In A Wild Moment (Billionaire In Love 1) (3 page)

Chapter 5

The next morning, Scarlett woke up with a hangover. It took a little while for the memories to return, but when they did, she groaned. She felt like she had made a fool out of herself in front of that man, although she still had no idea who he was because she didn't remember seeing him around the office before, and he hadn't told her his name. After they had spoken, she'd gone out to find him, but there was no trace of him in the main office. In an effort to take his advice, she tried to engage some people in conversation. Of course, in her state, most of what she said came across as a babbling, incoherent mess, and she soon realized that there was no place for her. Mandy had ushered her out, and as she was leaving, she managed to bump into a desk and knock a over a stack of files to the floor. Now that she was sober, she felt like she was going to die of embarrassment.

She went to the kitchen and poured herself a big glass of water, then started to fry some bacon. She replied to a text that Mandy had left, and ignored all the ones from Matt. She checked the clock and groaned again when she saw that it was almost twelve. She'd intended to spend the weekend doing
something
productive but it felt like it was already a waste. Then she heard a car pull up and walked to the window.

Her heart sank.

It was Matt.

He got out and pulled out his iPod and some speakers, and set them on the roof of the car. She watched him select a track and then adjust the volume, and their song started playing. Matt turned to the house, spread his arms open and shouted, “Scarlett! Please, I'm here for you, I'm going to do everything I can to win you back,” all while the song was playing in the background. “I'm on my knees,” he said, and promptly fell to the floor.  Scarlett flung the door open and stomped down the steps.

“Oh, I'm so glad you're okay! When you didn't reply to my messages, I thought that something bad might have happened to you,” he said. Scarlett didn't respond. She walked past him towards the car and pulled the speakers off, throwing them back into the open window of the car. She spun on her heels and jabbed a finger in his direction.

“You're pathetic, Matt, and I'm not in the mood for this. Get the hint and leave me alone or I'll call the police. I'm tired of this. We're over. We're done. There's no going back.”

“Please, Scarlett. We can just give it another go. I know you're mad at me and I understand why. I was completely in the wrong and I want to make it up to you. That's all I want to do. All you have to do is give me a chance. You know we were good together. We had some great times, and we could have them again! Who else would get on their knees for you like this? Come on, you've gotta admit that there's always going to be something between us.”

Scarlett looked around, aware that a few people had gathered nearby, watching the scene play out. 

“I don't have to admit anything. Let's go over the course of events again, shall we? I was working a lot in order to get my new promotion. You got mad. You started spending time with your new friend Denise. Instead of talking to me like a mature adult you ended up sleeping with Denise. Then I had to find out from her that the two of you were together. You end things with her and expect me to take you back because you only slept with her because you were lonely. You think that's a good reason? So what, any time I finish late from work, you get the license to sleep with whomever you want? I told you from the start that cheating was a deal-breaker for me. You knew how I felt about it. So don't come crawling back to me now, like this is all happening because of me. We both had a part to play in it, and the sooner you realize that, the better of we'll be.”

“No, I know I did a bad thing. It was a crazy time. I was messed up. I felt like you were slipping away from me. I was jealous of your job taking up all your time. Maybe it was selfish of me, but it's only because I loved you so much. I just wanted... I just wanted
you
. I still want you.”

“That's all well and good, but I don't want you and there's nothing you can say that's going to change that. I don't feel anything for you now. You're no longer a part of my life. I don't know how I can make it any clearer than that. I've moved on from you, Matt. I suggest you do the same, because this isn't going to make either of us happy. And frankly I don't understand why you're fighting so hard for us to get back together. I mean, in some ways, I even understand why you started whatever it was you had with Denise because we weren't spending any time together as a couple, and that wouldn't change. I'm still super busy with work and I'm not going to stop chasing promotions and I'm not going to apologize for the fact that I want to go far in my career. Do yourself a favor and find someone more suited to you. I'm going inside now and I want you gone from my property, or else I'm calling the police.”

She ignored Matt's pleas and slammed the door, locking it just in case. Her head was pounding and her body was shaking. She ran to the kitchen to salvage the bacon, which was still just about edible, and breathed a sigh of relief when Matt drove off. Hopefully that would be the end of it, she thought.

When she and Matt had first had their problems, it had been devastating. Work had sucked up most of her time and even when the two of them spent time together, they weren't on the same page. It was a shame because the two of them did have some good times together, and when they first started going out they had a lot of fun. He'd been with her when Lisa died as well, and she didn't know what she would have done without his comfort. But everything had to come to an end eventually.

She remembered how she'd found out about him and Denise. It said something about their relationship that Scarlett didn't realize it was happening. Denise had come up to her and told her that she was stealing Matt. The shock was such that Scarlett didn't even argue. Then she had a big argument with Matt, when he told her that he just needed to feel like he was a part of something again. He said he didn't want to be with Denise, he was just trying to shock Scarlett into seeing that something was wrong, and that he was tired of being second-best to her career. But it was a strange cry for help, and it didn't do anything to get sympathy for him. Instead, it was the final blow, and after a heated argument, they broke up. It was difficult to end it after spending a lot of time together. She would never forget how he was there when she needed him, but it got to a point where it was untenable.

Occasionally, she did feel the pull of loneliness and thought back to the good times they had, because for a long time they were the kind of couple that just worked effortlessly. But that was always accompanied by the bad things, the times when she'd get home from work and he'd turn away from her, pretending that he was asleep, or the passive-aggressive notes he'd leave. She wasn't blameless either. Maybe she could have made more of an effort to make things work, but she had set her sights on the promotion and all of her energy went into that.

