Jealous in July (Spring River Valley Book 7) (9 page)

He shut off the shower and dried off quickly, fighting to keep images of her out of his mind so he wouldn’t end up having to jerk off before he left for work.

He’d meant what he’d said. If she called him, he’d come running. He’d be there any time she wanted him, and the whole friends-with-benefits idea didn’t really sound half bad if that was all he could get. But she’d said she didn’t want that. She didn’t need a lover on call. She needed a man who wanted her every minute of every day and wasn’t afraid to tell her, wasn’t too blind to see the love in her eyes.

Angry and determined, he dressed and headed for the office, hating himself for what he was going to do, but resigned that Brenda deserved to have the man she wanted, even if he didn’t deserve her.

* * * *

Brenda toyed briefly with the idea of calling out sick and showing up at the veterinary clinic to talk to Sam. She needed someone to vent to and someone who would remind her of all the time she’d spent caring about Riley and wanting him.

It all seemed so foolish now. She talked herself out of taking the day off, showered, dressed, and dragged herself to the office. She was certain if she saw Chase she’d start to cry and beg his forgiveness, and she was certain if she saw Riley she’d just collapse into a guilty puddle on the floor.

Fortunately she was completely wrong about the latter. When Riley joined her on the elevator around
ten o’clock she decided she had to put everything on the line. She’d never be free to love anyone else if she spent her life wondering what might have happened if Riley knew how she felt about him.

As soon as the door closed, she stepped forward and hit the stop button.

He glanced up from the file he was reading and squinted at her. “Everything okay?”

“No…yes. I mean…how are you, Riley?”

He looked around as if someone else present might explain to him why she was acting so strangely. Unfortunately, they were alone in the elevator. “Uh…pretty good, I guess. How are you?”

Here goes
. She had all the words lined up in her head.
Riley, I guess you haven’t noticed because you’ve been pretty busy, but I really like you and I think we should go out, just you and me, for dinner or drinks or something and get to know each other a little better. What do you say?

It all came out perfectly, except she hadn’t made a sound. Some other voice in her head overrode her long-rehearsed question and asked her how it felt to wake up this morning in Chase’s arms.

A wave of intense guilt passed over her. How could she do this to Chase after the way he’d looked at her last night? After the way he’d made her feel?

“Brenda? You look a little pale. Are you all right?”

She studied his eyes, the sexy denim blue that she’d thought was so perfect until she’d stared into Chase’s light brown ones. “There’s nothing between us, is there?” Those words, which she’d meant to keep private, came out easily enough. She gasped and covered her mouth with trembling fingers.

Like a deer in the headlights, Riley froze. She’d heard the expression so many times, but she’d never actually seen it.

“Uhmmmm….”

“
I’m sorry. I made that sound like a question, and it really wasn’t. There’s nothing between us, and there never was.”

“Did I miss something?”

“Yes, you missed a lot, but it’s not your fault.” She stabbed the resume button on the elevator panel, and the car began moving again.

Riley opened his mouth to say something
, and Brenda held up a hand. “This conversation never happened.”

“Okay.” That seemed to satisfy him
, and he concentrated his stare back on his half-forgotten file. The next three seconds lasted an eternity, and by the time the elevator door finally opened, Brenda was prepared to climb through the emergency hatch in the roof to escape her own foolishness.

It was over with Riley. Ha! As if it had
ever been anything in the first place. How do you end a relationship that never existed? Now, all she had to do was figure out how to—

“Chase.”

He stood in the open doorway, his expression as heavy as a lead balloon. “There you two are. Mason just called an emergency personnel meeting in the conference room. Everyone is to report there, stat.”

“What’s up?” Riley asked, seemingly oblivious to the death stare Chase had leveled at him.

Brenda wanted to faint. If she didn’t get Chase alone and fix this horrible mess, her head would explode.

“There’s been an incident,” Chase said, his voice flat.

“An
incident
?” Riley tucked his folder under his arm and exited the elevator. “That sounds dire. Is everyone okay?”

“It’s a serious personnel issue. That’s all I can say.”

Riley raised a brow and hurried off with nothing more than a curious glance at Brenda. She sighed as soon as he disappeared around the corner of the corridor. “Chase, can we talk for a second?”

“We have to go to the conference room.”

“Oh…that wasn’t just to get rid of Riley?”

He scowled. “I wouldn’t do that. No, Mason
wants everyone in there right now. We can talk later. If you want.” He turned on his heel and walked away, leaving her heart lurching in her chest. Fixing this mistake was going to be a lot harder than she thought.

Chase hated the hollow feeling in his gut that had sprung up the moment the elevator door opened on Brenda and Riley. Clearly they’d been having a private conversation in the stopped car, probably the one he’d been dreading would take place sooner or later.

Despite the overwhelming urge to do something he’d later regret, he maintained a steady, professional pace on his way to the conference room. The familiar scent of her perfume told him Brenda was following him
, though not hurrying to catch up. When he entered the already packed room, he made his way to the front where Mason Esterhause stood with Danielle Lennox. Dani carried a stack of hastily copied information packets, addendums to the company employee handbook, which had been revised on the fly less than an hour earlier in response to this latest development.

A murmur made its way around the room while the last of the stragglers squeezed past the glass doors and found places to stand. Chase scanned the crowd of his coworkers
and made a mental note that Riley had stationed himself on the opposite side of the room from Brenda. She didn’t look in his direction. In fact, her questioning gaze rested on Chase. He looked away, unwilling to relive the memory of even a moment of their night together. His stomach clenched, and his hands ached for wanting to touch her again, but he had to put those feelings aside or risk a mortal wound.

