Falling for Fate (23 page)

Fate had the distinct feeling they weren’t talking about ordering food anymore. Her neck went warm in an uncomfortable way and she realized that she hadn’t taken a breath in a while. Fortunately, before he could say anything else, a waitress appeared next to their booth with a tray full of food.

Fate was keenly aware that the man across from her was watching her carefully as she bit into her sandwich. “It’s good. You’re forgiven.”

When she rolled her eyes, he smiled. But there was still something she couldn’t understand going on behind his placid expression.

“I’m glad you like it,” he said. His voice was low but firm.

“Look, here’s the thing,” she began, shoving her sandwich aside. “Gwen and I have run the numbers a dozen different ways. While the initial transition cost is high, the long-term benefits of—”

“Fate,” he interrupted. “I got it. I agree with you about the insourcing. And I’m sure you and Ms. Scott are perfectly capable of prepping the ad campaign.”

“Okay.” Now she was uneasy and confused. She took a drink of her tea to wet her mouth since it had gone dry. “So why the lunch meeting?”

“Honestly?” Confident as he seemed, Collin Pierson spun a saltshaker between his hands. He was fidgeting. She fought the urge to do the same.

“Sure, let’s give that a shot.”

He cleared his throat and leaned across the table. His cologne assaulted her nostrils. It was sharper, harsher than Dean’s. Breathing it in too deeply would burn. “I need to know what Ms. Scott has told you about Lauren Black. And I need to know the truth. My job’s at stake here.”

Either she was imagining things or Collin was breaking out in a sweat. “Um, all she said was some Lauren girl was her roommate for a few weeks. Then she hooked up with you and left town. I didn’t even know her last name until you just said it.”

Collin leaned back, relaxing visibly. “Swear that’s all she said?”

Fate bit her lip and tried to think. Then she remembered that she wasn’t in high school anymore and didn’t have to participate in whatever slanderous libel was going around about Collin and this mysterious Lauren woman. “Um, no. I don’t swear. Because we aren’t fifth-grade girls at a slumber party. But yes, that’s all I know about Gwen’s roommate before me.”

Grinning like his usual carefree self, Collin nodded toward her sandwich. “Okay. Sorry about the weirdness. It was a complicated situation and I just wanted to be sure rumors weren’t being spread about me. As much as Mr. Maxwell breaks the ‘no intraoffice dating’ policy, he also makes a habit of making an example out of anyone else caught doing so.”

The statement made her chest tighten. She swallowed hard and tried to focus on her food. It was impossible. The lump in her throat wasn’t going to let her swallow anything anyways. So he did this with lots of girls then. And apparently, it was common knowledge. Once again, she’d been stupid enough to think she was special.

Collin chewed his own bite for a moment before he spoke again. “The old man probably keeps a drawer full of Viagra in his office. I mean, dude’s gotta be sixty or so. How he has the stamina for nailing all those twenty-something secretaries is beyond me.”

The relief that washed over her must have been plain on her face. Collin’s eyebrow’s slanted and he leaned closer once more.

“Oh shit. You thought I meant
Dean
Maxwell. And that bothered the piss out of you.
Interesting.
”

“No, it didn’t. I didn’t know or care what you meant to be honest.” She hoped she sounded more convinced than she felt.

Collin raised his brows and gave her a slight head nod. “Uh huh. Looks like I’m not the only one with secrets. But, Fate? Just because the corporate-level executives can do as they choose, you and I have to be a lot more careful. So if you’re interested in either of the Maxwell men, I’d suggest looking for employment elsewhere.”

“S
he’s been at lunch for over an hour.” Dean paced back and forth while his friend watched from the chair by his desk. “I swear, if Pierson tries to run some shit on her, I will fucking end him.”

“Relax. You’re acting like a jealous girlfriend, you know that?” Keaton leaned back as far as the chair would allow. He popped a few Peanut M&Ms into his mouth and watched in amusement.

Dean ignored his friend. He raked his hands through his hair and left them atop his head as he stared out the window. But he didn’t see the skyscrapers surrounding his building. Or the flashing billboards. Or the traffic below. He saw her. The tiny dimples on each corner of her mouth when she smiled, which didn’t happen often enough. The way her dark hair fell around her shoulders. The way her face smoothed out after she came. Damn his dad to hell for not allowing him to enjoy her post-orgasm bliss earlier. And damn Collin Pierson for taking her lunch when it should have been
him
taking her to lunch.

“I get it. Fucking her on the beach was hot and all, and that’s some crazy-ass karma that she happens to work here. But what’s the deal? You trying to put a ring on that shit or what?”

At that, Dean turned. “What in the hell are you talking about?”
A ring? Who the hell said anything about a ring?

“Well, let’s see. I’ve known you nearly ten years, and in all that time, I don’t think I’ve seen you go more than a weekend without getting laid. You nail this chick on the beach, she disappears, and you go cold turkey on vagina for the entire summer. She resurfaces and suddenly you’re punching out dudes, she’s sleeping over at your place, and is it me or does this office smell like it was recently fucked in?”

No denying how it sounded. “My office was not recently fucked in.”

