G-Men: The Series (121 page)

I took pains with my work attire the following morning. It wasn’t as easy as the magazines made it sound, going from office attire to after-five attire without changing outfits. Since I was meeting Lindsey and Jill downtown, there was no time to leave work to run home and change before six o’clock.

I selected a form-fitting red knit dress and accessorized it with a red and black print bolero jacket that would hide the fact that the dress had spaghetti straps and a snug bust line, making it totally a cocktail dress without it. I pulled my hair up into a ponytail, not wanting to fuck with it since I’d overslept a bit this morning. I shoved a pair of fuck-me shoes into my over-sized shoulder bag and slipped on a pair of sensible pumps for the office. I made sure my make-up case was in my bag so I could at least freshen-up before leaving the office. It wouldn’t do for Lindsey or Jill to think Darcy Sheridan was less than well-coiffed these days.

Eli had left for his morning ritual at Starbuck’s. It was his damn fault that I’d overslept! He’d invited Cain for a sleepover and their fuckfest had kept me awake for hours. I’d grab some strong coffee at work. Maybe I was just grumpy because everyone I loved had someone and I had no one. Maybe it wasn’t all that crazy to consider talking to Darin again. I mean, was there really any harm in hearing what he had to say?

Easton was already in his office when I arrived at work. I could hear him on a conference call with some of his GMs over in the U.K. I loved listening to the British banter usually, but this morning I was in major need of caffeine. I slipped down to the cafeteria to fill my mug and saw Eli talking to one of the transition team peeps. I smiled and shook my head as I filled my mug. Eli and his friggin’ gossip.

As I turned to walk back towards the hallway, I heard him call out.

“Darce, hold up,” he said, catching up to me, looking all perky and well-rested.

Pshhh—yeah, right!

“I’m surprised you can move that quickly this morning, Eli,” I said, taking a sip of my hot coffee.

He blew me an air kiss. “Good morning to you my gorgeous, jealous friend.” Glancing around him, he quickly added, “But never mind that, I just heard a very juicy tidbit from Rochelle over on the transition team.”

“Do tell,” I said, continuing down the hall.

“Well, you know when you were pissing and whining last night while Maddox and I were trying to watch The Real Housewives’ of
Wherever
about Easton doing the nasty with Lacee on his lunch break?”

He definitely had my attention now. I stopped dead in my tracks, coffee sloshing over the side of my mug.

“Yes?”

“Didn’t happen,” he replied, a smug look on his face.

“Okaaaay, and you know this how?”

“Well, Rochelle’s fucking Nelson Pratt, and—”

“Ewww!” I interjected, not really loving the visual I was getting on that.

“Shhh,” he said. “Let me finish, please?”

“Sorry, yeah that was just
not
a way to start a sentence.” I closed my eyes, wishing I could burn my corneas. “Continue.”

“Well, apparently last night’s pillow talk shed some light on the lunch date Lacee had with Easton. He took her to lunch so he could let her know she’s being given two weeks off with no pay and having a formal letter of reprimand put in her permanent personnel file. She evidently fucked something up at the Leeds facility. Nelson was supposed to get with Easton yesterday to finalize the letter, but I guess Easton missed the meeting, so they’re wrapping it up today.”

Oh…
Shit.

Eli noticed my expression and frowned. “I thought you’d think that was good news,” he said, not hiding his disappointment.

“Oh sorry, Eli, yeah of course it’s good news, I guess. No, wait a minute. Why the fuck should I care?”

He rolled his eyes at me, shaking his head. “Which is it Darce? Good news? Or you don’t give a shit?”

“I don’t know. I’m not sure anymore. We’ll talk later,” I said, turning off to the hallway that led to the executive offices.

“Have a nice day,” he called out after me, still sounding all chipper for someone that hadn’t gotten much sleep, but for the right reasons.

Bitch!

Once I was settled at my desk and signed onto my computer, I saw I had an e-mail from Easton. It was short and didn’t sound very sweet.

‘Would you kindly step into my office, Ms. Sheridan’

Thaaaat’s not good.

