“Good,” he replied, straightening the papers on his desk. “I really didn’t want to go through all that paperwork anyway.”
My smile quickly faded as those words shot from his mouth and into my chest. Ouch! I didn’t understand what in the world would make him think that saying something like that was nice at all. I tried to calm down, remember that I was the one who decided that we needed to keep our relationship strictly professional, but given the circumstances, he didn’t need to take a dig like that. He looked up at me with realization on his face, and I watched as he took in a deep breath, thinking about what he said. He looked like he wanted to correct himself, like he felt bad for saying that, but he quickly tightened his face and looked back down at the files. I wasn’t sure what to say at that moment, and I could feel the anger starting to rise back in my chest.
I stood up and crossed my hands in front of me, thinking carefully about my next words. I could start a fight, but what would it do besides make things even more awkward? I shook my head and took in a deep breath as he looked up at me.
“Will that be all?” I was stern and emotionless.
He nodded his head, and I turned to walk out of the office. However, as I reached the door, I stopped, unable to let what my father told me to go. I had to say something or at least ask.
“Tanner,” I said turning back around. “My father told me about the fight you two had. Was that why you came over to my house? Was that why we had sex? Were you trying to get back at my father?”
“No,” he said, looking up with a surprised face. “Ava, that was not the reason. That had nothing to do with it.”
I wanted to say something else, but at that moment the secretary opened the door. She looked at both of us awkwardly before Tanner waved her in. I took that moment to scoot out behind her, not wanting to talk anymore about it. I didn’t believe Tanner, not after he acted so short and uncaring about having me switch offices. There was something about the way he handled himself that made me think that I didn’t know him like I thought I did. I walked back over to my office and closed the door, not wanting to even catch a glance of Tanner for the rest of the day.
I spent the rest of the workday going up a few floors and working with the financial department on their changing management strategy. Anytime I caught wind that Tanner was coming up, I would make sure to go back to my office, purposely missing him passing by. I knew it was childish, but I needed a minute to really understand what happened that morning. I still had my job, but for some reason, I felt like my pride was completely gone.
Chapter 13: Tanner
All day, yesterday, Ava made it impossible for me to talk to her. Hell, I didn’t even see her for the rest of the day, but I knew she was still there because she was working with the financial department. I tried to nonchalantly ask around for her, but every time I ended up somewhere, she had just walked out. It was extremely irritating. I was going to try to take her to lunch, realizing that our conversation seemed emotionless, and I’d come off pretty cold. The thing was, she had made the decision that she wanted to keep our relationship professional, and I wanted to honor that. It was difficult to not tell her otherwise as she sat across the desk from me, looking gorgeous as always. I held my breath when I asked her if she wanted to switch offices, completely relieved when she said no. I may have sounded cold when I made the remark about too much paperwork, but I couldn’t very well tell her I was glad because I wanted her to be close to me. That would completely negate the whole purpose of the conversation where I was showing her that I could be professional with no hard feelings.
I looked up as she walked down the hall and into her office. Finally, I was going to be able to talk to her. I stood up and walked over, nonchalantly knocking before entering. As I walked through the door, she glanced up and then back down at her paperwork. I could see her cheeks get red, and I realized that she still didn’t believe that her father and I fighting had nothing to do with what happened between us.
“Do you want to grab lunch with me? It’s been a while,” I said, smiling.
“I have too much to do today.” She didn’t even look up from her work.
“Would you like to go to dinner with me tonight?”
“That’s sweet, but I can’t,” she replied, still not making eye contact with me.
“How about tomorrow night?”
“I have plans,” she said, this time trying to hold back a smile.
“Is there any chance that you will be available at any point this week to have dinner?”
“Maybe,” she sighed, putting down her pen and finally looking me in the eye. “I’ll have to check my schedule.”
