Sleeping With My Boss: A Standalone Novel (An Alpha Billionaire Romance Love Story) (A Dirty Office Romance) (37 page)

Chapter
Twenty-Six

Emily

Trish
and I had talked for hours before we looked at the clock and realized hwo late
it was. She went back to her room to get a few hours of sleep, and I curled up
in the king-sized bed wondering how much space Austin would claim in a bed like
this.

I quickly fell into a deep sleep and found
myself back in first class setting up a tray for a passenger. I looked around
for Trish, but I was all alone in the galley. I walked into the cabin with the
tray and noticed that the lights had been dimmed and the cabin was silent. I
noticed light streaming through a crack in one of the pod doors. Carrying the
loaded tray, I walked toward it and balancing it on one arm, I tapped lightly
on the door.

"Come in," called a voice from
inside.

"Oh, I'm sorry, sir – Austin," I
said when I realized who my solitary passenger was. "I've got your tray,
would you like it set up on the table?"

"Yes, Emily, I would," he smiled
and I turned to set the tray on the ottoman so that I could pull out the table.
As I stood up, I felt him standing right behind me, the warmth of his body
against my back as he wrapped his arms around my waist as he bent down and
lightly kissed my neck, sending chills up and down my spine.

"You are so beautiful," he
whispered softly before gently kissing my ear. "You know that, don't
you?"

"I...I...oh," I moaned softly as
he spread his fingers out across my abdomen and pulled me tightly against his
body. I could feel his fingers slowly sliding up my stomach until he was
cupping each of my breasts and gently pinching my nipples. "Austin,
no..."

"But don't you want me to touch
you?" he whispered as he dragged his tongue across the back of my neck
making me shiver. I felt light-headed as the blood in my veins coursed its way
down between my legs. "You like it when I touch you, Emily, don't
you?"

"Oh yes," I moaned as I felt one
of his hands let of my breast and slide down to the hem of my skirt. He slipped
it between my thighs and began stroking the soft skin so lightly that I
couldn't hold back, I wanted to turn around and kiss him. I wanted to feel his
lips on mine. I wanted him to strip me naked and caress every inch of my bare
skin. I wanted to feel his skin against mine.

"Oh, Austin..." I sighed and as
I shifted in his arms and turned to kiss him, the emergency alarm in the
aircraft blared out a warning that the plane was descending too rapidly. The
air masks dropped from their hidden compartments and the pilot's voice came
over the intercom, "Good morning, Ms. Warner. It's 7:45 and this is your
wakeup call! The temperature outside is 20 degrees Celsius with no clouds in
sight! Have a beautiful day!"

I groaned as I opened my eyes and realized
I was holding the phone receiver to my ear. I looked around the room, both
disappointed and relieved to find that I was alone in my bed and marveling at
how close I'd come to having had sex with Austin in my dream and at how good it
had felt to have him paying attention to me and my desires.

I climbed out of bed and wrapped myself in
the thick terrycloth robe and walked out into the main room to find that room
service had anticipated my wakeup call and delivered breakfast. I sat down and
pulled the silver cover off of the plate to find a steaming hot plate of creamy
scrambled eggs, crispy bacon, and home fried potatoes underneath. I lifted the
cover on the second plate and found a stack of sourdough toast dripping in
butter and a pot of jam just behind it. I sighed as I poured myself a cup of
strong coffee and added some cream, then I dug into the meal, knowing that it
would probably be at least twenty-four hours before I had anything this
substantial again.

Just as I was finishing breakfast, the
elevator buzzed and when I checked the security screen I found Trish, dressed,
packed and ready to go, standing there. I buzzed her up, and waited for the
elevator doors to slide open before I began peppering her with questions.

"What are you doing? We don't leave
for another four hours," I said. "Why are you so early?"

"I know, but I wanted to stop by the
grocery store and then check out the duty free shop at the airport," she
explained. "My mother gave me a list of things she wanted me to pick up
while I was here."

"One of these days, you're going to
get caught exporting goods, you know," I laughed. Trish's mother was
always giving her long lists of things she wanted her to find while in foreign
ports. Trish dutifully bought what she could, never asking her mother what she
did with them once they were handed over.

"Whatever," she shrugged as she
looked past me toward the table. "Oooh, breakfast! Can I have some?"

"Sure, there's a ton left," I
said. "I'm going to go pack and get ready, you eat."

"Mmmrf," Trish nodded with her
mouth already full of toast.

"You're impossible!" I laughed
as I walked back to the bedroom.

#

Forty
minutes later, Trish and I stepped into the elevator and waved goodbye to the
penthouse.

"I'll never see anything that fancy
again," I sighed longingly as I watched the view being cut off by the
closing doors.

