About 2 weeks later…
“Everything is looking great,” I said to Matt, our new web guy.
It had taken HR almost a full week to process the hiring approvals before we could post the openings anywhere. Of course, the open positions were posted to an internal job board first. Matt, from the Helpdesk, contacted Maggie immediately. It was great to have someone familiar with the company, we could dive right into making small, but necessary updates to the website before we could instigate a full-blow revision.
“I’ve got some ideas for how we can create a phased rollout for the new website,” he said.
“Write it up. Nothing’s going to happen until we have the campaign finalized,” I replied.
“And the rest of the team is hired,” he said with a grin.
I couldn’t agree more. My time was divided between working on the outreach campaign and getting our social media presence up and functional. Getting the resources and accounts and setting the tone that would align with CP Manhattan’s branding all fell in my lap.
I spent my time juggling concept development, creating a social media presence, keeping everyone on task, and keeping Chase up to date. As the junior member of the marketing team, it fell in my lap to keep everyone on track so that we could meet our timeline. We needed a major support campaign designed and ready to go by the end of the first quarter, and January was almost over.
The presentation had gone better than any of us had expected. Chase was enthusiastic and invested in our progress. I liked that he was involved, even though simultaneously I was terrified he would figure out who I was, or John would accompany him to my office one day. He was in our department practically every day, claiming he wanted to be hands-on. I swear I blushed every time he said it that way. I wanted him to hands-on me, but that wasn’t exactly professional.
“Mr. Campbell, what are you doing in my office?” I asked.
“I thought I told you to call me Chase?” He was stretched out in a chair, hands tucked behind his head, his feet up on my desk. He looked comfortable and snuggle-able. I wanted to stretch out alongside him, curl up against his warmth. He still had that sexy beard, and his hair seemed to always be out of sorts, like someone kept running their fingers through it. I wished they were my fingers.
I pasted on a smile I could control and pushed those thoughts down. I needed to be professional. He was just being friendly. Okay, overly friendly. I hadn’t seen him put his feet up on Maggie’s desk once.
“Here for today’s update?” I asked.
My office was small, I had to brush past him. That tiny bit of contact scrambled my brain every time. Shamelessly, I grabbed his ankles and lifted his feet, and then dropped them onto the floor. “Feet go on the floor, not furniture. Didn’t your nanny teach you any manners?”
The grin he gave me cut through my resolve like a hot tire iron through butter. No resistance whatsoever.
“I’m here for your figures anytime.”
Don’t blush, don’t blush, don’t blush. I shook my head trying to get rid of the images his choice of words put into my head.
“Not figures, progress reports. I don’t have any spreadsheets to show you,” I corrected.
“I’m a numbers guy,” he laughed. “Marketing is all new to me. You knew what I meant.”
The problem was, I wasn’t sure I did. I never realized he was such a flirt. The only time I had any real interaction with him, other than that one magical night on the beach in the Hamptons, he didn’t flirt. He was my hero, and he would make sure I was safe, but he didn’t flirt. It wouldn’t have been appropriate. I hadn’t even been seven, and he was in his late teens or early twenties, but it didn’t stop the younger me from falling in love with him back then.
Part of that problem was, I was still in love with him. I was determined to do my job no matter how difficult he made it.
“Please, don’t make this hard for me,” I said. There may have been too much of a giggle in my voice. I tried not to react to him, but he had me all giddy.
He leaned forward and in a deep whisper said, “You make things hard for me.”
I stopped fighting the blush and locked eyes with him. I was sure my cheeks flared like a beacon in the dark. I swallowed hard.
He held my gaze. We stared at each other for a few moments too long. He broke the stare-off first by darting his eyes to my mouth before meeting my eyes again.
I sat like a dead weight dropping into my chair. I tried to speak, but I couldn’t get my mouth to form words.
“Should you be saying stuff like that at work?” I whispered.
“I never would have said that if I wasn’t one-hundred-percent certain that you didn’t feel the same way. I’m not some sexual predator at work,” he said.
I still held his gaze. I was frozen in place. “Um, yes,” I managed.
