Sleeping With My Boss: A Standalone Novel (An Alpha Billionaire Romance Love Story) (A Dirty Office Romance) (38 page)

Chapter
Twenty-Nine

Austin

At
eight o'clock, the front buzzer rang and I went to the door to let my guest
inside.

"Well, hello handsome." Anna
grinned as she walked through the door carrying bags of food. She had obviously
been to the stylist that day because there was not a hair out of place on her
shiny blonde head. She was wearing a cream-colored halter-top that showed off
her arms and cleavage to their best advantage and she'd paired it with a pair
of skintight jeans that looked like they'd been painted on. The effect was
upper west side boho chic and she pulled it off without a hitch. She promptly
set the bags on the dining room table before crossing the room back to me. She
reached up and wrapped her arms around my neck to pull me close so that she
could plant a soft kiss on my lips.

"Hello, beautiful." I grinned as
I wrapped my arms around her and marveled at how fit and toned she was. I had
no idea how she kept everything so tight and firm, but there wasn't an ounce of
fat on her body – but then, that was Anna. Nothing extra on her. "How have
you been?"

"Me? Oh, I've been just fine,
babe!" she smiled as she let go of me and moved to the kitchen, pulling
out plates and silverware. She often knew the places I stayed better than I
did. "What about you? How are things down under?"

"Oh ugh," I groaned. "It's
a mess, and I don't know how to fix it because I can't find the source of the
leak!"

"Huh, that sucks, babe," she
sympathized. "Did you hire a private investigator to do some
digging?"

"No, but I'm tempted to do
that," I said as she began dishing up the food. She'd picked up a mix of
Mediterranean dishes that she knew I'd like, and while she dished it up, I
grabbed a two frosty bottles of Brooklyn Ale and popped the caps. "Why? Do
you know anyone down under who does that kind of work?"

"No, but I know someone who would be
happy to go undercover for the price of a luxury suite at the Marks in
Sydney," she laughed.

"Who? You?" I said surprised
that she'd offer to do something she knew nothing about.

"No, silly, I'm not trained to do
that kind of thing, but I do have a friend who is," she said more
seriously. "I'm just saying that if you can't figure out who is leaking
the information, then maybe you need to employ sneakier methods for getting to
the bottom of it."

"And nothing is sneakier than sending
a beautiful woman in to do the job, right?" I grinned.

"Well, you asked." She shrugged
as she brought the bottle to her lips and drank. I sat down next to her and
began eating.

"We'll see what happens," I
said. "What else is new with you? What's going on with
what's-his-name?"

"Who?" she asked.

"The guy you were headed out to
dinner with the last time we ‘rolled in the hay,’ as you so eloquently put
it," I laughed.

"Oh him?" she said. "He was
a nice dinner date, but definitely not the one. He was rude to the wait staff
and you know how little patience I have with that."

"I know, you have exacting standards
for your men," I said seriously.

"Austin, don't mock me!" she
cried. "I'm serious! Manners and kindness are a huge deal to me. It says a
lot about a man when he treats the staff as if they are less than human, and I
don't want to raise a family with someone who has so little respect for
others."

"I see your point, and I'm just
teasing, you know that," I said with a warm smile. "I'm glad you have
high standards, you deserve only the best."

"I deserve you," she laughed. "But
since you and I aren't that kind of duo, I'll have to settle for one of the
lesser men in the world."

"Oh stop it," I grumbled
good-naturedly. "I'm not that great. Well, maybe just a little
great."

"Jackass," she laughed.
"Speaking of which, what about you? What have you found out there? Is
there anyone special in your sights?"

I didn't want to tell Anna about Emily,
but it seemed dishonest not to tell her, so I spent the rest of dinner
replaying the events that had taken place in Sydney. When I was done, Anna
looked at me thoughtfully.

"She's either not that into you
or..." she trailed off.

"Or what? Don't hold back! Tell
me!" I urged. Much like Honey, Anna knew the ins and outs of things, and I
wanted to hear what she had to say.

