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My lungs work without my permission. The citrus scent of her skin is in the air. That’s her candy dish on the desk. If Greg wasn’t here, I’d pin her against the wall and take her jaw in my hand and make her suck on one of those tropical candies until I could lick it off her tongue.
And then I’d do worse.
Pretend.This time, the word carries a begging note. So do her big green eyes. She’s begging me not to fuck this up for her.
“Will.” Greg’s happy to see me. He’s got a big, oblivious smile on. “Did you stop by to talk?”
“You’re busy.” What exactly is he busy with? What is he doing with her? “I’ll come back when you’re free.”
“No, please. Bristol and I were just going over the layout of the office. It’s her first day.” His eyes crinkle with a smile. “Hope you don’t mind that I borrowed her.”
A laugh would be appropriate, but I can’t go there. “Not at all. Hello, Bristol. How have you been?”
Her eyebrows go up, like she can’t believe I’d ask her such a tame, office-appropriate question. Heat flashes in her eyes. Offense, maybe. Irritation. But there’s something else, too. Bristol keeps her chin up, but her gaze darts over my clothes. “Really well, thanks. I’m glad to see things turned out with your merger. I didn’t hear anything after I picked up my personal items from the receptionist at Summit.”
This feels like breathing into cracked lungs. Some of the deepest bruises are on my torso, and they haven’t completely healed yet. But my entire chest feels raw. I didn’t have the receptionist box up her things because I wanted to. It was because I knew that if I took them to her myself, I wouldn’t be able to let go.
“I hope we didn’t miss anything.” I mean it to be accusatory. Bristol missed something. She missed that she’s supposed tostay away.“We still have the keys to the old offices for another few days.”
She gives the smallest shake of her head, likeI’mthe one who’s missing the point. “No. Everything was there in the box. See? I have a new place for my candy dish.”
No, you don’t.That dish belongs on the desk outside my office, and I can’t say a goddamn thing about it. “I’m sorry we didn’t have a chance to sit down for an exit interview. The move happened fast.”
Bristol purses her lips. “I don’t remember that we had any unfinished business. It was a short contract. I was never meant to stay.”
Pretend you’re never leaving.
Bristol, moving against me in my office chair, her lips on mine.Just stay. Stay. For a minute, Bristol. Just a minute.
“I don’t know about that. I seem to recall a few loose ends.”
She gives me a bright smile. “I’m sure those all ended when you signed your new contract.”
“Nothingended,” I snap.
“That’s right,” agrees Greg. “We’re full steam ahead with all of Summit’s projects and priorities, and Will here is going to do great things for Hughes Financial Services.”
Bristol’s eyes flick down to my belt atgreat things.Does she even know she’s doing it? I force myself to look at Greg. “That’s what I came here to update you on.”
“Did you have thoughts on the restructuring? Final details should have been in your inbox this morning.”
“Restructuring?” Bristol asks.
“The typical shuffle that happens with any acquisition. Moving people around. Optimizing working groups. The original team will look a bit different when it’s all said and done.”
“Wow.” A light laugh from Bristol. “I can’t believe Will agreed to that. How’d you convince him? He was never so flexible when I worked with him.”
No, I wasn’t. Because letting people change things means trusting them, and that’s a hell of a risk. I don’t trust Greg Winthrop or Mitchell Hope or even Finn Hughes, but more than that, I didn’t trust myself not to ruin Bristol’s life.
“He’s a man with a vision. He saw what we could do together. I think that’s what sold him, in the end. Isn’t that right, Will?”
I saw what Bristol and I could do together, too. I saw how good it could be. And I saw how I didn’t deserve any of it. “That’s right.”
“So, what updates did you have? Suggestions for the reorganization?”
I have nothing. I’m a man on fire, covered in bruises and aching for a fight to put me out of my misery. I want Greg to immediately reorganize Bristol to my office. Or better yet, to a Hughes branch on the far side of the planet.
Because the things I want to do to her.