"Oh, don't say that," Trish
scolded. "You've got a billionaire who's after you, so you never
know!"

"Trish, you're crazy," I said
rolling my eyes.

A few moments later we stepped off the
elevator and as we were crossing out of the corner of my eye, I saw Austin
standing close to an older blonde woman dressed in an outfit that probably cost
more than my entire wardrobe. She was holding his face in her hands as they
looked deeply into each other's eyes.

I tried not to stare, but I couldn't help
it. She was stunning and as I watched she stood on her toes and kissed him! He
gave her a serious look and then as he turned to head out the door, she smacked
his butt and laughed. I looked away as I felt the tears welling up in my eyes.

What
a fool I was!
Austin Marks was a billionaire playboy
who had wanted a quick roll in the hay with a young employee, and when I hadn't
given in, he'd found greener pastures elsewhere. I felt foolish and ashamed for
falling for his act and angry at myself for believing that it might be more
than just a quick hook up. I was a game to him, nothing more.

As I watched him walk out the door, I
squared my jaw and reminded myself that I had a husband to go home to – a
husband who loved me and who I shared a life with. I didn't need affirmation
from a self-absorbed rich boy who played with people's feelings. As I donned my
self-righteous mantle of defense, I lifted my chin and marched toward the front
door.

"Yo, Princess!" Trish called as
she tipped her head towards the opposite door. "Where are you going? I
still need to drop off my room key and the bus stop is that way."

"Right," I muttered. "From
the penthouse to the bus stop, it figures."

"What are you mumbling about?"
Trish asked as she joined me at the front door.

"Nothing, just sour
grapes." I lifted my head, forced a bright smile, and cheerfully said,
"Let's go get the stuff on your mom's list!"

Chapter
Twenty-Seven

Austin

A
week later, I was back in New York, trying to figure out how to find the mole
spreading the rumors that were still flying on the Sydney site. I'd had a rough
day at the office catching up on paperwork and reading through a pile of
reports about our potential new projects in Berlin and Marrakesh. There were a
number of new opportunities opening up and while I was interested in expanding
the business to places that seemed profitable, I was also hesitant to expand
too far, too fast.

My father had gotten caught up in the ’80s
building boom, and had learned a hard lesson when the global interest in
gambling and travel had dipped and left him holding the bag on properties that
couldn't recoup their monthly expenses. I wanted to make sure that we weren't
going to repeat the mistake, so I was very careful about where Marks
Enterprises invested money in construction. This had not made me popular with
the speculators in the company, and, in fact, had created some deep divisions
between various groups. As a result, I was constantly tamping down sparks that
threatened to burst into flames by playing the heavy and nixing projects that
hadn't proven they were viable.

The bigger problem was that many of the
people who had worked for my father didn't trust me to follow in his footsteps,
and I didn't really blame them. I'd been a complete unknown when he'd died
since he'd never publicly acknowledged me as his son, but I'd worked hard to
prove myself capable of running the company and in a few short years, I'd not
only earned an MBA from Colombia, I'd also spent time learning at the feet of
some of the greatest CEOs in the business. The problem was that I couldn't come
out and say that because it would upset the business world to know that the
major players were actually helping each other, rather than cutting each other
off at the knees.

So, I'd stepped into my role looking like
the new kid on the block: a dilettante who was ill-prepared to lead a major
corporation, but I knew better and that was all that mattered. Unfortunately,
it was this erroneous perception that had made Daniel and his team unhappy.
And, now that I'd looked at the Berlin project plans, I had even more questions
about what they were doing and how they were doing it. They were not going to
like me poking around in their business, but I wasn't about to sign off on a
project about which I had so many questions.

"Dammit," I sighed as I rubbed
my eyes and looked back down at the report in front of me. I'd been reading for
almost seven hours and I was tired, hungry, and more than a little cranky. My
phone vibrated as a text from Anna arrived.

Gold_Goddess: Whacha doin?

Austin_Marks: Reading. You?

Gold_Goddess: Thinkin bout U!

Austin_Marks: Right.

Gold_Goddess: Dinner tonite?

Austin_Marks: What about whatshisname?

Gold_Goddess: Outta town.

Austin_Marks: You bring dinner? I'm tired.

Gold_Goddess: Will do. 8 at your place?

Austin_Marks: Will be there.

Gold_Goddess: Cya soon!

I hadn't seen Anna in weeks and I missed
her light easy company, among other things. I smiled as I looked at the clock
and saw that I had two hours before she'd arrived with dinner. I had time to
finish this report and then head to the gym for a quick workout. I looked back
down at the report, sighed, and then slammed it shut.

"Screw it," I said to no one.
"I need to get out of here!"

