Andrew
I took a sip of my coffee as I watched the numbers in the elevator tick away until we reached the floor that my office was on. In the week since I'd briefed the board of executives that I was going to be putting in fewer hours at work, I'd managed to stay true to my promise. Of course, I could probably cut back on my hours slightly further, but there was no reason to cut back all at once, I reasoned. If I did a little better this week and a little better next week, things would be fine.
That morning, though, I'd allowed myself a bit of a lazy morning. I'd woken up next to Lexi and hadn't been able to drag myself out of bed. But finally, I hadn't been able to delay any longer. I had a couple meetings lined up at the office that day. So as much as I wanted to stay there, with Lexi tucked into my side, that wasn't an option. Not today, at least.
I whistled as I got off the elevator and headed towards my office.
“Mr. Goldwright!” my secretary chirped, standing up as I got nearer.
“Yes?” I asked, slowing my walk. Usually, she let me get through my coffee and my email before she gave me the rundown for my day. I had to assume that she had something important to tell me already, and it had to be truly dire. “Did one of my meetings cancel?”
“No,” she said, shaking her head. “I just wanted to let you know, before you go in your office, that your girlfriend is in there. I asked her to wait out here before you arrived, but she wouldn't listen.”
The poor girl looked terrified, no doubt thinking that I would fire her for her inability to keep the woman out of my office. After all, there was sensitive information in there. But I smiled at her. “That's all right,” I said.
“Oh, of course, sir!” she said. She looked on the cusp of babbling more, but she settled with a short curtsy and then dropped back into her seat.
I nodded at her and headed into my office, wondering how Lexi had managed to beat me there. And wondering what she was doing there. Did she have it in mind to carry out some sexy office fantasy? The thought had my cock twitching in my pants, but this wasn't the day for it. I'd told her that I had meetings that I needed to get to that morning.
Then, I paused, my hand on the doorknob. The secretary hadn't told me that Lexi was in there. She'd just said that my girlfriend was in there. I'd automatically jumped to the conclusion that she meant Lexi, despite the fact that Lexi and I had never had that conversation.
I smiled a little to myself and headed inside.
But when I entered my office, it wasn't Lexi who sat there waiting for me. Instead, it was Renée.
I stared at her for a long moment, dumbstruck by the sight of her. “What the hell are you doing here?” I asked, unable to keep the annoyance from my voice as I moved behind my desk, hardly bothering to look at her.
“Oh, don't be like that,” Renée said, rolling her eyes. “I gave you some space. Now it's time to get over whatever it was you were thinking and fix our relationship.”
“That's not going to happen,” I said exasperatedly. “Renée, we broke up. You need to learn how to let things go.”
“You know the saying, everything worth having is worth fighting for?” Renée asked, shaking her head. She came around the desk towards me, putting her hand on my arm. “I know you weren't sure about us, but I know it's just because you were scared of the commitment. But I can help you with that. You don't need to run off with some new girl. You can be with me. We'll take things slowly, I promise.”
“Not going to happen,” I said, shaking her hand off my arm. “Renée, we had fun. But that's it. It was just sex and nice dinners, nothing more. I enjoyed them, and I'm sure that you did as well. But we aren't soulmates. There's nothing to fight for.”
“That's not true, and you know it,” Renée said. “You told me you loved me.”
“I told you that, but I don't think I meant it,” I sighed. “I'm sorry, Renée, but I didn't feel anything for you. And deep down, I don't think you felt anything for me, either. You might like the idea of loving me, but that's not the same as loving me. I don't regret the time we spent together, but I'm not going to pretend that we had some deeper connection.”
“That's not true!” Renée cried, looking like she wanted to stamp her foot and throw a proper tantrum.
I rolled my eyes. “I'm going to have to ask you to leave,” I said, already moving towards the door. “Whatever we had, whether we loved one another or not, it's over. I'm with someone else now.”
Renée snorted derisively. “That woman,” she said. “Darling, I'm just trying to protect you.”
“I'm not exactly the kind of man who needs protection from a woman,” I scoffed.
“Are you sure?” Renée asked. “Is that woman still living with you?”
“Janice?” I asked, deliberately trying to be evasive. “Janice has never lived with me; she just comes over to work during the daytime.”
“Not Janice,” my ex said, rolling her eyes. “The other woman; Lexi.”
“That's none of your business,” I said.
“I looked into her background,” Renée told me. “She's bad news, Andy. She comes from a broken home, and she hasn't had a steady job in years. I'm surprised that she's even been able to feed that kid of hers. She probably has to steal to support them.”
She paused, looking expectantly at me, but I didn't say anything, figuring that it was best to let her get it all out of her system before I reiterated my request for her to get the fuck out of my office. Sure enough, she continued, sounding increasingly agitated.