What the hell was I doing? No, I couldn’t throw myself at Chase. It didn’t help that he was ready to catch me. I had a job to do.
“I have a job to do,” I managed to say out loud. “Let’s shelve that for a moment so I can process, and we’ll circle back to it after the progress report.” I sounded like a robot to my own ears.
“Fair enough,” Chase said. He was so comfortably at ease, switching from off-the-scale sexual tension to business performance in the blink of an eye.
I was shaking with nervous energy and an internal fight. I swallowed hard and refused to look up at him, keeping my eyes on today’s progress.
“Matt has been busy documenting all the minor updates the website needs, and he should begin implementing those changes today or tomorrow. We should have the entire site spruced up by the end of next week. Yesterday we interviewed two candidates for the web team. No one else has applied for an internal move to our group. Maggie is conducting preliminary phone interviews for the Social Media Manager.”
I ticked things off a checklist as I let Chase know what was happening.
“You know this could all be sent in an email,” I said. I felt my cheeks still burning.
“I prefer the personal touch, Gem,” he said. The rumble in his voice felt more predatory than professional.
I closed my eyes and sighed. “Okay, circling back. Would you mind?” I nodded at the door indicating he should close it.
He reached back with his long arm and swung the door closed.
“Mr. Campbell,” I started. How the hell did I say this?
“Chase,” he corrected.
“Chase, you are not incorrect in your assumptions.”
“Then go out with me,” he said with all the confidence in the world. I wanted to say yes and launch myself at him. The knots in my stomach were all for it.
“With you insisting on having a ha—” No I couldn’t say hands-on, he’d twist my words. “With you being actively involved, I think it would be best if we try to turn the flirting down a notch or ten. I like your company, but…”
“But you don’t want someone else to overhear and possibly misinterpret, landing either or both of us in sexual harassment training?” He finished for me.
“Something like that.” I twisted my fingers together.
“Go out with me, Gem.” The earnestness in his expression made my toes curl.
I wanted to say yes, it was a fight not to. I bit my lips together and shook my head. “This probably isn’t the best time or place,” I said with a wince.
Chase nodded. “Definitely not appropriate for me to tell you how beautiful you are, or that—”
“Geez, Chase, don’t say that stuff here. We have to work together.” I could feel my eyes go wide, staring at him in disbelief.
He smoldered at me. “I did that to see your reaction. I’ll dial it back. So that we are perfectly clear, you will go out with me at some point.”
“I would be flattered if you asked me again later.”
He stood up and extended his hand across the desk. I shook it. Touching him felt like a mistake. His hand was big and warm, and soft. And I instantly remembered how it felt on my body.
When he left, my concentration apparently left with him. I couldn’t focus. I looked at my to-do list and found taking action near impossible.
My phone rang.
“Yes?”
“I think now is a suitable time to ask you to have dinner with me later.”
“Chase,” I said exasperated. It was easier to maintain my resolve when he wasn’t so close. “I don’t think dating the boss is my best move right now.”
“Fair enough. How about, you tell me when you’re ready for me to ask you out.”
“I can do that,” I said. My cheeks hurt from smiling.
“Can?” he asked with a teasing tone.
“Okay, okay. I will do that. When I’m ready, until then it’s a cease-fire. Agreed?”
“Agreed,” he said and then ended the call.
I don’t know how I was able to function the rest of the day. I smiled like an idiot the entire commute home.
“Good day at work?” Mom asked as soon as I walked in the door.
“Fantastic,” I said. I picked up Amelia and kissed her soft cheeks. “Your daddy likes me, and I don’t know what to do,” I whispered so Mom couldn’t hear me.
“Change so you can help us finish opening the bedrooms,” Mom called out.
“Do we have to do all the bedrooms? How many guests are you expecting, ever?”
“A good hostess is always prepared.”
I rolled my eyes. It didn’t make sense to me to open the rooms that would never be used. They could stay safely wrapped up in dust cloths until they were needed.
I wish I could keep who I was safely wrapped up in a dust cloth. If I started dating Chase, he would know who I was, he would have to. And then John would find out. It would be a mess. I couldn’t date Chase until I had hard numbers to prove John wrong.