Keaton made a big show of inhaling. “Oh, I think it was. There’s something sweet in the air, something feminine, and I swear your desk has the imprint of an ass on it.”

Shit.
Dean tried to make his way casually over to his desk. Glancing over discreetly, he couldn’t see any signs of any wrongdoing on his desk.

Apparently, he wasn’t all that discreet. Keaton exploded with laughter and threw an M&M at him. “Holy shit. I was fucking with you. Damn, so you did do her in here?”

“No, I did not
do
her in here, dickface.” But he’d wanted to. And now, he couldn’t stop thinking about it. About her riding him in his leather chair. “And you’re one to talk, Mr. I Enjoy Quiet Evenings In with Takeout and a Movie.”

“Hey,” Keaton began, holding his hands up. “Gwen knows the score and she and I are both cool with casual sex. You, on the other hand, are screwed. And not in a good way. More like in a girl-is-about-to-fuck-your-head-all-up-at-crucial-point-in-your-career way.” Keaton shook his head and leaned back in an attempt to toss a piece of candy in the air and catch it in his mouth. He missed.

Dean glared at him as he tried again. This time, he caught it but nearly choked to death. Served his ass right.

“I’m not screwed. Well, not yet. I have a plan.” He lowered himself into his office chair and leaned on his elbows. “I’m going to take her to the beach house this weekend.” The plan had been for next weekend until Collin Pierson started running interference. If surfer boy weren’t so good at his job, Dean would try and have the piece of shit fired. There were enough rumors about him sleeping with co-workers to make it happen.

Once Keaton had recovered from his near-death experience, he gaped at his friend. “How do you not see what’s going on here? You think a romantic weekend getaway for two is the answer? Good plan.” Chuckling, he stood to leave.

Dean scoffed. “It’s not a romantic getaway. It’s a chance to finish what I started and fuck her out of my system. Like you said.”

Keaton turned back to his friend and stared at him for a minute. “I’m going to talk real slow so you can comprehend what I am saying to you. When I said ‘fuck her out of your system,’ I meant fuck someone else. Or a couple someone elses until you forgot about her.”

Well that was a dumb idea. How the hell was he supposed to forget about her when she was the only thing he thought about?

“But I don’t want to fuck anyone else,” he admitted, knowing full well that he sounded like a petulant kid.

“And that, my friend, is precisely your problem.”

With a smirk and a quiet laugh, Keaton exited the office. Leaving Dean alone to contemplate exactly when he’d stopped wanting anyone other than Fate Buchanan.

D
ean was waiting for Collin Pierson when the man returned to his office.

“Mr. Maxwell, what can I do for you?”

“You can tell me why you’re taking the women you work with to lunch. Lunch is supposed to be their own time, not time you steal by forcing them to work through it.”

Collin snorted. “I’ve never forced anyone to work through lunch. What’s this really about?”

“So then you take them to lunch for personal reasons? Surely you’re aware of the conflict this creates.”

Collin lowered himself in his chair and eyed Dean judiciously. “I usually take each new team member to lunch when they first get hired so that I can get to know them and have some one on one time in a casual environment. Is this a problem?”

Dean stood and frowned at the man. Was it really any of his business who she had lunch with? Or if a department head took subordinates to lunch?

It wasn’t. He knew it wasn’t. But it was her. And he lost all sense of what was appropriate and acceptable when it came to her.

“No. No, there isn’t. I just want to be sure you’re up to date on all of the policies and procedures when it comes to—”

“Relax, Maxwell. Before you strain something. I’m not trying to steal your girl away. Believe me, anyone with eyes can see you staking your claim on that particular piece of real estate and I like my job.”

Dean sputtered and then composed himself. “I’m not entirely sure who you’re referring to but—”

“Just a heads up, Fate Buchanan doesn’t like to be ordered for. Not that you’ll be ordering for her since you’re clearly much more up to date on all the policies and procedures involving employee relations than I am.”

“You’re out of line, Pierson.”

“And you’re full of shit, Maxwell. Want to know something? Something that happened at lunch?”

Dean arched an eyebrow. If it involved anything other than eating food, Collin’s perfect pretty boy face was in danger of being rearranged.

“She got equally as flustered when I mentioned her seeming interested in you.”

Dean didn’t know how that tidbit of information made him feel. Happy? Elated? Dangerously interested in hearing more about what she’d said about him at lunch? He decided to maintain his hard ass executive demeanor before he started gossiping with Collin Pierson like he was a teenage girl. “No more personal luncheons with employees. It sets a bad precedent.”

Collin chuckled under his breath. “You got it, Mr. Maxwell.”

A
s much as he hated to admit it, Keaton was right. At some point, he’d become singularly focused on one woman. Never in his life had this occurred. Unless his mother counted. And she’d been terminally ill at the time. Determined not to allow this bullshit to continue, he spent the rest of the afternoon buried in paperwork.

He could lie to Keaton and to his dad, even. But Dean couldn’t lie to himself. Her being at lunch with Pierson had made him see red. One minute he was ravaging her, basically pissing on her, marking his territory so Collin was know she was his. Then he was accosting the man in his office at which point he’d learned that the marking her hadn’t been necessary since he’d apparently been doing it long before he realized.