AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I don’t know what came over me this afternoon, but I won’t let it happen again. I promise I’ll keep my hands to myself.”
I couldn’t deny that this weekend was the most fun and most relaxed I had been in a long time. Work had barely crept into my mind while I was with him. It was a strange feeling – to forget about work for a bit. I had forgotten what that felt like. My brain screamed that this was a bad idea, but the shiver up my spine as Parker caressed my hair made it hard to concentrate on the advice my brain was giving me.
“I promise I will not do or say anything in the office. I will not touch you again within those walls.”
“What about outside of those walls?” I almost whispered.
“That depends. Is that what you want?”
“I don’t know what I want! I’ve had many feelings batter me today, making me question everything. But I was looking forward to exploring the city with you.”
Parker touched my cheek, and I immediately knew I couldn’t let this go. This was a bad idea. I knew it, and on some level, he knew it too. But it was only twelve weeks. What’s the worst that could happen? He would eventually go home, and I would stay here and earn my promotion.
“So, we’re doing this?” He held my face until I nodded.
The smile across his face helped ease my anxiety about the arrangement but didn’t stop my mind from scolding me.
“We need to set rules if we’re going to do this,” I scooted back from him. He waited for me to explain. “One, don’t hold back from expressing your opinion at work because of this. I promise I won’t hold it against you unless you’re a total dick to me about it. Two, don’t use our relationship to influence me at work. Three, don’t let this affect how you treat me at work. During work hours, we are nothing more than coworkers, and I will treat you as such. Four, we will not tell anyone the extent of our friendship. I don’t want anyone to get the wrong ideas about us winning the contract.”
“Sounds reasonable,” he smiled. “I promise you will not regret this. You’re going to have the best twelve weeks of your life.”
“Don’t make promises you don’t know if you can keep, Parker.”
His lips hovered over mine. “I promise, princess. These are promises I intend to keep.”
We could keep our personas separate. We did it today; we could do it for twelve weeks.
Chapter Twelve
Friday night.
Seventy-one days left.
Our two teams worked together cohesively, and the easiness of working together made time fly. Amelia, Parker, and the team had been in our office three days the first week and just two the week after. The less they were in the office, the easier it was for Parker and me to keep our lives separate.
Lainee and Amanda had become best friends in a couple of weeks. Stephen had not ripped off Desha’s head yet, even though they squabbled at least once per day. Nick and Amelia had flown back to Texas yesterday for the next week to deal with a production issue.
Erik continually tried to have that conversation with me, but I did my best to make it clear that I wanted to keep our relationship within the office walls. Talking to him was not a Pandora’s box I wanted to open. My almost panic attacks had mostly subsided, and I wanted to keep it that way. He refused to let it go and was getting impatient at my avoidance of the subject. All the memories replayed in my mind every time I saw him, but I had succeeded in compartmentalizing them away during the workday.
Richard was not heavily involved with the project yet, which was nice. We continued with our routines, and I tried to push him out of his comfort zone. He had finally let me choose the restaurant we went to on Wednesday night, and I took him for sushi. Much to his surprise, he loved it. I was hopeful I could get him to expand into something other than having dinner at restaurants soon.
My goal of letting my team go at a reasonable time every single day had been successful for the entire duration of the project and set a new record for me. The results in morale were incredible, and everyone was in a better mood. I made a mental note to continue this even after the project was over. I had stolen too many of their afternoons.
My internal argument had settled, and I felt more at ease with everything that was happening. I still worked many hours but made it a point to be more intentional with self-care. I was running more often and had been Parker’s inspiration to run, so he had joined me most afternoons after work. We kept our personal lives miles away from our professional world, and it worked just fine.
On Friday, I finally carved out some time alone.
Gabby and Nathaniel were out to the movies and would be gone all weekend. Parker had plans with Amanda since Amelia and Nick were gone. Amanda wanted to try a new Indian restaurant that had just opened. Parker invited me along, but that seemed like playing with fire, and I would rather not get burned. Some of Richard’s frat brothers were in town, so they were out barhopping.
I decided to watch movies and eat popcorn for the rest of the night.
The initial soft knock at the door was almost drowned out by the popping coming from the microwave. The smell of butter permeated the apartment as I threw a sweater on to open the door. Erik stood on the other side, holding a brown bag in his arms.
“We need to have a conversation, Button. I’m done letting you avoid it.”
The way he uttered my nickname turned my stomach upside down. It had that feeling of being in trouble coupled with a smidge of animosity. He set the bag on the kitchen island and unloaded it before I had even closed the door. I was surprised he still had Gabby’s address from when we visited her years ago.
“Please, come in,” I said sarcastically.