"Either that or she's in a really
crappy marriage and doesn't have the guts to leave," Anna announced.

"What the hell?" I said. "I
checked her employee files, she claims single on her tax forms."

"That doesn't mean squat," she
waved me off. "Lots of people claim single exemptions on tax forms for a
wide variety of reasons. I'm just saying that she's married or something like
it, and she's not happy, but she's not going to tell you that."

"How do you know these things?"
I said in amazement.

"I don't know, probably because I've
spent a lifetime watching other people do some of the weirdest things
imaginable," she said as she speared a piece of chicken schwarma and
popped it into her mouth. "Not much surprises me anymore, babe."

"So what do I do?" I asked.

"There's not much you can do,"
she said, tilting her head as she smiled at me. "If you pursue her, you're
going to scare her off and come away looking like a billionaire douchebag. Let
her do what she needs to in order to figure out her home life and then see what
happens. I mean, if that's the issue. I could be totally wrong. It's been known
to happen."

I laughed out loud as she said this. Anna
was very rarely wrong about anything. I sat there staring at her until she
looked over at me and waved her hand in my face.

"Yoo hoo, dream boy!" she
called. "Anybody in there?"

I grinned sheepishly as I stood up and
reached out and took her hand, pulling her toward me. It felt good to hold her,
but something wasn't right.

"Austin," she said as she looked
up at me and rested a hand on my cheek. "How about we just curl up on the
couch and watch a movie tonight? Is that okay with you?"

"Sure, if you want to," I said
surprised that she didn't want to head into the bedroom since that's usually
what we did after dining together. "I mean, if that's okay with you."

"Look at me," she said. I looked
down at her smiling at me and I couldn't help but smile back. "I'm not
here just for the wild hot sex, though that is awfully nice if I do say so
myself. I'm here because we're friends and I like being around you, sex or no
sex. So, tonight, let's just hang out and be friends who watch a movie,
okay?"

"Okay, then," I said visibly
relieved. I would have taken Anna to bed if she'd wanted to, I mean, I'm a man
and I have needs, but she wasn't who I really wanted to be with and she knew
it. And, because she was my friend, she was willing to let go of that part of
our relationship until I had figured things out. I looked at her again and then
pulled her tightly against my chest. "You're the best, Anna."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," she said as
she returned the hug. "Tell Mr. Right to get his ass over here and figure
that out, will you?"

As we stood in the dining room holding
tightly to what we'd once been and what we were now becoming, I knew right then
and there that Emily Warner was different from all of the other women I'd ever
dated. She was special and I was going to have to figure out what was keeping
her away from me.

Chapter
Thirty

Emily

I
pulled into the driveway at my mother's house, turned off the car's engine, and
put my head on the steering wheel and for the first time that day, I cried. The
tears fell hot and fast as I felt my heart breaking. I knew down deep that
Tommy wasn't going to change and that no amount of fighting was going to make
this marriage work.

I felt like a failure. I was a grown woman
running back home to her mother despite the fact that, on my wedding day, I'd
sworn up and down that I knew what I was doing and I was sure it would work. My
mother had been skeptical, but she had believed me because I'd always been true
to my word. I felt like I was letting us both down.

I took a deep breath, wiped my eyes, and
put a bright smile on my face as I grabbed my bags and headed in to my mother's
house. If I was going to take time to think about whether my marriage was over,
I was going to do it in a place where I felt safe and loved.

"Emily!" my mother exclaimed as
I walked through the door dragging my bags. "Are you hungry, honey? I've
got tons of leftovers from the banquet. I can fix you a plate real quick."

"Mom," I said and then dropped
the bags and stood in the doorway feeling completely lost. My mother looked
confused for a moment, and then she did what she does best – she kicked into
action and began taking care of me.

"Now, don't just stand in the doorway
staring at me." She smiled as she grabbed the handle of my travel bag.
"Grab that duffle and bring it back to your room. You're in luck, I put
fresh sheets on all the beds today whether they needed them or not!"

