

“Would you like to take a bath?” A bath sounds delicious.

“That would be nice.” He leaves me and I can hear the water start in the bathroom. Taking my shoes off, I follow the sound and get Leland’s assistance in unzipping my dress. As it slides to the floor I am overcome with a need to be close to him. “Will you join me?” I may be unsure that we are right for each other, but I’m not ready to give him up yet.

“I’d love to.” The water is steaming as he helps me in. Then he strips off his clothes and climbs in behind me, turning on the jets of the Jacuzzi, on the way. “I think I know what’s bothering you, and I want you to know there is no rush to decide. I only want you to move here with me if it feels right to you.” His hands begin massaging the muscles I didn’t realize I had been holding tense all night. Leaning back into him I realize that I am considering moving to New York.

“Thank you.” Everything about him felt right, until I thought about it logically, then it started to get hazy. We spend an amazing hour in the tub cuddling and caressing in near silence, just enjoying each other, and the feel of skin against skin. Once the water is cold, we make our way to the bed where I sleep soundly without any dreams.

Chapter 30

Sunday morning, we wake up and instantly start the day. Leaving the apartment we make our way down to Canal Street to take a look at the art and other things for sale, and pose for a caricature that has us both laughing. After shopping for a while, we stop to have a picnic in Central Park, the day is gorgeous with just a hint of chill in the air, and I could stay here all day. Leland on the other had has other plans. Rushing, we barely make it in time to take the ferry to Liberty Island where Leland insists we climb to the top.  We start up, despite my fear of heights, but I have to stop at the feet.

“I’m sorry, but I think I did pretty well. I mean, 164 feet is pretty damn high.” I wasn’t even convincing myself.

“If you say so.” He’s laughing at me. “If you can’t go any higher we’ll go back down, I just wanted you to have the experience.”

“I appreciate that, but let’s go.” I kiss him quick before heading toward the stairs.

When we leave Lady Liberty, we have to head back to Morristown to catch the plane and head home. As I watch the city disappear behind me, I’m kind of sad to be going, but I guess I could always come back.

Connor didn’t ride home with us, his business took longer than expected, but Leland planned on sending the plane back for him on Tuesday. The tension I was feeling seems to lessen on the plane ride home, and once we landed I almost completely forgot about my anxiety. Everything was back to normal on Monday, with everyone still talking about the party, and word of Mary’s outburst made its rounds of the office. On Tuesday, I sat in Harold Sneck’s office signing paperwork detailing her verbal assault, that’s the technical term.

“As you can see, Mr. Ambrose has already given us his statement about the incident. All we need you to do is look over your statement and, once you’re satisfied with it, sign on the line at the bottom.” I take a moment to look over the statement and then sign the bottom.

“So what happens now?” I slide the paper across to Harold and he slides it into a thick file.

“Well, this is not the first complaint against Miss. Banner,” he says shaking the file slightly. “The board of executives has a meeting set up with her on Friday, and during that meeting she will have an opportunity to defend herself before her fate is decided. I can say that my recommendation will be to terminate her, she’s just not worth the liability.” I’m not really sure how I feel about Mary being fired, I would never wish unemployment on anyone, but it was out of my hands now.

Leaving Harold’s office I head back to me desk to find a vase full of roses. I open the note and read.

“
I had a great time in New York, I hope you did too. -Leland”

Chapter 31

We’ve been home for two weeks, and things between Leland and I are amazing, it’s almost as if he senses my uneasiness at his offer and he’s doing everything he can to make me feel at ease. We’ve worked together, side by side, all week. Today is the first day he has been out of the office while I stayed behind. Returning from lunch I find a note from him on my desk.

“I have a meeting to go to at 3, but I should be done by 5. I left some papers on my desk for you to file. Finish up and be ready for dinner at 6, I have a big surprise.”

