Chapter 55 – Pleasing the Boss

He doesn’t answer, and when I pull my phone from the purse that’s thankfully by the dress, I find it’s dead. Of course.

I stomp over to the floor-to-ceiling windows and pull back the curtain to see if I can guess the time from the sun. Early, is all I make out. Seven or eight, maybe. Which feels like a pretty typical time for a walk-of-shame.

“Goddammit,” I curse.

I turn around to find Hadrian emerging from the closet, a pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt in hand. “You can borrow these.”

I’ll drown in his clothes, but it’s less obvious than last night’s evening dress.

Then he bends to open a dresser drawer and pulls out a baseball cap. “This should help. There are miscellaneous hair ties in one of the bathroom drawers if you want to do a pony.”

It’s like he knows how to sneak a woman out of his apartment. I’m not sure if I’m disgusted or imp**ssed.

Wait…did he say miscellaneous hair ties? Like left over from the various women he’s had stay the night?

Definitely disgusted.

Or…if I’m honest…jealous.

I scowl as I maneuver the sheet so I can put on his sweats without showing much skin while I do. Silly, since he’s already seen all of me, and the smirk he gives as he watches tells me how ridiculous I’m being.

When the pants are on, I grab the T-shirt and turn away from him before dropping the sheet.

“Believe it or not, I find your backside just as arousing as your front.”

As if to prove his point, his hand is settled on the bulge in his jeans when I turn back to face him.

“You’re still hard from the shower.” Shit. What am I going to do about shoes? I head to my pile of clothes to see if I can get away with wearing last night’s heels.

“You don’t know what I was thinking about in the shower.”

I hate myself for being curious enough to look in his direction.

“All right, I wasn’t thinking about your backside,” he admits.

I roll my eyes and sit on the ground to strap on a shoe. He probably hadn’t even been thinking of me, which makes my gut twist in a way that I’m choosing to ignore.

But then he says, “I was definitely thinking about your cunt.”

I pause, my nude sandal half strapped on my foot, and stare for a beat. Stare at nothing, while the cunt in question pulses, and my heart does some fl*p-floppy acrobats, and the voice inside my head has to shout, It’s just sex; don’t make anything out of it, you fool.

But even if it’s not something bigger, it’s not just sex. Because it’s also my career and Hadrian’s power game, and lately, I’m thinking about his c**k more than I’m thinking about Elvis’s, and all the complications make it hard to talk about, but that’s probably exactly what we should be doing.

I lift my gaze toward him, not sure how to start.

He beats me to speaking first. “Take a deep breath, Brystin.”

While I do, he bends down to help me with my other shoe. “First step is to stop panicking. There’s nothing to worry about. We got this.”

“We do?” It helps to have him put himself into the situation with me as a we. Maybe it’s complicated for him too.

“We do. There are three hundred and sixty units in this building. No one is going to know whose apartment you came out of.”

Oh.

Well, we weren’t on the same page there, were we? It should have been what I’d been thinking, though. Getting out of here unmade is definitely the priority. “It’s too big of a coincidence. After being with you last night, being photographed with you…and you had to be extra handsy.”

“Couldn’t help myself.” He finishes with the buckle then r*bs his hand from my ankle, under the sweats, and up my calf.

Lightning sparks through my nervous system, and it takes me a second before I wake up and pull away. “Okay, well, this was a big f**kup.” Ignoring his outstretched hand, I get to my feet on my own. “I guess it’s a good thing you control the news because you might have to intervene.”

He shrugs as if he thinks it’s unnecessary.

I huff. Dramatic, but seriously, does he not understand my reputation is on the line?

Oh, right. He’s never cared about his own reputation, so it’s probably not a feeling he can relate to. We’re from two different worlds. I need to remember that.

I grab the ball cap and put it on my head. It’s me looking out for myself here, just like it’s always been. “Do you know what time it is?”

“Almost half past eight. I’ll call you a car.”

“No! Way too obvious. My departure should not be connected to you in any way. I’ll call an Uber.” Then I remember my phone is dead. “Actually, I’ll take a cab.” I wince thinking of the price. Public transit it is. “Where’s the nearest subway from here?”

The exp**ssion on his face says he has probably never ridden on the subway in his life.

“Never mind. I’ll figure it out.”

It’s after ten when I get to my apartment, nauseous and dehydrated, in time to find Shiloh waiting outside my door for our weekly brunch date.

“I’m not even going to ask,” she says.

“But obviously I’m going to tell you.” I insert my key in the lock, preparing to catch her up on everything. “My phone died, or I would already have called you.”

“I figured you hadn’t seen the news yet.”

I open the door for her, my brow raised as she passes by. “Uh…what news?”

“I think you better see for yourself.”

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