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“We use each other for sex. I like it but don’t want to get involved, so why not?”
“Because you’re so much better than that,” he snaps.
He’s staring at me, and I find it hard to break my gaze from his. For a moment, I can make out concern, compassion, and maybe, desire? I finally look down at my lap. Again, I feel like a child.
“Can you just ease off me about my personal life?” I hand him my folder.
Once he takes it, he flips through the pages for a few uneasy minutes before he breaks the silence.
“Would you have sex with anyone?”
“Like a whore?”
“No, not like a whore. I mean, with someone you meet in a club?”
“I need to know them first. I don’t fuck indiscriminately.”
“So, if you knew them, you would have sex with them?”
“Not just anyone. I have to feel an attraction to someone.”
“Like you do with Steven?”
“Yes. What are you driving at?”
“Nothing. Let me sign off on these. I have a staff meeting in a few minutes.”
I’m puzzled by Dr. Pearce’s behavior. First, he’s nasty to me, and now he’s probing me about my sex life after I told him to leave it alone. We’re both quiet while he finishes signing off on the test results. He smiles when he hands them back to me and escorts me to the door.
“Thank you, Megan. I appreciate the time you put in.”
“You’re welcome, Dr. Pearce.”
Still confused, I go back to my desk and begin working on some other items I need to finish before the week is out. I try to put Chase out of my mind, but it seems that our relationship is growing to be rather complicated. I’m pretty certain we’ve been edging past the border of something other than boss and employee. Although he hasn’t said it outright, the way he looks at me tells me he wants more.
I don’t see Dr. Pearce for the rest of the week. This is the time of year when the company held a lot of meetings with department heads about the state of where their research was or going. Changes came and went, but we’re all used to it.
On Friday evening, I’m stepping out of the elevator when I hear my name being called. Dr. Pearce is stepping out of the car next to mine and gestures me over to him.
“Would you like to go for a drink before you go home?” he asks. “Maybe to McKinnon’s, like last week?”
Hope springs in his eyes, but I decline.
“I actually have to go to a family dinner at my sister’s home.”
His face drops, his disappointment palpable, and I feel sorry for him. I recall him saying he didn’t have any friends in Manhattan.
“Would you like to join me?” The words are out before I realize.
“I don’t want to impose.”
“No imposition,” I assure. “My sister and her husband have family dinners every Friday night, so the more, the merrier. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind if I brought someone. In fact, she might get off my back about finding a boyfriend.”
“Oh, so I would be your escort?”
“Yes, and you’d be saving me the headache of having to explain why I’m not attached. Let me give her a call.”
I walk a few feet away until I’m out of earshot and call Lexi. She’s fine with me bringing someone—just as I thought.
