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When he lifted his eyebrows at me, I sent him a pained expression because…
“Yeah,” he drew out slowly. “That’s not going to happen, though, is it?”
I winced, feeling crappy for ruining his lovely vision. “Not unless you want—”
“Don’t,” he cut in, pressing his finger against my lips. “Please don’t say her name. I understand why we can’t. I’d just like to continue enjoying this moment with you without any thought of her. Okay?”
“Okay,” I whispered.
So, we stayed there like that, pretending we had the rest of our lives to snuggle together like this, openly and honestly with no one to hide it from.
When we parted some minutes later to go our separate ways, I felt a little sad, wishing we hadn’t had to stop, wishing we could’ve kept living in our dream world for just a little while longer.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
When I showed up at work, the prints for our department’s portfolio were no longer spread out and displayed on the worktable in Brick’s office.
I frowned as I entered, wondering if he’d moved them somewhere for safekeeping so they wouldn’t accidentally get damaged before the presentation, but when I looked around after storing my purse and coat, I couldn’t find them anywhere. I texted Brick, asking if he knew where they were, but he didn’t answer, so I continued with my day until he could make it in and I sat at my desk to check emails.
All the while, I chewed nervously on my thumbnail, casting worried glances toward the doorway every few seconds and wishing Brick would show up already, because I was beginning to dread someone had maybe stolen our freaking portfolio.
During one such peek toward the doorway, I froze solid when I made eye contact with none other than Christopher Elton, who was passing by in the hall and peering in through the glass walls as he went. Upon seeing me, he jarred to a halt, his eyes widening. Then he did an about-face and hurried back down the hall in the opposite direction he’d been going.
“Shit,” I hissed, springing from my chair.
This couldn’t be good. He must’ve been looking for me and had finally found me. Now he was headed straight to Lana to tattle; I just knew it.
Abandoning Brick’s office, I shot into the hall after Christopher and jog-walked after his retreating back. He glanced around as if feeling me tailing him, or maybe it was his spy-guilt causing him to make sure he wasn’t being followed. I don’t know, but when he discovered me in hot pursuit, he whirled his attention forward and increased his pace until he was practically running by the time he reached the elevator and jabbed the button repeatedly to force the doors open. I was still about twenty feet away when he slipped inside, so I dropped all
pretenses of stalking and leaped ungracefully in after him, squeezing sideways because the doors were already beginning to close.
Christopher widened his eyes and backed away, clearly not sure what to make of my bold move.
Eyes narrowing, I stepped right up into his face and pointed a finger at his nose. “Where’re you headed, Christopher?”
“Uh.” He pressed his spine against the elevator wall to evade me, his gaze flaring with fear. “What?”
“Just so you know,” I went on, lifting my eyebrows in displeasure, “I think anyone who spies for Lana is utterly despicable.”
“I…” His mouth dropped open. “How did you know?” A second later, he seemed to realize he’d just outed himself, because he straightened his stance and cleared his throat before frowning back. “I mean, what makes you think I would ever…”
I rolled my eyes. “Oh, give me a break.”
His shoulders slumped. “Okay, fine. I was on my way to report back to her, but you don’t understand…”
Drawing in a deep breath, I folded my arms over my chest and waited for an explanation. When he seemed to realize that was what I was doing, he muttered under his breath before explaining, “She’s blackmailing my boyfriend, Gavin. If I don’t do what she says, she’ll fire him.”
My eyebrows rose. “Your boyfriend. He works here too?”
“In Shirts,” he mumbled, glancing down at his hands.
Huh. I hadn’t remembered ever seeing Gavin before the night of the Halloween party. Then again, I’d worked alone in the basement for six months. I suppose it was more surprising that I knew the names of as many people who worked here as I did.
Nodding, I asked, “What’d he do?”
Christopher scowled. “Does that really matter?”
“Well…” I tapped my chin thoughtfully. “If I’m going to help you get out of this mess, then it’d be nice to know if he embezzled millions from the company or if he just didn’t recycle his pop cans. So, give it to me straight. How bad are we talking here?”