I’m not big on surprises, but a surprise from Leland doesn’t sound so bad, I’m actually getting somewhat used to his gifts and don’t feel so bad when he spends money on me. Walking into his office, I daydream a little about what it would be like to move to New York, I mean it’s not like it would be hard for me to come visit. Sitting down at his desk, I start to organize the papers there for filing. I stop, noticing a familiar address on one of the papers.

“Your offer of $2,500,000 for the commercial property at 1355 Peachtree Street, Atlanta, Georgia, 30309, has been received. My client wishes to counter with an offer to sell at $2,800,000. We look forward to your response.”

There’s more, but I can’t continue, Leland is the one that’s going to put Sage out of business. Everything in my world stops for a moment before I’m able to breathe again. How can he do this? Of course my irrational brain neglects to remember that Leland has no idea where Sage’s bakery is. All I can see is the betrayal. As I said before, I’m nothing if not responsible, so I quickly finish up the filing on Leland’s desk. Taking the incriminating documents with me, I head to the hotel to meet Leland.

Chapter 32

This meeting is taking way too long. At this point, I’m not even listening to the people around me; I just want to get home to Victoria. When I told Victoria I wanted her to move to New York with me I could tell she wasn’t thrilled with the idea. What I also saw was that she was considering it. I know in my heart that she won’t be able to leave her friends and family behind, even for me. So, I’ve spent the last two weeks figuring out how to make it work for both of us. First, I thought that I could promise her weekly trips to Atlanta to visit. The problem with that was that meant we’d never have any time to travel anywhere else. Then I thought we could do six months in Atlanta and six months in New York, but I don’t think that would work either. Then it hit me, I can move to Atlanta. The New York offices are running well enough that I don’t need to be there all the time, and Atlanta could use my help, so why not? I really hope she is happy, that’s all I ever want.

“Mr. Ambrose, do those terms sound agreeable?” The middle aged man who has been speaking for the last hour doesn’t even look winded.

“I’ll have to take them back to my office and go over them a little more, but I’ll let you know in a week.” He nods, and passes a packet of papers containing his proposal over to me. Sliding them into my briefcase I signal for the check and say goodbye to the men as they leave. Knowing that I am late, I rush home. I can’t wait to give Victoria her surprise.

At the hotel, the elevator can’t go fast enough for me, and as the floor numbers go by, I slide a small box from my briefcase. When the elevator doors open I am a little surprised to find Victoria sitting at the bar drinking, and still in her work clothes. Something in the air tells me that she is not happy.

“How was your day?” I cross over to her and go to kiss her, but she turns away. Confused, I round the bar so that I can see her face, she’s been crying. “Are you ok? What’s wrong?” Immediately I forget all about anything I had planned, something is wrong. I pour myself a drink, and she turns to me with such sadness in her eyes that I want to down it like a shot. This can’t be good.

Chapter 33

Leland is in such a good mood when he steps off the elevator, I can feel it. I’ve been sitting here for more than an hour, drinking, and building up my anger towards him.

“How was your day?” He comes over and tries to kiss me, but I turn away from him, I don’t think I could ever kiss him again. “Are you ok? What’s wrong?” He notices that I’ve been crying. On the way home, I called Sage to get a little more information, and she told me she had given up her apartment. She said that she could use that money for the business, so she was sleeping at the bakery. I immediately offered for her to stay with me, but without telling her what I had found out, I couldn’t convince her to stay with me. Now, not only was he going to close her bakery, he was also going to make her homeless as well. Sensing something is very wrong, he pours himself a drink, glancing at mine, I consider another one, but decide against it.

We sit there in silence for about five minutes, drinking our drinks and studying each other. Damn, he really is beautiful. Why did he have to go and ruin everything? I don’t trust myself enough to speak yet, so I just put the papers on the bar and slide them to him. He takes a minute to read over them, and then looks at me confused.

“Why are you giving these to me?” He sets the papers on the bar and refills his empty glass. I take a deep breath, and keep my voice low when I speak to him.

“What do you plan to do with that building?” I already know, but I need to hear him say it.