I downed the rest of my coffee as liquid courage and grabbed my notebook and pen, heading into his office. He didn’t bother to look away from his laptop, but he knew I was there.

“Take a seat, Darcy,” he said. “I just need to finish this last sentence.”

I sat down, crossed my legs, and waited. Several moments later, he stopped pecking on his laptop and turned his attention to me. His gray eyes flickered over me, as if he was seeing me again for the first time. He folded his hands on his desk in front of him and looked me in the eye. I couldn’t read his mood.

“When I called in yesterday, I was given the information by you that my schedule was clear all afternoon. As it turns out, it wasn’t. I missed a meeting with Nelson Pratt at 4:15. He called me last evening to re-schedule.”

The butterflies were back, doing nervous somersaults in my stomach.

“Oh, really?” I asked, feigning self-disappointment with a sprinkle of surprise.”You know, I bet I had the wrong day pulled up on your calendar.” I looked down at the floor, trying to appear repentant for making a mistake. “I’m so sorry, Easton.”

He quirked an eyebrow at me, trying to decide whether he believed me or not and remained silent as I squirmed in my seat.

He’s giving me the rope to hang myself. Bastard!

The silence and his perusal of me lingered until I couldn’t stand it another second.

I broke. “Okay! So, I told you that your afternoon was clear yesterday when you called. I told Nelson you’d forgotten; I admit it. Happy? You can stop giving me the hairy eyeball now.”

“Why would you do that?” he asked, studying me carefully.

I paused for a couple of moments, not because I didn’t know the answer, but because I didn’t want
him
to know.

“It’s complicated,” I replied, those words evidently becoming my own personal mantra these days. “I’d prefer if we could simply drop the subject. I apologize. I was wrong and it was extremely immature of me.”

“I still want to know why.”

If I was a woman of prayer—this is totally where I’d use it.

“Okay, fine. I thought Nelson was meeting with you to discuss what type of disciplinary action you intended to take against…me.”

“And,” he said, waiting for me to continue, his eyes boring into me. “There has to be more to it.”

I breathed a heavy sigh. “
And
because I thought you and Lacee were having a…nooner.”

“A what?”

“Hooking up during your lunch hour,” I snapped.

I saw a flicker of amusement in his eyes as he stood up, placing his knuckles on the desk and leaning forward so that he was gazing down at me beneath those thick, sooty lashes.

“And would that bother you?”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Truthfully? Yes, it bothered me yesterday. It doesn’t today.”

He cocked his eyebrow, which apparently was becoming his own personal non-verbal slogan with me. “I see,” he replied, “So, you’ve had time to come to terms with the fact you’ve no claim on me, and I’m perfectly free to
hook-up
with whomever I choose? Glad to see we’re on the same page, love.”

“Well…,” I stammered, “that’s not exactly the case, but you know, whatever gets you through the night, Easton. I mean, we’re both free to hook-up with whomever we want; that’s always been the rule. It’s just that you and I—well,
we
won’t be hooking up…anymore.” I saw him freeze momentarily. He was usually so good at hiding his emotions, but this had clearly caught him off-guard.

“I’m not certain that’s your decision to make,” he replied casually.

Fuck me! He DID not just say that?

I stood up now, and placed my knuckles on his desk, leaning forward in a show of defiance, giving him a glare that I’d mastered in third grade.

“It most certainly is my decision to make and I’ve made it, Mr. Matthews,” I spat. “Unless you plan on forcing yourself on me. Cuff anyone to a bed lately?”

She shoots and…Scores!

He gazed down at me with shuttered eyes, making a show of studying his hands and using his fingers to rub his palm. “Trust me, love, you take to my cock like a fish takes to water. If ever I force myself on you, it’ll be because you begged me for it that way.”

I felt my cheeks flush with color at the confidence with which he made the statement.

“Are we through here?” I asked.

“For now,” he replied, not taking his eyes off of mine.

I made a hasty retreat back to my office, slamming his door behind me. I didn’t want to see him, hear him, or smell his masculine scent at the moment. His fucking audacity was boundless. All of a sudden, Darin Murphy was looking better and better.

