God, she was a bitch.
“I don’t know what you are talking about,” I snapped. “So I would appreciate it if you could just let me get back to work. Thanks!”
“Work!” She laughed. “Do you do any work? Do you even have to? You’ve found other ways to please the boss-man after all.”
“Yes, I have,” I said, losing my temper with her. “And if you don’t stop with the taunting, I will use my influence to get you fired.”
That shut her up, but she looked ready to hit me. I didn’t care. She deserved it.
With even more reserve than before, I started typing out the documents in front of me, not looking at Zayden, not looking at Mrs. Brian, not letting myself think even for a second, just working as fast as I could. When the phone rang, it startled be back to reality and I jumped.
It was Zayden, and he was looking right at me.
Chapter 2
Zayden
It was obvious from the puffs underneath her eyes that Aria had been crying. She had definitely seen Gina in my office and jumped to the worst possible conclusion. It was Gina’s fault. I had told her not to show up at the office, and that’s precisely why she had come here snooping, hoping to get me to admit to seeing another woman. The way she had kissed my cheek was not for my benefit, but rather for the audience that was peeping through my glass door. She had guessed that the woman I was seeing was in this office – rightly so – and intentionally done that to create complications. What a fucking sly fox she was.
It had worked wonders. Aria looked like she had just been run down by a train – I had never quite seen her this way. She answered my call with what appeared to be extreme reluctance.
“Yes?” Her voice was wavering.
“I need you to come into my office,” I said softly, worried about causing any further damage.
“Uh, I have a lot of work to catch up on. I am sorry…. Mr. Sinclair,” she said the last words with a lot of emphasis. She was trying to undo the last few months, undo me.
“I don’t recall, Miss Roberts,” I said, returning her formality with the hopes of throwing her off. “Giving you a choice in the matter. And last time I checked, I was still your boss and I call the shots.”
She shut her eyes tightly. After what felt like hours, she finally said, “I’ll be there in a few seconds, boss.”
She seemed to take her sweet time, as I watched her finish up whatever she was typing, then remove and replace an insane amount of objects from her desk drawers. If she was trying to hide the fact that she was intentionally delaying our encounter, she made a poor attempt of it. Frustrated and eager to tell her my side of the story, I called again.
“Now,” I said and hung up, staring at her with the iciest gaze I could muster.
Finally, she began walking towards my office, leaving me wondering what exactly I was going to tell her. I could claim Gina was my coworker; she hadn’t exactly heard anything we had been talking about, and it wasn’t a completely ludicrous notion that I would be discussing business with an attractive female coworker at my office. At the same time, if I was considering Gi
na’s offer, Aria was bound to find out who she was sooner or later, and if I lied now, I would not only be accountable for being married, but also for lying to her about it.
When she was outside my door, she knocked. “May I come into your office, boss?” She put so much stress into that word, as though she was taking all the bitterness she felt towards me and our situation and expressing it through that single word.
“Just get in here, Aria,” I said, starting to lose my patience.
“Do I need to, like, curtsy or something, since you’re trying to make it clear that you’re the boss?”
“I am though,” I said helplessly. “I wasn’t trying to rub it in like that but–”
“You did. And that’s exactly what you were trying to do, which is okay. You’re right, you’re the boss and I do as you say if I want to keep my job. So what do you need, Mr. Sinclair?”
His face was turning red. My attitude must have been pissing him off.
“Zayden. We’ve been over this Aria. Let’s not go through this whole ordeal again,” I said and shook my head.
“Oh, so it isn’t just who I talk to that you control, but how as well? Duly noted, boss,” she snapped.
“Stop! Just fucking stop. We have a lot to discuss, Aria, and for the sake of both of us, let’s not make it more difficult than it has to be. Just take a seat will you,” I said, trying to sound a little more gentle.
She didn’t say a word and sat down across from me, her expression unreadable.