Sleeping With My Boss: A Standalone Novel (An Alpha Billionaire Romance Love Story) (A Dirty Office Romance) (26 page)

CHAPTER 35

Asher

I wasn't sure exactly what Meghan had hoped to achieve
by inviting me to meet her and Lilah at the sushi restaurant, but I'd gone
along with it, anyway. I'd chatted
with
her
a few times since getting back from Hawaii, but Lilah had no idea she and I had
talked. Meghan had told me how Lilah really felt about me, and, of course, I'd
told her about how I felt about Lilah.

I'd hoped that, as Lilah's best friend, she'd have
been someone who might have been able to convince Lilah of the depth of my
feelings for her, but if she'd tried to change Lilah's mind about me, it hadn't
worked. Since Hawaii, Lilah had remained as cold and indifferent as she ever
had.

I still hadn't been able to work out what had
happened, or what I'd done wrong. We'd had the most amazing time together in
Hawaii–and I'm not simply talking about sex, although it had been amazing.

We'd done everything together over those few days.
We'd eaten in wonderful restaurants, gone on long hikes, had a picnic,
sunbathed on beaches, gone snorkeling together, sat by fires on the beach and
watched the stars. It had been perfect…more perfect than I could ever remember
anything in my life being.

And then, I'd awoken late on the final day, only to
find she'd quietly packed her bags and left. Attempts to call and message her
had been met with silence.
At first,
I'd
tried to talk
with
her about it, to plead
with her to give us a chance, to just see if our relationship could work. She
had simply refused.

So, I'd given up. Even though my heart still burned
for
her
, I hadn't been able to do
anything about it. It had been her choice, and that had been that.

At least
, until Meghan contacted me. She seemed to believe
that I still had a chance. I'd been skeptical; how could I not be? Still, I'd
reluctantly agreed to give it a shot.

So, there I was, ten past seven, and a little late.
But I'd seen Lilah's car in the parking lot, so I knew she was there. I walked
in, hopeful, and then froze in my tracks at the sight that confronted me. Was
this Meghan's idea of a sick joke?! There was Lilah, all right–I could only see
her from behind, but it was unmistakably her–and there, seated across from her
at the restaurant table, smiling with that disgusting, smug grin of his, was
Brendan
Savage
.

I could only stand to see this scene for a few
seconds. I knew if I didn't leave immediately, I would explode. So, with the
awful sight burned into my mind, I spun around and stormed out of the
restaurant.

I'd seen everything I needed to see. All hope was
finally dead.

Dead and buried.

***

People all around the conference table were shifting
uncomfortably in their chairs.

“And, as you can see, sales figures are actually down
on the BluShade campaign,” I explained with a frown.

One person looked especially uncomfortable.

Lilah.

After seeing her with Brendan Savage at the sushi
restaurant two weeks earlier, I hadn't been able to look her in the eye. And as
successful as she'd been playing the ice queen, well. I'd managed to trump it.
I had turned myself into the ice
god.
I'd been colder to her than I'd
ever been to any human being in my life. And it pained me to do it, but I
didn't know how else to deal with the hurt, the betrayal.

“Miss Maxwell,” I said coolly. “This is
your
campaign.
And, it's turning out to be a failure. Do you have anything to say?”

“I'm… I'm sorry,” she half whispered.

“Sorry doesn't cut it in this arena,” I hissed. “Maybe
if you paid more attention to your work instead of your
boyfriend,
these
numbers might be a bit
different
and
these sales figures wouldn't be looking quite so abysmal.”

She stood, tears flooding her eyes, and I could hear
her fighting down the sobs rising up her throat. I couldn't believe I'd just
said that–and I don't think she could believe it, either. A terrible, stabbing
pain shot through my heart. What had I done?

“Excuse me,” she muttered, and stormed out, burying
her face in her hands.

Everyone fell silent, and an uncomfortable heat
flooded through me.

“God, I’m an ass,” I whispered without thinking about
everyone in the room. “That's, um, that's all for today's meeting,” I said
softly. “You can all go.”

Everyone left quickly and I hurried straight to
Lilah's office. I'd gone too far, way too far. All of this had to end. I
couldn't keep up this awful charade any longer. Something had to give.

I knocked on the
door,
but she didn’t answer. “Lilah?” I called out. All I
heard was a groan
from within. Something wasn't right. “Lilah, are you all right?”

Still no answer. I tried to open the
door,
but it was locked.

“Lilah, answer me!” I cried out, a sharp edge of worry
and concern lacing my tone.

My tone was not one of anger, but of sharp, worried
concern.

“Shit. Lilah, are you okay? I’m coming in.”

I stepped back, breathed in deeply, and then unleashed
a savage Muay Thai kick on the door. The lock smashed
instantly
and the door swung open.

I gasped at the sight of Lilah curled up in a ball on
the floor near her desk, whimpering in pain and clutching her stomach. A pool
of dark blood was slowly spreading around her.

“Oh Jesus, oh my God,” I gasped. “Come on, we're
going, we're going to the ER right now.” I wasn’t about to wait for an
ambulance. I could have her at the hospital before they could even get to us.

I bent down and scooped her into my arms as gently as
I could, then sprinted to the elevator. I called out for my new assistant to
let the police department know there would be a white Ferrari driving like a
bat out of hell to St. Patrick’s Hospital.

I was glad I'd driven my Ferrari to work–we were going
to have to get to the hospital as fast as humanly possible. As soon as I got
into the parking
garage,
I dashed over to
the Ferrari, put her gently in the passenger seat, then screamed the motor and
raced off to the ER.

