AllFreeNovel
Share Us
It was crazy how freaking sweet and understanding and wonderful this man was. I squeezed my eyes closed, wondering if maybe I should just face him head on, tell him everything.
“You don’t report to me directly,” he went on. “You can’t, otherwise I’d know who you are. We’ve never crossed paths in the office, so we can just keep it that way. Your direct supervisor can handle doling out your duties, and I will take no part in it. We can stay professional at work and leave everything personal for after hours. I’m not looking for some secret tawdry office affair. I just want an open, honest, let’s-see-where-this-goes date. I mean, don’t you?”
Yes, I did. I wanted to get to know this man and see if all the chemistry between us could bloom into an actual relationship. There was just one problem. I didn’t want to remain a subordinate employee. Someday, I wanted his job.
“Yellow?” he said. “Are you still out here?”
I nodded my head stupidly.
Tempted to stand up and gush out all my confessions, I bit my lip and squeezed my fingernails into my palms. I was a split second from calling out to him when a ding came from him, like an incoming text message.
He grumbled under his breath, and a rustle of clothing followed before I could see the glow of his phone reflect off his face as he checked the screen.
Hey. Why hadn’t he used his phone light to look for his shoe?
He probably hadn’t even considered the idea like I hadn’t… Until just now.
Oh crap, I hope he didn’t think to use his phone light to look for me now.
I sank deeper into the bushes, my heart pounding through my ears.
“Shit,” he muttered. “What is she doing here?” The light flashed off as he put the phone away, making me blink from the sudden absence. Then he called, “Yellow, I have to go. But I’m not giving up on this, I’m just… I’m letting you think it through. Okay? The ball’s in your court now.” He sighed, resigned to the fact that I wasn’t going to reply. “I have a feeling you know where to find me.”
With that, he strode off. Seconds later, I heard the door open and close again. I blew out a breath and plopped onto my butt in the grass, deflated, only to yelp when I landed on something hard and pointed.
A swipe of the hand revealed I’d found one of his high heels we both must’ve dropped during our kissing session.
Picturing him walking through JFI right now, barefoot, caused me to shake my head and smile softly.
“This is so messed up,” I murmured to myself.
After patting the ground, I found the second shoe and even my Power Ranger helmet and gloves. Putting the mask and gloves back on so I wouldn’t have too much of an armful, I hurried toward the door, after him.
Maybe he was right. We could deal with this. We just had to be open and honest about everything. I could do open and honest. That was pretty much my life motto. That, right along with kindness. I endeavored to be kind always, because that’s what everyone always said my mother had been.
With a glance toward her statue, I nodded, my mind made up. It felt cruel—and totally not kind—to keep the truth from him.
Maybe he’d agree that we should never see each other again, or maybe he’d have some idea I hadn’t considered to get past our issues. But he had the right to know, didn’t he?
Ready to confess all, I hurried after him, bundling both of his shoes against my chest as I made my way inside. When I rushed through the doorway, looking left, then right, I was almost afraid I’d lost him. But then, there! He entered a room at the end of the hall, so I turned that way in hot pursuit.
I didn’t even pay attention to where I was in the building or where I was headed until I was nearly to the entrance of the office. And by the office, I mean the office, as in Lana’s lair.
S
kidding to a halt just outside the open door, I sucked in a silent curse, hoping no one inside had heard me, because yikes, there came her dreaded voice, floating into the hallway like poisonous exhaust fumes as she asked, “What exactly are you wearing?” in that condescending way only she could master.
Ezra answered in a dry, unamused tone he hadn’t used all evening in the courtyard. “A costume. There’s a Halloween party going on, if you hadn’t noticed.”
And now I understood why I hadn’t recognized him from his voice alone. He had sounded nothing like the man I listened to now. It made me realize that before this, I think I’d only heard him speak whenever he’d been addressing my stepmother, and he reserved an icy, disdainful voice for her, it seemed.
“Trust me, I noticed,” Lana sneered. “But what’re you supposed to be?”
“I figured if I wanted to go as the most frightening thing possible, I should go as you.”
A grin lit my face. I loved how so politely rude he was with her. Peeking around the corner, I barely made out Lana’s blank expression through the doorway and over Ezra’s shoulder before he added, “I’m Maleficent. You know, powerful evil queen from Sleeping Beauty.”
Lana purred out a pleased sound as she strolled toward him. Then she lifted her hand, and it was impossible to see what she did next from where I was watching, but I swear she trailed her finger down the center of his chest. “Yes, well. I’m glad you finally recognize me as the powerful queen I am.”