It had been a very long time since I had approached a woman and had her turn me down at every pass. I knew that I already technically had hooked up with Ava, but this new attitude was like dealing with another side of her. It was turning me on that she was playing hard to get, and from the look on her face, and that smirk that she was trying to hide, I could tell she knew exactly what she was doing. She wanted to be professional, but she couldn’t deny the pull between us, just like I couldn’t when I started to obsess over not talking to her for a day. That mischievous grin on her face made me want to shut her office door and bend her over the desk, smacking her ass as I fucked her hard and deep.
I shuffled my stance, slyly adjusting my half-cocked dick. My pants were getting tighter, but I didn’t want her to know that she was having that effect on me. I hadn’t had to chase a woman down since before my ex-wife, and while other men might find it annoying and a waste of time, I found her playfulness refreshing and erotic. She wanted to be in charge, and that alone made my cock stand at attention. However, if she wanted to play games, then games we could play. I sat down in the chair and crossed my legs, watching her as she took a phone call from upstairs. The silence between us was making her anxious, and she was feeling as if that control she thought she had was quickly slipping away.
I chuckled as she furrowed her brow at me, taking notes from whomever was on the other line. I sat quietly, listening, watching her body movements, glancing at her heaving breasts, and thinking about what my next move was. When she hung up the phone, she tried to ignore that I was sitting across from her, staring. She was fidgeting, and I smiled teasingly, watching her glance up at me from the corner of her eye. She was trying so hard to keep a straight face, and I thought it was adorable. Finally, she took in a deep breath and put her pen down, looking straight over at me, raising her eyebrows. I stood up from the chair, walking over to the door and pausing before I opened it.
“I’ll see you at my place at eight on Friday. I’ll send a car,” I said.
I turned the doorknob and walked out of her office, shutting the door behind me before she could say a word back to me. As the door shut, I heard her let out a deep sigh, and I couldn’t help but chuckle to myself. I had really gotten to her, and I found that this game was even more fun than the first one had been. I knew I wasn’t keeping my promise to respect her wishes for a professional relationship, but wh
o was I kidding? I wanted her, and now that she was playing hard to get, I wanted her even more. She acted like she wanted a professional relationship, but that was her way of trying to protect herself and her job. She wanted me around as much as I wanted her around, and it wasn’t some big secret. She was terrible at hiding that fact, and though it was endearing, I was going to show her that she may think she was in charge, but that was only because I let her be. I was taking back the ball this time, and I wasn’t going to take no for an answer. In fact, I wasn’t even going to let her answer.
I walked down the hall and to the elevator, going to check on the other departments to see how they were doing. As soon as the elevator doors shut, I let out a deep breath, realizing that I was more brazen than I ever thought I could be. This old man still had it, and I wanted to use it on Ava. I didn’t care that my fear of commitment was slapping me in the forehead. I just wanted to make sure Ava didn’t go running off. I did my rounds and came back downstairs, looking over at Ava’s closed door and chuckling to myself as I walked over to my secretary’s desk. She had a couple new messages for me, so I went into my office and returned the important phone calls. Everyone seemed to need something from me that day. No matter what the issue was, I couldn’t stop thinking about Ava, and I didn’t mind it at all.
When I got off the last call, I leaned back in my chair, opening my email to send responses back that I had neglected to address that morning. As the email loaded, I leaned my head back in my chair and laughed to myself. This was fun, at least it was for now. I had no intention of letting this carry on forever, but I also had no intention of letting Ava go. I opened my eyes and leaned forward, looking at the new messages in my inbox. Suddenly, I froze, staring at a message from Ava’s father, Dean. My mouse hovered over the message for several seconds and fear bubbled up in my stomach. What if he had found out about Ava? That couldn’t be it. I was pretty sure if he found out about Ava, he wouldn’t be sending an email. He would be stomping through the office raising hell and dragging her out of there like a twelve-year-old caught sneaking out. I clicked on the message and began to read.
Tanner,
It was offsetting to see you at the polo match after so many years, and my actions toward you may have been unwarranted. I’d like to sit down with you, talk about everything. There is no reason to spend our lives angry at one another. If you are free tonight, pick a place and just let me know when and where and I’ll be there.