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“Allison.” His voice was low, barely above a whisper, and my heart wrenched at the sound.
As he waited for my answer, he pulled the panties out of his pocket and laid them out on the table between us. “What happened in the car was only the beginning,” he said, leaning over to whisper the promise into my ear.
My pulse quickened and my mind raced with curiosity. I couldn’t speak—my lips wouldn’t form the right words. All the things I’d wanted to say were flying around inside my head, but I couldn’t capture any of the thoughts long enough to explain it to him. I was afraid to fall, but the thought of saying no and losing him scared me even more.
I stared into his eyes and I had the overwhelming sense that I didn’t need to say anything. There was no explanation for the thing, the force, the need, the craving between us. In that moment, I knew that it was pointless to fight it. I wanted him. Every fiber of my heart and soul and my body wanted him.
“Yes,” I exhaled.
Something flickered in his eyes, a deep satisfaction, but he didn’t smile. Wordlessly, he took my hand and led me out of the restaurant and into the night.
Chapter Fifteen
Cooper and I spent nearly the entire weekend together at his lake house. I went home with him once we left the restaurant and he drove me back into the city and dropped me off at my apartment on Sunday afternoon. We hadn’t managed to say goodbye without fucking again, this time in my bed, and by the time I woke up Monday morning, I was completely thrashed— in the best possible way. All of my muscles were sore from spending hours and hours making love with Cooper. Things had started in his bed but over the course of the weekend, we had ventured into the shower and on the kitchen table. Recollecting it all was getting me wet all over again, so I rolled out of bed and gingerly went to shower, spending a few extra minutes under the scalding water to massage my aching legs and shoulders.
Eventually, I forced myself to shut off the heavenly spray of water and went about getting dressed. It was going to be my first day at Brighton Enterprises and I wanted to look my best. Sexy, but professional. As I got dressed, I started to wonder how Cooper was going to react to me. I knew he didn’t think his employees gossiped about him, and maybe he was right, but there was nothing stopping them from gossiping about me, and I was intent on giving them absolutely nothing to talk about.
I fired up my old clunker car, fantasizing about the day I would be able to go and trade it in for something reliable—a day that would be coming sooner than expected, thanks to the huge pay increase I would soon be receiving. As I started off towards downtown, my mind shifted away from the incredible weekend with Cooper and started to speculate what type of a job I would even be doing at Brighton Enterprises. I’d pressed Cooper for more details over the weekend, but anytime I did, he would shut me down and tell me he didn’t want to talk about work. He would usually follow that up with a hot trail of kisses down my neck…or shoulder…or thigh…which had been an effective tactic for getting me off the topic.
But now, finally alone with my thoughts, I couldn’t help but wonder what this important job was he so desperately needed my help with. I stared blankly at the back of the car in front of me at a red light and turned the question over in my mind. Why, with all his billions of dollars, networking and resources, could he not find someone else to do this secret task? Why was I suddenly the only one who was qualified? He could sidestep the question all he wanted, but it just didn’t add up, and the more I worked it over, the more the whole thing was freaking me out. But the exquisite pay was proof that I had something to offer, and I instantly felt better than I had in a long time.
I parked in a nearby parking garage and rushed—as much as my sky-high heels allowed—to get upstairs and check in with Kimberly at eight-thirty, exactly. This was a real job, a very important job, and I resolved to be as professional as possible in hopes that would calm my conflicted mind and also put the kibosh on any office drama. I couldn’t have a repeat of the Spotlight situation, with a bunch of catty bitches gossiping behind my back at every turn. The goal was to blend in, keep my head down from day one, and never give anyone room to question how and why I got the job in the first place.
“Good morning, Ms. Rand,” Kimberly sneered as I approached her desk. “I see you took my advice on your fashion choices.”
Okay…well, that was one catty bitch I wasn’t going to be able to win over. Luckily, I figured that Cooper had enough control over her to keep her in line and that she’d be smart enough to realize that spreading shit about me all over the office would not win her any points with Cooper, which seemed to me to be something she was very interested in.
“Good morning. You can call me Allison,” I replied. I did my best to offer her a genuine smile. As much as I wanted to reach out and bitch slap her, I knew it would be best to not give her any more ammo. So, as much as it pained me, it was going to be the “kill her with kindness” approach.
; “Mr. Brighton will be with you shortly. Would you like some coffee?” It was clear that she had been instructed to offer me a drink. Her teeth were bared but it was a very frosty smile as she waited for my reply.
“No, thank you.” I let her off the hook, even though a coffee did sound fantastic, and went to take a seat on the plush leather couch across from her desk. I fished around in my purse and pulled out my phone to keep me occupied while I waited for Cooper to come get me. I checked my email, played a quick game of solitaire, and then went back to my email and started cleaning out junk mail, my eyes glancing at the time every few minutes.
Where was he? It had been fifteen minutes and still no sign of him. I was getting antsy but didn’t know what else to do but continue to wait. My fingers started drumming along the arm of the couch but I stopped myself and lay the hand back in my lap.
Finally, he came sweeping up the hall from the direction of the elevator bank. I watched as Kimberly’s face instantly brightened at his arrival. She held up a thermos in his direction but Cooper turned to me, completely ignoring her. Her face dropped and she set the cup back down. My gaze shifted to Cooper but I could practically feel her glaring at me from across the room.
“Allison, good. Follow me,” Cooper said.
I followed his lead as he turned and led me back to the elevators. There was one waiting to go down, so we stepped inside. Cooper pressed the button for the sixtieth floor, two floors below.
“My apologies for being so late this morning.” He glanced at me when he spoke, but didn’t try to hold my gaze like he normally did.
“No worries,” I answered, fighting the urge to ask him if everything was okay. He didn’t seem himself at all, and I couldn’t help but feel that it was somehow my fault. As we stood next to each other in silence, I was struck by an overwhelming need to know. Suddenly, I wanted to push, to know what had kept him. I wanted to know everything about his routine, his life, the actress, everything. I closed my eyes tight and willed myself to get it together and wrangled my curiosity before it shot out of me like a champagne cork on New Year’s Eve.
Luckily, the elevator beeped to signal our arrival at our floor. Cooper ushered me forward. His hand just barely grazed my low back to indicate a left turn but just as quickly as his hand was on me it was gone, leaving me relieved and aching for more of his touch, all at once.
Around the corner, I found myself smack dab in the middle of what I assumed to be the IT department. There were cubicles all clustered together in the middle, with other offices around the outskirts. The cubicle walls were lowered but my heart sank a little, not relishing the idea of being trapped in a box again.
“This is the IT department, your new home.” He spread his hands out wide and flashed me a small smile before he started walking again. I hurried to follow after him. “I’ll introduce you to everyone, but first, I want to show you your office.”
“My office?”
He nodded. “You know, desk, chairs, computer.”
I rolled my eyes. “I just figured I would have a cubicle.”