***

I had been pacing around the waiting room for almost
an hour and had been given no word on what was going on. I'd called Meghan a
few
times,
but had only been able to
reach her ten minutes earlier. She was calling Ed and was on her way.

Finally, the doctor emerged. I couldn't get an
immediate reading from his expression because of the surgical mask covering his
face.

“You're here with Ms. Maxwell, yes?” he asked.

“Yes. What can you tell me?”

“Well, the good news is that your daughter is going to
be just fine.”

“My
daughter?
Lilah isn't my daughter.”

“No, I mean your unborn daughter. You are the baby's
father, I presume?”

The news nearly knocked the wind from me. Two words
and my entire world turned upside down.
Your
daughter
. Two words explained everything.
Everything!

I tried to play it cool. I needed to know Lilah was
going to be okay. “Oh, um, yes, yes, I'm the father. A daughter, yeah. Wow, a
daughter.”

The tilted his head a little. “I take it you didn’t
know you were having a girl.”

I shook my head. “How’s Lilah? Is she okay?”

“That’s the bad news, I’m afraid. Ms. Maxwell cannot
work again until after the child is born. It's obvious that she's been under
far too much stress recently, and if she keeps pushing herself like this, the
likelihood of a miscarriage severely increases. I know that this type of
situation can sometimes cause more stress due to financial burdens, so pardon
me for asking, but are you able to support yourself and her on your income
alone?”

“That will not be a problem, doctor, I assure you.”

“Good. Because I'm going to have to insist that
she
does not go back to work. I'll talk to her
employer myself if I have to.”

“No, that won’t be necessary. I'll take care of it.”

“Good.
She
really must rest.”

“Thank
you,
doctor.”

“You’re welcome. I'll check in on her later. You can
see her in about ten minutes when the nurses are finished checking her vitals.”

“Of course.”

He walked off, and I was staggering on my feet. I
grabbed a chair, unsure of my ability to stand. Leaning over, I rested my
elbows on my knees and shoved my hands roughly through my hair, completely
overwhelmed. I was going to be a dad. We were having a daughter!

“I guess you know the news now, huh?”

I looked up and saw Meghan standing in front of me.

“I… I'm going to be a father,” I managed to utter in
disbelief.

“Yes. Yes, you are,” she confirmed.

“Why didn't she
tell
me about this? Or you? You could have told me.”

She looked suddenly ashamed. “Look, I need to let you
in on a few things,” she
said,
and sat
down next me. She proceeded to explain everything about how Lilah had felt,
from the very first time she and I had kissed, right up until the present. And,
she told me about Lilah’s fears that I would be like my father–which was a risk
that she hadn’t been willing to take
with regard
to
her child.
Our
child.

“I understand why that might have concerned her,” I
said, “but I would never do that. I love Lilah. When I say I'm not like my
father, I not only mean it, but I can prove it if she’ll let me.

“Hell, I even have medical documentation to back it
up. My grandfather was a very thorough man. Even though he knew in his heart
that I was nothing like my father, he was also a logical man and knew that
intuition wasn't always concrete. He needed proof.

“So, before signing over the company to me in his
will, he made me undergo a barrage of psychiatric tests to just confirm that
there was no evidence of sociopathy, psychopathy, or violence in my
personality. I passed with flying colors. I truly am nothing like my father.
Looks are the only thing I share with that monster.”

Tears rimmed Meghan's eyes.

“I knew it. Somehow, I just knew it. And, I think she
knows it, too. She just needs to hear it. Asher, she loves you. She hasn’t said
the words, but I see it in her eyes when she talks about you. That's why I
invited you for sushi. I wanted you two to talk—really talk. But you bailed!
You didn't even show up. Why?”

“I did–but she was there with Savage. I just… I just
assumed.”

“You know what they say about assumptions, Asher.
They're the mother of all fu-”

“I know,” I said, ashamed. “But why was he there?”

“It was a total chance encounter. And, he was
harassing her like the asshat that he is. She called a waiter to have him
thrown out of the restaurant. If you'd stuck around for longer than ten seconds,
you would have seen that. Hell, you could have saved her yourself, instead of
letting some waiter do it.”

“Damn. I’m sorry. I wish I had.”

“There’s just one other thing,” Meghan announced.

“I don’t like the sound of that.”

“Yeah. Well, do you remember on the flight to Hawaii
when you told Lilah that you didn’t want children?”

My head fell back against the wall and I slumped in my
chair. “Damn. I did say that. But I didn’t mean it—not like that.”

“Well, here’s your chance to tell her and patch things
up. You’ll have plenty of time for making it up to her…as in the rest of your
lives, with your beautiful daughter.”

I smiled. A daughter who was going to be the most
loved child in the world!

“Now,” Meghan pushed me out of my seat, “get your ass
in there and tell the woman you love how you feel. And don’t take no for an
answer this time.”

EPILOGUE

Lilah

THREE YEARS
LATER

“Honey, do you think she'd prefer the red drums or the
blue ones?”

“She's a fiery character,” I said, “so let's go with
red.”

Asher looked across the room at me with a smile. “Just
like her mother,” he winked. “Red it is. I’ll have them delivered tomorrow.”

“It's amazing that she's shown such an interest in
music at such an early age! I mean, she's only two and a half years old, but
already she's keeping better time than you are. Where do you think she gets it
from?”

Asher chuckled. “Must come from your side of the
family.”

I nodded. “Yeah, I guess it does. My mom was
apparently a talented musician, and both of my grandfathers played several
instruments, according to my dad.”