“Okay. I’ll give you that. But you need to promise me something in return.”
“And that is?”
“That even if I beg, you won’t come inside.”
Chapter 16
Reese
Friday afternoon, a few of us from the marketing department had ordered in lunch and were sitting around the break room eating while we talked about our plans for the weekend.
“Do you think we’ll work again this weekend?” I asked Lindsey.
“I don’t think so. Josh is going away on that Pre-Cana retreat weekend his fiancée is making him do. And I think Bossman has a hot date Saturday night.”
“Hot date?”
“City Harvest Gala. A bunch of rich people throw a big party to raise millions for food for the homeless. It’s at some swanky hotel this year, and Chase is being honored. I heard him tell his secretary to book a suite with a fancy name. The last two years he’s gone with models from our ad campaigns. Life must be rough when you’re rich and gorgeous.”#p#分页标题#e#
Of course, Chase walked in right at that moment. I looked away but felt his eyes on me as he went to the coffee machine. He’d spent so much time and effort getting me to agree to not date other people—I couldn’t imagine he would already be violating his own terms. But I also couldn’t stop a pang of jealousy from creeping up inside of me.
“Hey, boss,” Lindsey called. “We’re not working this weekend, are we?”
“No. Not this weekend. I have some things I need to take care of.”
“I was sort of hoping we would be. It’s supposed to be nice, and Eddie wants to head down to the Jersey Shore to visit his mother.”
“And that’s not a good thing, I take it?”
“She runs around doting on him like he’s royalty—always makes me feel inadequate.”
Chase smirked. “You could always do some doting of your own to get rid of that feeling.”
“Are you crazy? It took me fifteen years to get the man to lower his expectations. Why would I screw that up now?”
Chase smirked. “What about you, Reese? Plans this weekend?”
Jules had been bugging me to go to some new club for the last month. I had no desire to go. Until that moment. “Girls’ night on Saturday. My friend Jules and I are going to check out Harper’s downtown.”
I caught the slight flex of his jaw, but he answered unaffected. “Sounds like fun.”
“And what about you? Hot date?”
It wasn’t exactly an appropriate question to ask your new boss. But Chase was not a traditional boss anyway. He was connected to his employees and knew what was going on in their lives. So my nosey question didn’t raise any suspicion.
“Just a fundraiser we donate to. I’d prefer to just write the check, but somehow they talk me into showing up every year.”
I smiled. It was completely fake, but no one really knew me well enough to notice. Except Chase. “Well, enjoy your date.” I forked a piece of chicken from my Caesar salad and shoved it into my mouth.
I avoided Chase for the afternoon after that. At one point, he came down the hall toward my office, and I quickly popped into Josh’s so we wouldn’t be alone. Part of me knew I was being silly. Surely tomorrow night wasn’t a real date, and I was building something in my head that didn’t exist. This was exactly the reason I avoided office romance. Work needed to be about work, instead of letting my personal life interfere in places it didn’t belong.
So when Chase showed up at my office door at six o’clock, I was determined to keep things strictly professional.
“Share a meal together Sunday night?”
“I don’t think so. I’m going out clubbing Saturday and you—” I waved my hand as if saying whatever. “—have your date Saturday night. I’m sure we’ll both need Sunday to recover.”
He looked confused by my response. “Is everything okay, Reese?”
“It’s fine. Why wouldn’t it be?”
“I don’t know. You seem like something’s bothering you.”
“Nope,” I answered, fast and curt.
Maybe too curt. Chase studied me with his lips pressed together. He was looking for clues, but I wasn’t giving any.
“I feel like it’s about Saturday night. But I figured you’d never go for a night when you had to wear a gown as our non-date, casual sharing of a meal.”
I cocked my head. “I’m sure you’ll have a better time with a real date anyway.”
His brows gathered again, and then his face transformed with a smug smile. “I wouldn’t exactly call Sam a real date.”#p#分页标题#e#