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“Don’t you know that rule number one is, Don’t fuck your employees?”
“Can you move me or not?”
“I really don’t want to know who this is, do I?” Jensen asked me.
I hesitated for a second and then shook my head. “No.”
“I’ll talk to Morgan,” he said with a shake of his head, “but I can’t promise you anything. If I were you, I’d straighten your shit out first. We don’t need to pay a fortune for the best therapist in the state of Texas because you lost your game while your head was wrapped around some girl you’d known for a couple of weeks.”
I opened my mouth to protest. I’d known Heidi a hell of a lot longer. But he was right; I didn’t need to tell him any details about who I was seeing. There was only one person on my floor who I’d known before getting the job, and deduction skills weren’t that difficult.
“Just stay away from her until we can figure this out, okay?”
“How long will that be?” I asked.
He shrugged. “I don’t know, Landon. Maybe, in a few weeks, you’ll find someone who doesn’t work on your floor, and we won’t have to move you at all.”
I gritted my teeth. “I don’t think that’s happening.”
“You fall for someone faster than any of us,” Jensen said, as if it were a crime. “You fell for Miranda this fast and married her six months later. Imagine if you had slowed down and gotten to know her. Maybe we wouldn’t be dealing with this shit at all.”
“I don’t even want to hear it. You risked everything for Emery after only knowing her a few weeks, and now, you’re lecturing me?” I asked in disbelief. “I came to you for help as my brother. Don’t fucking judge me, man.”
Jensen held up his hands. “You’re right. I just worry. I thought you had enough on your plate without adding something else to the mix. It took four weeks to make this position for you. So, I’ll look into it, but stay away from her until then.”
I swallowed hard. “Fine.”
Even though I knew that I wouldn’t.
When I got home, I didn’t share my conversation with Heidi. I wanted to tell her that I was working on fixing the problem that kept us apart, but Jensen had made no promises. I didn’t want to get her hopes up, only for them to be dashed if he couldn’t come up with a solution.
* * *
The next morning, I went into physical therapy bright and early. Anjee greeted me with a friendly smile and started me on my warm-ups and stretches. Moving home to start physical therapy and getting a job with the company was supposed to help me de-stress, yet I was more stressed than ever. That meant my mental state was totally fucked up right now, destroying my whole reason for moving here in the first place. But Anjee always calmed me down, reminded me to keep my head in the game, and to heal right the first time so I could get back on my feet.
I knew she was right. In more than one way. I needed time, and it was the only thing I couldn’t actually rush.
I finished therapy at exactly the right time, feeling worn out and achy all over. Monday mornings were the worst because I had taken the weekends off. But I was glad that I’d gotten it out of the way. Then, I could play catch-up at work before everyone got there.
I slumped over in my chair when I finally made it to my office. My back was throbbing. I had really worked hard today. Harder than I had before. Something Anjee had said made me really want to do everything I could every minute I was with her to get my back to start improving. And, now, I was hating myself for it.
I popped a few Tylenol and then went through my emails. When I found the one that most interested me, I stopped and stared at the subject line.
Lead Engineer Job Offer
This was the job Heidi had applied for. I would know before she did whether or not she’d gotten it. My mouse hovered over the email. I wanted to read it. I wanted to find out if she had gotten the spot. I wanted to be the one to tell her and congratulate her and hold her.
But I couldn’t do it.
If she’d gotten the job, then she needed to hear it from someone else. Even if no one else knew that we were seeing each other, I knew, and it would feel like favoritism.
I forwarded the email over to Julia and Dennis, the head of engineering, and asked them to inform whoever had gotten the job. They probably thought I was being a dick by delegating out one of my tasks, but I didn’t care. Everyone thought that the Wright family were all dicks anyway. I didn’t mind feeding into our reputation a little bit if it saved my integrity.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Landon
Heidi appeared in the office an hour later. We tried not to talk to each other or look at each other when she was here. But I caught myself doing it anyway. No matter how troublesome it was, it was impossible to look away from her. Especially when all I could think about was getting her back to my place and stripping her out of all those sexy work clothes she strutted around here in. Though today, of course, I was excited to find out about the promotion.