I got through my morning routine without having to lay eyes on Easton again. His office had a door that led into mine and another one that led to the main hallway, so thankfully he was using that one and staying out of my way.

Right before lunch, my phone rang. It was Betty at reception telling me I had a delivery in the lobby.

“What is it?” I asked, puzzled.

“Come and see for yourself,” she said mischievously.

When I got to the reception lobby, Betty nodded to the table behind her desk. There was a gorgeous bouquet of two dozen red roses in a beautiful crystal vase sitting there.

“For me?” I felt my eyes widen to the size of planets. Easton wouldn’t be raising the white flag
this
soon, surely?

“Umm hmm,” she said, her eyes twinkling. “Looks like someone’s captured a heart,” she teased.

I blushed, lifting the heavy vase of roses and headed back to my office. I placed the vase on the credenza behind my desk, taking the small envelope from the placard anxious to see what it said. I pulled the card out to read and as I did, my heart thudded; my butterflies crashed and burned:

Darcy,

Unbreak my heart, baby. I love and miss you so much. Please forgive me.

Darin

I tucked the card underneath the vase, and was rearranging some of the baby’s breath when I heard a loud whistle from behind me. I whirled around, knowing it was Eli by the whistle.

“Awww, you remembered to call him ‘Sir,’ didn’t you?” he teased.

“Bite me, bitch,” I replied with a smirk. “This is from old wood.”

“Huh?”

“Darin.”

“Ah,” he said. “Well, hey, you can’t blame a dude for knowing when he fucked up a good thing, right?”

“I guess,” I replied, wistfully.

“Wanna do lunch?” he asked.

“Sure,” I replied, grabbing my handbag from my desk drawer. “I need to get outta here for a bit. Let’s do it. I’ll drive.”

“Hey, tell me something,” Eli said, as we passed some cubicles on our way out.

“Okay, what?” I asked.

“This old wood of yours…,” he smiled as he continued, “was it hard?”

I snorted as he laughed at his own cheezer joke.

We were chatting about even fresher office gossip he’d heard earlier relative to Rollins the Retch and his work squeeze Leanne Harshman. They’d apparently gotten into a shouting match behind the closed door of his office. He was trying to break things off with her and she was threatening a sexual harassment lawsuit. I was so engaged in the conversation I didn’t notice until I was near my car in the lot that Darin was standing next to it.

Crap!

I stopped in my tracks as our eyes met. Eli continued walking, failing to notice I wasn’t next to him any longer. He finally noticed Darin, and then turned back to me with a questioning look in his eyes.

“Darin,” I stammered, “what are you doing here?”

“Did you get the roses?”

“Yeah, I did, but I’m not sure what to think about that.”

“Hey, Darce,” Eli said, “we can do lunch another time.”

“Gimme just a sec, Eli.” I turned to Darin. “Thank you for the roses, and we can certainly talk, but not now. I’m meeting Lindsey and Jill this evening at Busbee’s. You’re welcome to stop by if you want. Maybe I can break away for a bit and we can talk then.”

“Yeah, that sounds awesome,” Darin said, smiling.

“No promises, just a talk,” I replied. He nodded.

Eli got into the car and was unusually quiet as we pulled out of the lot. I finally couldn’t stand it anymore, feeling the judgment he was passing silently.

“What?” I hissed.

“I didn’t say a thing.”

“Yeah, but you’re thinking real loud, I can tell. So, let’s hear it.”

“There’s a Chinese proverb that comes to mind,” he said. “Don’t build a new ship out of old wood or you’re destined to sink.”

I shot him a look. “So, you think I’m a hot mess for simply listening to what Darin has to say?”

“You tell me, sweetie. It seems to me you didn’t give Darin a second thought when Easton Matthews came into your life. What’s changed?”

“Easton Matthews isn’t capable of love, commitment, or even being a nice person. I can’t deal with that.”

“Hmmm—he sounds perfect for you, doll.”

^{chapter 35}