And now, when she looked back on it, she realized that she wanted something more than what the two of them had. She wanted something electric, something where she couldn't keep her hands off her partner, something like she had experienced with the mystery man at the party.

Although she had been rather drunk, there was no denying that she had felt something extremely strong inside, and although her vision of him was still hazy—and she didn't know how much of what she had seen was influenced by her intoxicated state—the feeling she experienced was undeniable. The flush of arousal she felt when thinking of his kiss was incredible and she wanted more of it, but she hated that she had made a fool out of herself. She couldn't imagine what he must have thought of her, and although she felt rejected at the time, she actually appreciated that he left. It showed that he was sweet and considerate, which complemented the fiery passion she felt within. But she couldn't stop thinking about him all through the weekend and knew that she was ready to find someone other than Matt. She just didn't know anything about this man—not even his name—and since she hadn't seen him in the first week of her new job, she wondered if she would see him again. If she did, would he think favorably of her?

The rest of the weekend went by quickly and she thought about what her mysterious man had told her about her predecessor. She wondered if there was anything she could do to ingratiate herself with the rest of the people in the office. It was going to be her second week there and she wanted to show them her true self, the Scarlett that wasn't daunted by adversity. She made it a point to speak to Mandy to find out more about the woman she had replaced. Meanwhile, she worked hard over the weekend to come up with more good ideas, hoping that when the time came for her to share them she would be ready to wow Sam and the rest of her colleagues.

But upon entering the office on the Monday morning, she was subject to some strange looks. Instead of ignoring her, people were gazing at her and whispering as she passed. Scarlett winced at the attention. Had she really done anything that embarrassing at the party? She quickly made her way to her office and shut the door. Peering through the blinds, she witnessed people pointing in the direction of her office and laughing. Scarlett would have given anything to know what they were saying about her. How was she supposed to make them respect her now?

She remained in her office, fearing the stares and gossips, and only communicated with them via e-mail, missing out on the Monday meeting by claiming that she had too much work to catch up on. Since she worked in advertising, she knew that image and reputation were everything. Had she already tarnished hers by getting tipsy at the party? A bad first impression is difficult to recover from, and she tried to put her own knowledge into practice to make people see her differently. If a client came to her with these problems, then she would have suggested an aggressive new campaign to reinvent their image. It was easier to do for a brand than it was to do with a person, but it wasn't impossible.

During the afternoon, after she'd been working on a plan for a while, she opened her door a crack and hissed to Mandy to join her. Mandy left her desk and crept up to the door. Scarlett gazed out, ensuring that nobody was spying on her, then shut the door. The blinds were still closed. If there hadn't been a large window that let the sunlight stream in, the room would have been incredibly dark.

Mandy took a seat across from Scarlett, while Scarlett remained by the window, looking out at everyone else working in the office.

“I know they're talking about me and I've thought of a way to change it. I'm going to go on the offensive but I need your help. I was thinking about baking some cookies or a cake or something. Did the woman I replace have any kind of specialty? I don't want to make the same thing as her. I want to make something better, something more unconventional that will really get people talking. And I want some dirt on Sam as well. I don't like him or the way he looks at me. There's got to me something that I can get on him so that he'll be forced to give my ideas the consideration they merit. There's gotta be something going on with him and that receptionist, right? I've seen the way they look at each other.” Her mind was whirling with machinations, and it was scaring Mandy. The mousy-haired woman looked at Scarlett with wide eyes and urged her to take a seat.

“I think you're thinking about this too much. And I can't blame them for talking to you. After what happened at the party, you shouldn't be surprised either.”

Scarlett whirled around, her eyes so wide that the whites were visible. She gripped the arms of Mandy's chair and looked at her new friend directly in the eyes, unsettling her.

“What do you mean what I did at the party? Did I do something that I don't remember? Was it when I knocked over those files on the way out? Are they really judging me on that? I wasn't the only one who got drunk, was I? God... Mandy, what did I do?”

Mandy looked at her with a puzzled expression and glanced at the door, wondering if there was a quick way to escape.

“Well,” she began, making sure to choose her words carefully because Scarlett seemed little unpredictable at the moment, and Mandy didn't know how she was going to react. “It's not so much what you did… I mean, you may not have done anything, but you know… it's not everyone that gets to spend time alone with Jack.”

“Jack...?” Scarlett asked, staggering back to her seat and falling into it.

“Yeah, did you not realize who you were talking to? That was Jack Keyes. I thought you knew.”

“Oh my god,” Scarlett said, placing her head in her hands.

“When we all saw him go into the break room, we were surprised. You guys were in there for quite a while. It was the only thing anyone could talk about. When he's in town, he never usually comes to the office parties, and if he does he only usually stays for a little while. Pretty much every woman in the office would give anything for some one-on-one time with him—hell, a lot of the men would too. So come on. I'm your friend. Tell me what happened.”

Scarlett only groaned. “I made a complete and utter fool of myself. You could have told me he was coming!”

“I didn't know! He just showed up. Why? What did you do? Are the girls right? Everyone thinks that something happened. Although… well, I don't know if I should tell you this, but some of them don't think that you're his type, and some are sure they heard that he's with a Russian ballet dancer at the moment.”

The thought of him with another woman was painful to Scarlett, but that feeling was still second to the embarrassment she felt.

“I think I need to quit this job.”