Eden
As if the morning hadn’t been confusing enough, being caught nearly naked with the boss on his desk was just what I needed to tip the scale into the truly bizarre. Before I got to work, I’d found out that my building was being bought over, and rent was going up. I wouldn’t be able to afford it, and my roommate Margot was taking it as a sign to move in with her boyfriend. By the end of the week, I would be out on the street.
Now, the smart, professional HR lady was looking at me with a kindly blank expression, as I wiggled my skirt down and blushed red to the roots of my hair. This was my nightmare, and thanks to Khan’s confession at the museum, I knew it was his too. He didn’t mess around with his employees. Today, because of me he’d broken that rule. He didn’t strike me as someone who enjoyed lowering his own standards for himself. Not that it was my fault–it was his own damn fault. Getting nearly naked on his desk was just an example of why he was dangerous to me. Khan Aslan was from a different world than me, and today proved it more than ever. He could do what he wanted, where he wanted, without consequence, while I couldn’t. Playing with him, in his world, and forgetting that I’d have to leave eventually wasn’t in my best interests. Not at all. Sadly, it didn’t make me want him any less.
“I’m not interrupting anything, am I?” Estie said, looking between us. Khan sighed, a long, pained sound.
“And if I said you were?” he said, at the same time as I spoke.
“No,” I rushed to say.
“Well, I have that report you asked for,” Estie said, laying a slim folder on Khan’s desk. What was I doing? I had to get out of here. A few days more of work, considering all I wanted was for this man to bend me over his desk and finish what he started, was too long. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t survive a man like Khan Aslan. He was too much of everything. Too sexy, too smart, too rich and too damn magnetic. I couldn’t keep my head around him. No job was worth this.
“Ms. Davis, I’m glad you’re here. I needed to speak to you,” I said to Estie. Khan narrowed his eyes at me, but I ignored him and forged on. “I’m afraid I have to leave early,” I told her.
“Do you have an appointment this afternoon?” Estie asked politely. I shook my head, took a deep breath, and steadied myself.
“I mean–the rest of my work term. I quit,” I announced. The words fell into a stunned silence, and I felt Khan’s eyes boring into the side of my face.
“Eden–let’s talk about this,” he started, and I help a hand up at him, staying him.
“I’m serious. Can we talk in the hall?” I wondered. Estie nodding, shooting Khan a look I couldn’t decipher. I couldn’t speak to Khan alone. I’d cave. There was nothing that man couldn’t talk me into. He was my personal weakness.
“Don’t run away from this, Eden,” Khan said, clearly uncaring now if Estie heard.
“I’m not running away. I’m restoring the natural order of things. Goodbye, Mr Aslan,” I said, barely daring to look at him. I couldn’t take those dark eyes, all intense and full of want. I couldn’t take that and still leave. But leave I had to, before I completely lost my head.
“Of course,” Estie said, leading me out into the hall. I waved a hand to cool my flushed skin. “Is everything ok, Eden?”
“Of course. Everything is fine, it’s just that I have to find a new apartment on short notice, and I need to focus on that. I’m just a temp anyway, so I’m sure the recruitment process has already started for my replacement.”
“It’s absolutely fine. No need to worry about it.” Estie’s face was pleasant and relaxed, and made me feel calmer. “You know, if you’re looking for a place to stay, I might know a place.”
“Really?” I asked, hope springing up in my chest. She looked torn, her eyes flickering toward Khan’s office door.
“Is there something going on between you and him?”
“What? Of course not. It’s impossible, isn’t it?” I laughed awkwardly.
“Why’s it impossible?”
“Because men like him don’t end up with women like me, and I know that well enough not to dabble in something that’s going to burn me,” I told her, frank now. I was done here, and leaving. What did it matter?
“Why do you think he doesn’t have serious intentions toward you?” Estie asked, tilting her head to the side.
“Because no one ever has, as of yet, and I’m including far less impressive men than Mr Aslan,” I gave her a self-depreciating smile as I said it, trying to sound a little less pathetic. From her expression, it hadn’t worked. “Anyway, I don’t need a man right now. I need a place to live,” I said, shifting the topic somewhere safer.
“Well, the first I can help with. The second… maybe it’ll work out better than you hoped,” Estie said, and turned toward the elevators. “Let’s go and get you sorted.”