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Chapter Nine
“I think I made a mistake.”
Colin halted in the doorway in surprise, his coffee sloshing over the side of his company mug. “Jesus, Forbes, what the hell are you doing in my office?”
Certainly not catching a glimpse of Liberty Island. Colin really did have a shitty view. But Mitchell didn’t spare the ugly office building out Colin’s window a second glance. He barely even registered it.
For the first time in his professional career, he was camped out in a colleague’s office, waiting to get some advice.
“What’s this about a mistake? Did the Fox deal not go as planned?” Colin asked as he grabbed a tissue and dabbed the coffee off his hand.
“Fuck the Fox deal. This is about the bet. You know that ridiculous plan we came up with after one too many shots of Maker’s Mark?”
Colin grinn
ed. “Of course I know the bet. The whole floor knows about the bet. I have a pool going.”
Mitchell ground his teeth. “Tell me you’re joking.”
“Nope. I figured it wouldn’t hurt to plant the seed. That way people won’t be surprised when we switch offices in a few weeks. After you lose.”
But Mitchell wasn’t thinking about winning or losing.
He was thinking about what would happen if news got back to Julie. Having it be between him and Colin was one thing. But the entire office?
“You idiot,” Mitchell growled. “Do you have any idea how fast gossip travels in this town?”
Colin shrugged as he plopped into his swiveling desk chair, immediately beginning to spin and reminding Mitchell of a troublemaking sixth grader. “Don’t worry, dude. They all know the stakes. And everyone’s been cautioned to be careful around Greg Parsons. He’ll turn around and tell Grace, and she’ll babble to her best friend and ruin all the fun.”
Even if Greg didn’t tell Grace, all it would take was one loose-lipped intern, and this shit would be all over the gossip columns.
As if trying to keep Julie at arm’s length when she seemed determined to wriggle under his skin wasn’t stressful enough, now he had the added pressure of having to make sure she didn’t find out about the bet. A bet that had officially gone from being a spontaneous error in judgment to the worst decision of his life. He’d thought it would be a helpful reassurance that he wasn’t a docile, wife-seeking drone.
Instead it was a sad reminder that he was a complete son of a bitch.
And if Julie found out about it … Mitchell’s stomach twisted at the thought.
He wanted to punch the smug expression from Colin’s face, but he knew it would only be a deflection of his own guilt. Colin might have instigated the dumb bet, but Mitchell should have refused outright. Or at least he should have opted out once he realized she wasn’t some fluffy ditz who could be easily set aside when it was over.
Do it now. Call it off now. It was the smart decision. The right decision. But that would mean failure. Not something Mitchell had ever suffered lightly.
And truthfully, underneath the guilt of it all, Mitchell wasn’t ready to let it go.
For the first time he could remember, he genuinely looked forward to spending time with a woman. With Julie, there was no suffocating pressure. No expectation that he always be “on.”
They simply enjoyed each other in bed and out of bed, and there was never any tedious thought or talk of what they were or where they were going. Hell, Evelyn hadn’t been able to go a month without sitting him down for a “compatibility check” to make sure they still had the same goals.
Evelyn. God, that night at the opera had been up there with every man’s worst nightmare. He’d half expected John Blake to come at him with a shotgun. He might have preferred it. Instead the senator had treated him the way he always had—like a son.
And Evelyn—he hadn’t realized how much he’d hurt her. Maybe he hadn’t let himself realize. Somehow he’d convinced himself that she was like him, going along with the relationship simply because it was expected. But seeing her again, with her heart in her eyes, had ripped at him.
Because while she’d been making eyes at him, he’d only had eyes for Julie.
Julie, with whom there was none of the garbage, none of the boring stuff. Nothing but laughs and sex and fun. There was never any sign that she was trying to wangle a ring from him or turn his office into a nursery.
At least there hadn’t been until last night.
He took a deep breath and sat in the chair across from Colin. He wasn’t used to sharing confidences with anyone, much less coworkers, but he needed help. Advice.
