The Dirty Series 1(41)
I’ve been so caught up with Sandra, and with Jax, that they’re the only people who’ve had any of my attention lately. Bryce is one of the few people in the office who made a point of stopping to talk to me, even if I’m harried and short with him.
“I didn’t notice. I’ve been…really caught up in it, and then I was sick. That’s not an excuse.”
“Sick?” His tone is filled with genuine concern. Bryce is a good guy. “Is that why you were out? I figured you were on vacation.”
“No, I…” I roll my eyes. “It’s so stupid. I kind of…fainted a little in the office a couple weeks ago.”
He reaches out and puts a hand on my elbow. “Cate, what happened?”
I try to brush it off. “At the hospital, they said it was exhaustion, but—”
“Jesus, Cate. You shouldn’t be here now. You should be on the beach in Hawaii with your billionaire boyfriend.”
“He’s not my boyfriend.”
“Isn’t he?” Bryce’s grin lights up his face. “I’ve been in the meeting rooms for weeks. I’ve seen you going down to his suite every day at 5:00. It’s not a secret that you’ve been keeping him updated.” He laughs out loud. “A billionaire like Jax Hunter moves in and you think nobody noticed?”
I’m blushing from the sheer embarrassment of being caught so blatantly in this situation by Bryce. Who else knows?
I clear my throat and repeat myself. “He’s not my boyfriend.”
“Sure, sure,” he says. “He’s not your boyfriend.” He signs the words in quotes with his fingers. Bryce leans over and whispers in my ear. “I’ve seen you coming back from that office. The look on your face—” He shrugs, a half smile on his face accentuating his dimples. “Don’t try to tell me you’re in there discussing memos or some shit like that.”
I bite my lip. Sandra’s still absorbed in a series of approvals, and I can trust Bryce, so…
“He’s not my boyfriend yet. He’s so…” Words to describe Jax flood my mind. Sexy. Gorgeous. Unbelievably hot. Attentive…to me, at least. But also: Controlling. Dominating. Sometimes I see it outside the bedroom, when it’s not a sexy game but a worrisome characteristic. “There’s something between us, Bryce, but he wants to be able to…I don’t know. He always wants the last word. He cares about me, so much, but…”
“He’s an arrogant bastard,” Bryce says nonchalantly.
“I wouldn’t put it that way,” I say, not bothering to hide my distaste for his words.
“I’ve seen the gossip stories about him. Hell, I’ve even met him a couple of times, coming and going from here. He’s no angel, Cate.”
There’s not much sense in trying to convince Bryce otherwise—not now, when time is short. “Believe me when I say that there’s more to him than that. It’s just…”
“You can’t trust him 100%, because what if he’s the only one he’ll love enough to be with forever.”
Bryce gets me.
“What should I do?”
“Is he good in bed?”
I can’t stop my wicked grin.
“I see,” says Bryce, laughing under his breath. “Give yourself some time to figure it out. No need for a hasty decision, if he’s as good inside as you say.”
“Catherine? Catherine. Come in here. I have some adjustments that need…”
I mouth “bye” at Bryce. Time’s up.
It’s not until later that I realize I’ve missed my five o’clock with Jax.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Jax
Cate looks at me across the island in my kitchen, the bags under her eyes dark even through her makeup. “I think it’s time for me to go back to my own place.”
My heart twists in my chest, and the bite of sushi in my mouth is suddenly tasteless. “What…why?”
We’ve been perched on two stools near the island, making our way through an enormous tray of sushi that Laurence spent half the afternoon preparing. He has the night off tonight, and still the man left enough in the refrigerator—freshly prepared and cooled—to last several days.
Cate’s comment seems to have come from nowhere.
She puts another bite in her mouth, chews, swallows. “I need to get back into my regular routine. I’ve been missing workouts, I need to make sure everything is fine at my place…”
“It is fine,” I tell her, putting down my chopsticks. “Gloria stops there every other day. If something was wrong, I’d have told you.”