“Thank you all for coming,” Mason began, as if somehow anyone in the room had a choice in attending the mandatory meeting. The buzz of whispered conversation stopped immediately, leaving a pregnant silence. “I’ll make this brief, since everything you need to know will be in the handout Danielle is distributing. There has been a change to what has been a very lax company policy here at EBD
, and rather than permit gossip to run amok, I’ve decided to hold this meeting to address the issue head-on.”

Dani began circulating the clipped pages
, and for a moment the rustle of paper mimicked the sound of voices. Only a few people glanced at the handout, preferring to hear what the company founder had to say before reading it.

“Until now EBD has been practicing under a rather progressive rule about employee interactions. We don’t encourage, but nor do we
discourage
interoffice liaisons at any level, as long as personal relationships don’t effect job performance.”

Chase worked at keeping his expression placid. He didn’t look at Brenda. He couldn’t.

Mason cleared his throat and continued. “Unfortunately we’ve left this largely up to employee discretion, and while we’ve had very few problems, in light of the litigious nature of the corporate environment these days, we’ve decided, as a company, to institute a more strict policy governing extracurricular relationships. You’ll find everything clearly outlined in your handout, and if you have any questions, please direct them to Danielle or Chase. As I’m sure you’re all aware, anything that takes place within the confines of EBD is confidential, so I expect none of the rumors that have been circulating this morning to leave the building. If anyone is contacted by an outside party regarding incidents that have taken place here in the offices, please direct those inquiries to myself or to the personnel office immediately and do not respond to them yourself.”

By now some people had likely noticed the conspicuous absence of Tyler Brady and Mitzi Danziger, the catalysts for this drastic change. Only a select few had witnessed the scene that took place
outside the executive offices late last night, after Chase and Brenda had left for their date, but he’d gotten the scoop first thing this morning from Dani. The secret affair between Mitzi and Tyler had come to light, causing Tyler’s wife to, in Dani’s words, kick ass and take names.

The murmuring began again in earnest as people
started reading their addendums. Dani caught Chase’s eye and raised a brow in question. He shrugged. It was going to be a long, miserable day made more so by the fact that even if Brenda hadn’t regretted sleeping with him, both of their jobs might be in jeopardy if they continued any kind of relationship outside of work.

Chase’s only consolation was
that Riley wasn’t the type to buck the system, so if he’d finally gotten the hint that Brenda was in love with him, he certainly wouldn’t do anything about it now.

Mason dismissed everyone from the conference room and slipped out of the side door so he could sequester himself in his office. As people filed out, Dani handed out the last of her paperwork and made her way over to Chase.

“I know this was a shock this morning. I tried to call you last night after it hit the fan, but I only got your voice mail.”

“I was out all night.” Chase hoped his deadpan tone conveyed his lack of interest in elaborating on where he’d been
until six this morning. Dani flicked her gaze toward Brenda, who’d collected her addendum and was heading out the door with several other members of the administration staff. She didn’t look back at Chase, and that hollow spot in his stomach grew larger.

“You look wiped. I’d tell you to take the rest of the day off and get some sleep, but I have a feeling our phones will be buzzing all afternoon. There’s more than one
after-hours fling going on, and people are going to be worried.”

“Do you think Mason will fire anyone?”

Dani made a face. “Seriously? This was all CYA stuff. It’ll only be an issue if someone tries to sue for harassment after an office romance goes south. We just can’t tell anyone that. As far as they’re all concerned, the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy just got shot to hell, and if anyone so much as slow dances at the holiday party they can be tossed out on their rears. That’s the story we’re selling for Mason, so make it stick.”

Chase shrugged. So technically he
could
be with Brenda…if she wanted him, which she didn’t, so it wasn’t worth thinking about. He grabbed one of the leftover addendums from the conference table and nodded to the now-empty corridor beyond the room. “Ready for some spin-doctoring?”

“Always.” Dani grinned and strode out of the room as if she relished this type of upheaval. Of course, what did she have to worry about? She wasn’t in love with someone in the office.

* * * *

Brenda slumped into her chair, her brain buzzing. She’d been so caught up in her thoughts about Chase and Riley that she hadn’t had time to wonder why Mitzi wasn’t in the office. The rumor mill had provided her with sketchy details on the way back from the conference room
, and a quick read of the handbook addendum Dani had handed out filled in the rest. It didn’t matter if she was in love with Riley or Chase, she couldn’t have either one of them. Not that it mattered since Riley was ancient history to her, and Chase had looked at her with such pain in his eyes this morning, she had to wonder if he’d ever even speak to her again.

Under other circumstances she would have texted him and asked him to meet her somewhere private where they could talk about last night for a few minutes and straighten things out, but now, if anyone overheard them and put it together that they’d dated
, or heaven forbid, had sex, they’d both be on the unemployment line.

She’d have to wait until after work to apologize and tell him what? That she’d officially given up on Riley now that she’d experienced the incredible intimacy Chase had shown her last night? Was it really possible to fall out of love with one man and into love with another overnight?

The answer had to be no, so even though she could think of almost nothing else but how Chase made her feel and how much she wanted to repair the hurt she’d caused him, she wasn’t sure she had anything to offer him except friendship for now.

She sighed and rested her head in her hands. This was going to be the longest day in the history of days. How would she get through it without completely falling apart?