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I walked into the kitchen and washed the two bowls and spoons before I curled up on the couch with a blanket and turned on the television. I skipped the news channels on purpose, trying to avoid everything they would be saying about us.
I thought about Brett and what we’d had. I thought about what we now had. Were we ever going to be able to just be the way we had been before?
Suddenly, I wondered what I was doing. Brett and I were engaged in damage control right now, but what was going to happen in the long run? Surely, Brett was going to focus on his business for the next while to be sure that he didn’t go under. I was going to work on building my career back up so that I could get a job with a decent salary. I realized just then that neither of our goals were aligned. What, then, were we doing this for?
When I had suggested taking a couple of days off, Brett had sounded worried that I would leave altogether. It hadn’t been my intention then, but I was starting to wonder if it wasn’t a good idea. Maybe it would be better for both of us if I left the company altogether.
Chapter 17
Brett
I couldn’t get Erica off my mind. I knew I was supposed to forget about her as anything other than an employee. If anything, this week had shown me how much trouble I would get in if I stayed involved with her. I had been trying the entire week to forget about her, but when I had gone to her apartment on Friday, I had jeopardized my efforts.
After seeing her alone again, I was right back to pining for her. I knew that spending time together outside of work was looking for trouble I didn’t need. The investors were just about ready to walk away, my stocks weren’t looking much better, and I had lost a lot of business across the various companies that belonged to Loomis Industries. I should have been working hard to redeem myself and pulling up my image again. But I had to see Erica. I needed to spend time with her alone.
During the week, I got to see her at least. We didn’t speak about anything other than work for obvious reasons, but I was allowed to look at her. Over the weekends, she was completely removed from me, and I hated it.
I picked up the phone and called her. It wasn’t the best idea to be in contact, but I was willing to take the risk.
“How are you feeling?” I asked. I was worried about her. She had been feeling sick yesterday, and she had taken off work. I was scared that everything that had been happening was taking its toll on her. The last thing I wanted was for what happened to impact her in every area of her life. It was already spreading through our personal lives like a disease.
“I’m still feeling a little under the weather,” Erica admitted. “I don’t think it’s anything we need to worry about. It’s probably just my reaction to the stress of the last few days.”
“I hate that you’re going through this, but I sincerely hope that what you’re feeling is stress and nothing more serious. I still feel like it might be my fault.”
“I think you and I should strike a deal. Neither of us is allowed to apologize again. We keep doing this and keep telling each other it’s not necessary.”
I smiled. God, I was attracted to the way she thought. It wasn’t just her body that had me hot and bothered. The way she looked at things and approached difficult tasks was more than admirable. It was downright sexy.
“Deal,” I said.
“We probably shouldn’t be talking,” Erica said, sounding ready to end the call. But I wasn’t done talking to her.
“I want to see you,” I blurted out.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“We’ll be careful. We’ll choose somewhere that no one will suspect. We’ll do the way everyone else does it when they don’t want to be found.” I desperately wanted to see her, and I wasn’t going to take no for an answer. Surely, we could make it work without the paparazzi finding us. If celebrities could get married in secret, we should be able to see each other without being found out.
“What do you have in mind?” Erica asked, and I was relieved. She was open to suggestions, and that was a good first step.
“Jersey,” I said. “Far enough that no one would think to follow us there. We’ll stay in a hotel, we'll use fake names, the whole shebang. It will be an adventure.”