I threw the report along with a few others
into my bag and headed out the door. On my way out, Johanna signaled to me from
behind her desk.

"Mr. Wentworth wants to meet with you
in the morning," she said as she handed me a stack of papers Daniel had
left for me. "Do you want me to rearrange the morning schedule?"

"No, just leave it-" I started
and then a thought crossed my mind. "Yes, schedule him for first thing in
the morning and move everything else back by an hour. I'll take care of this
before the day gets going."

"Very good, I'll call and let him
know," she nodded. "Do you want a full breakfast in the conference
room?"

"No, just have some rolls and coffee
brought in," I said, smiling conspiratorially at her. "Make sure
they're from Le Pan Quoiden."

"My pleasure, sir," she smiled
back as she picked up the phone and began dialing.

Chapter
Twenty-Eight

Emily

Trish
and I made it to the airport just in time to start preparing for boarding. We'd
located everything her mother had requested, shaking our heads at the six jars
of vegemite.

"Who eats this stuff?" Trish
asked as she pulled the jars from the shelf and added them to the basket.

"I do not know," I replied
shaking my head. "People have odd tastes."

The flight home was uneventful as we had
an almost empty cabin. I brought the businessmen in 2D and 3D hot towels after
take off, but they both requested that I let them sleep until an hour before
landing, so there were no meals or drinks to serve. Trish had a family of four
in the center aisle, but the teenage children were eager to shut out all adult
interference and watch movies, so they asked for next to nothing while their
parents slept.

"What's going to happen when you get
home?" Trish asked as we checked the drink fridge for the fifth time. We
had already pulled everything out and cleaned it, as well as straightening up
all the cupboards and making detailed notes about what needed to be restocked
for the next trip.

"I don't know," I said. "I
guess I'm going to suggest that we go to a marriage counselor."

"Wait, what?" she said,
surprised at my seemingly sudden change of heart. "I thought you were
going to go home to dump the drunk and see what happens with the billionaire
boss!"

"Please, Trish," I said rolling
my eyes. "Don't go there. That kind of stuff doesn't happen to girls like
me. That only happens in the movies. I'm going to go home and see if I can
salvage what's left of my marriage and try to make the best of things."

"Princess, I do not have a good
feeling about this," she said in a singsong voice.

"Trish, seriously," I replied.
"What other options are there? I've got a house with a mortgage and a
husband who is depressed and unhappy because his baseball career is over before
it even started. Maybe if I get him to go to counseling, we can figure out how
to fix things and be happy together. I mean, isn't that what you're supposed to
do?"

"Wow, that's quite a plan for someone
who was talking about striking out on her own and seeing the world," she
said as she opened a can of soda and poured it over crushed ice. "Why are
you going to let yourself get trapped into a marriage that is dead and end up
pushing out babies with a guy who may or may not stop drinking?"

"Is that what you think I'm going to
do?" I asked.

"If the shoe fits..." She
shrugged as she drank from the glass.

"I'm not going to get trapped, if
that's what you think," I told her as I scrubbed the stainless steel sink
with a steel wool pad.

"I'm not saying you want to get
trapped, I'm just saying that's probably what's going to happen," she said
as she leaned against the wall, looking at the glass in her hand. "I've
seen it happen to way too many girls, and I know what a good person you are and
how loyal you feel towards Tom. But, Princess, is it in your best interests to
maintain that level of loyalty?"

"I don't know," I muttered into
the sink. "I don't feel like I know anything anymore."

"Just think carefully about it before
you decide to throw it all away on a guy who isn't worth it," she warned.

The buzzer for 2B rang and Trish set her
glass down to go see what the teen wanted.

"Just think, Princess," she said
patting my shoulder. "About you. About what you want and need. That's all
I'm saying."

I nodded miserably as I stared at my own
reflection in the shiny sink. The question was what did I want?

#

My
heart sank as I pulled into the driveway. I could tell that Tommy hadn't
watered the plants while I was gone, so still dressed in my flight clothes, I
yanked the hose off the hook on the side of the house and connected it to the
spigot. I was dead tired from the flight, but this made me angry enough to do
something about it before going inside. I hoped it would give me time to calm
down and get into a rational mindset.

I knew that part of the reason I was angry
at Tommy had nothing to do with him, but I was still pissed at him for
neglecting the house while I was gone, and honestly, I was dreading what I
might find inside. It took me fifteen minutes to soak the ground, and when I
was done, I could see that the plants were going to make it. He must have
watered at some point or they'd have been beyond help. Or at least, that's what
I told myself.

