When she doesn’t make a move to leave my side, he says, “If you don’t have any work to do, you’re welcome to leave the building.”
Clara gasps softly and her eyes widen.
He totally just threatened to fire her for sticking by me.
Standing from my chair, I shoot Bry a glare. He can be angry with me, but no one threatens my best friend.
“I’m fine, Clara,” I say to her, finding my backbone while I glare daggers at him. “We’ll meet up for lunch.”
I shoot her a look that promises to give her all the details later.
Bry’s lips curl up with a smirk as she nods her head to me. Still, she seems torn, her pace slow, her eyes looking between us as she walks out of the room.
Once she’s gone, he snaps my file shut.
“If you’ll follow me…” he says like it’s a request, but he doesn’t give me a chance to refuse.
He just starts walking out of the room like he expects me to follow him.
What the hell? What was the whole point of making Clara leave if we were just going to leave also?
Shaking my head, I follow behind Bry and try to keep up with his long, purposeful stride.
I was really hoping he’d do the evaluation in the conference room. There are so many windows, everyone can see what’s happening inside. The last thing I want is to be trapped in a room with him, alone.
But it looks like that’s exactly what he has in mind.
He leads me through the office and I can feel everyone’s eyes on me. I try to keep my head held high, despite the numerous looks of pity sent my way. I’ve made this bed and now I have to lie in it. It doesn’t matter that I didn’t have a clue that I was sleeping with my boss. The damage is done. I fucked up.
I just have to own it now.
Bry leads me to the private office that was once the former president’s but now is obviously his.
He pauses outside the door and tells his assistant as he opens it, “Hold my calls, Ariel. I don’t want to be disturbed for the next…”
His voice trails off as he glances down at the expensive gold watch wrapped around his wrist. “Sixty minutes.”
Sixty minutes?! How long does he expect firing me to take?
“Okay, Bryce,” Ariel says without looking up from her computer screen.
I give her a sideways look at the familiar way she addresses him. Have they been intimate?
The last thing I should be feeling right now is a stab of jealousy, but there it is. Ariel is beautiful, stunning really. And I have absolutely no hope of competing with her…
Bry’s hand nudges at the small of my back. He pushes me into the office in front of him and closes the door behind us.
Nine
Zoe
I hear the lock click into place.
Oh god, he really doesn’t want us to be disturbed. Maybe I should just take the coward’s way out. I could quit right now and then I wouldn’t have to be alone with him. I wouldn’t have to explain myself.
As if he knows exactly what I’m considering, I feel Bry’s hand at the small of my back. He guides me up to the chairs in front of the large desk. He even pushes on my shoulder, encouraging me to sit before he walks behind the desk.
I’ve been in this office numerous times before, but I was never this nervous before. I have to inconspicuously wipe my palms off on my skirt because they’re starting to sweat.
Eyes locked on my face, Bry slaps my file down on the desk and then takes a seat.
“So, Miss Adams,” he begins as he flips the file open. Without looking at it, he says, “You’ve been with the company for two years. Is that correct?”
So we’re really going to do this? He’s going to give me the professional treatment?
I nod my head and somehow manage to push out, “That is correct.”
“You studied at…” Now he glances away from me to check my file.
I take the opportunity to run my eyes over him. Is this really the man whose hands were all over me last night? Whose breath was in my ear as his weight sunk me into the bed?
“New York University?”
I clasp my hands together and try my best not to wring my fingers. “Yes.”
Bry nods his head as if this is all normal and expected. He doesn’t glance up, and I find myself admiring his profile with his head dipped. In the light of day, he’s even more handsome.
Handsome and distant.
I knew he was out of my league, but I never dreamed that we might as well exist on different planets. He’s a billionaire, a ruthless billionaire at that. And me? Well, all I really got going for me is my awful taste in men and my spoiled cat.