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“I can’t help it. I wasn’t expecting to be cut off from you almost completely. I thought I’d still be able to catch glimpses of you in those dresses you wear or hear you laugh…maybe catch your smile during a meeting even if it wasn’t directed at me.”
“This is better.”
“For who?”
“Both of us.”
He sighs. “We started counseling.” I hear the clink of a glass and I wonder if he’s drinking.
“Isn’t it like three p.m. there? Isn’t it a little early for a drink?” I can hear the joke in my voice and I hate that I’m right back in it. Flirting with Chris Holt.
My boss.
My married boss.
Fuck me.
He laughs. “Careful. Nagging me over day drinking is girlfriend behavior.”
I grip the phone and try to calm my racing heart over the thought of being his girlfriend. No, Marissa. “I just mean…you’re at work.”
“I’m working from home.”
In the two months I’ve worked for Beckham Securities, I don’t think there was a day he wasn’t in the office so that’s surprising. “Are you sick?” I ask immediately, wondering if maybe that’s why he’s home for the day.
“No. We had our first session this morning and I just decided not to go to the office after.”
I try not to let myself think about him and his wife in therapy ‘working on their marriage.’ “Oh. I guess I’ve just never known you to not be in the office.”
“I used to work from home once a week, but then this new woman started working for me and I wanted to see her as much as possible.”
“You can’t be serious.” I chuckle.
“I’m always serious when it comes to you.” I can hear the smile in his voice and the question is sitting on the tip of my tongue. I know I shouldn’t ask but he did volunteer the information.
“How was…counseling? I mean…”
“Are we on the path to reconciliation?” He snorts. “Yeah, I’ll invite you to the vow renewal.”
I frown and narrow my eyes. “Did you forget who you were talking to?”
“No, did you?”
“I don’t appreciate the sarcasm.”
“My apologies, I’ll be clearer since maybe I wasn’t the first time. I don’t want to be in counseling. I want a divorce, but the woman I married is forcing me into this charade because she doesn’t want to divorce a man on track to join the Forbes List of billionaires. I also want to be with a woman—that’s you by the way—that not only works for me, but said wife knows about because I cockily didn’t do better at hiding the fact that I fell in love with my mistress. So, she told me she’d blow up her life if I didn’t give my girlfriend up. So, excuse me for drinking after a bullshit marriage counseling session and for my sarcasm.”
I blink my eyes several times because what did he just say?
“Wait, you’re in love with me?” I’m not going to beat around the bush or try to be coy over the fact that those words may have momentarily stopped my heart.
“Don’t tell me you’re surprised by that.”
“Can we stop the smartass remarks for one second, please?”
He sighs. “Yes.”
“To which question?”