Nothing prepared me for what I found when
I gathered my things and went inside the house. It looked like a bomb had gone
off in the kitchen. There were fast food wrappers and chip bags all over the
counters and a thin layer of what must have been cereal crunched under my shoes
as I walked over to the sink to shut off the dripping faucet. Something smelled
rancid and I followed my nose to a bowl on the kitchen table. It was full of
what I could only guess was baked beans, covered with a thin layer of mold. I
held my breath as I grabbed the edge of the bowl and carried it over to the
sink and turn on the hot water.

"This is disgusting," I muttered
as I squirted some soap into the bowl and let it fill with hot sudsy water.

"Oh hey, Em, you're home!" Tommy
called from the backyard. I could tell he was already partly drunk just by the
tone of his voice.

"Yeah, I flew in a few hours
ago," I said, trying to keep my tone even and calm.

"I'm glad you're back, this place
isn't the same when you're gone," he called. "Hey, come see what I'm
working on!"

"A damn mess?" I muttered,
irritated that he hadn't even apologized for the disaster, but as I walked out
the backdoor I saw that the kitchen was the least of the mess. I gasped and put
a hand over my mouth.

"I know, pretty awesome, isn't
it?" he laughed happily as he raised a bottle to his lips and drank deeply.
The backyard was covered in auto parts and on blocks. In the space that was
supposed to be our patio was a huge truck with its engine half removed and
spread out on a table that ran along the side fence. Our backyard looked like a
junkyard.

I looked around taking it all in and then
I turned and ran into the house crying.

"Em, what's wrong, babe?" Tommy
called as he followed me into the house. "Why are you so upset? I've got a
side job I'm working on. It's gonna bring in a big paycheck when I'm done with
it!"

"Like all the other jobs you've done
that have ended up costing us money?" I yelled at him. "Great! You've
got a hobby and I have to work overtime to pay for it!"

"What the hell-" Tommy said with
a stunned look on his face. "What's gotten into you? You on your
period?"

"Oh my God, I don't even believe
you," I said as I turned to face him. Tears were streaming down my cheeks
as I looked at him. "You are so blind! You can't even see what's
happened!"

"Em, what are you talking
about?" he asked.

"I'm talking about the fact that you
have spent the past three years wallowing in your grief and drinking to try and
erase the fact that you will never play pro ball," I yelled. "I'm
talking about the fact that the man I married was someone who had goals and a
plan for how he was going to accomplish his dreams and that man has almost
completely disappeared! I'm talking about the fact that I'm sick of coming home
to a house that looks like a bomb went off in it and a husband who has been on
a three day bender and can't even remember to WATER THE PLANTS!"

"That's a low blow, Em," he said
quietly.

"Yeah, well, the truth hurts," I
shot back angrily. He wasn't going to own up to his failings and I sure as hell
wasn't going to let him blame it all on me. I looked at him for a long time
waiting for him to say something, but he'd had too much to drink and couldn't
formulate a sober thought. I nodded, grabbed my flight bag, and headed to the
bedroom where I quickly grabbed some clothes and threw them into a duffle bag.

"Where are you going?" he asked
quietly.

"I'm going to my mother's for a few
days," I said in a terse voice. "You figure out what it is you want
to do about...this, and then let me know."

"Em, don't leave, please?" he
begged. "Stay. We'll work it out. I promise."

"Tommy, you're an alcoholic and you
have a serious problem," I said as I looked him in the eye. "I've
loved you since I was fifteen, but I'm not going to stay married to a man who
wants to perpetually be fifteen. I want a life. I want to be married to a
grown-up who does grown-up things. The way things are right now? I don't want
this life."

"That's so cold," he said sadly.
"Really cold, you know."

"You made your bed," I told him,
mustering up as much haughtiness as I could. "Now lie in it or don't, it's
not my choice. It's yours."

"Fine!" he yelled in a drunken
voice. "You're going to be sorry you cut and run. You'll see! I'm going to
make it big and you'll be sad that you didn't stay with me!"

I shook my head as I tossed a few extra
things into my bag, zipped it up, and threw it over my shoulder before grabbing
the handle of my travel bag and dragging it back out the front door to my car.
I loaded my things in the trunk and stood looking at the house for a few
moments before I pulled the keys out of my purse and climbed into my car.

"Em! Em! EMILY! DON'T LEAVE!"
Tommy yelled as he stood in the doorway looking like a lost little boy. My
heart ached as I looked at him. I wanted to run back in and make everything
okay. I knew that's what he was expecting me to do, but in my heart, I knew it
wasn't the right thing to do. I knew it wouldn't solve anything and I knew the
problem would just continue and I knew that if it did, I wasn't going to be
happy. If change was still possible, and I had my doubts, then this was the
only way to show Tommy I was serious about it.

I turned the key and started the engine. I
looked up at Tommy in the doorway and sighed as I gave a sad little wave, then
I backed out of the driveway and headed to across town to my mother's house.