I was relieved not to have to think about
anything, so I followed her orders feeling intensely grateful that she wasn't
asking any questions – yet. My mother pulled my bag into the back room and then
went to get me some fluffy towels saying, "You look like you could use a
nice long hot shower."

I stood in the middle of the room, unsure
about what to do next. I knew that once I took my traveling clothes off, I'd be
admitting that things had changed and I didn't know how, so I was trying to
hold on to what was still the same for as long as I could.

"Oh Emily, get out of those clothes
so I can toss them in the washer for you," my mother said as she came back
from the bathroom where she'd turned the taps on and started a shower for me.
"You get cleaned up and I'll make you a plate. When you're ready, come to
the kitchen and eat, okay?"

"Oh Mom," I began.

"No, you shower first and let me make
you some food, then we'll talk about what's got you so riled up that you show
up unannounced." Then she continued more softly, "I'm glad you're
here, baby. Now get to the shower before all the hot water runs out!"

I laughed as I pulled off all of my
clothes. I felt like I'd been in them for days, and it was freeing to hand them
over to my mother for laundering. I grabbed underwear, a t-shirt, and a pair of
shorts out of my duffle bag and made my way to the shower were I stood under
the pounding water until it began to run cold.

I studied myself in the mirror as I dried
off. I was twenty-three, but the past couple of days had made me feel like I
was a decade older. So, I put on the best smile I had and went out to talk with
my mother.

#

"
Mom
,
I'm hungry!" I called as I walked into the kitchen to find her setting the
table. "I thought you were just making me a plate."

"Well, I got going and thought why
not just whip up a meal for both of us," she laughed. The table was set
with butter, jam, honey and syrup and my mother was at the stove watching over
three skillets as she whipped up creamy scrambled eggs, browned greasy sausages
and a fluffy stack of pancakes – breakfast for dinner was my mother’s
specialty. The smell was intoxicating and my stomach started growling as I sat
down and took a sip of juice.

"So, talk to me, baby," she said
as she slid the spatula under a bubbly pancake and quickly flipped it.
"Tell me why you're spending the night at your mother's house and not at
your own."

"Mom, I don't know what to do
anymore," I blurted. "Tommy has changed so much and I can't take care
of him anymore."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"I mean, he slid into a depression
after the injury and he's never come out of it," I said. "I've tried
everything I can think of to get him help, but he's decided that drinking and
rebuilding cars in the back yard is the answer. I'm sick of it."

My mother said nothing as she turned the
sizzling sausages in the pan and stirred the eggs a bit. She added two more
pancakes to the stack and then poured more batter into the pan. I had always
marveled at her ability to multi-task while cooking. She was the only person I
knew who could deliver several plates of steaming hot food to the table all at
the same time, all perfectly cooked.

"Baby girl, you made a promise to
that man when you married him," she said. "Now, you have to do the
best you can to fulfill that promise."

"But, Mom, I didn't sign on for the
drinking or his irresponsibility," I protested.

"That's what marriage is all about,
baby," she said. "You stick with it whether or not it's what you
signed on for, and you find a way to make it work."

I stared at her in disbelief. I'd never
seen my mother so stubbornly unbending, and it was disturbing. My whole life,
she'd been the one who had always seen everyone else's point of view and urged
me to look at different perspectives before rushing to judgment and now, at the
moment when I most needed her to be fair and unbiased, she was digging her
heels in and telling me I didn't have a choice.

"Mom, what's wrong with you?" I
asked quietly.

"Nothing is wrong with me," she
replied tersely. "I'm just telling you that I raised you to be a person
who makes good on your promises, not someone who walks away from things when
you don't like what's happening."

"Mom..." I trailed off unsure of
what to say in response. She wasn't telling me what I wanted to hear, that was
for sure, but she also was being completely unfair.

"Look, not everyone gets the chance
you have to make things right," she said. "You need to get in there
and fight for your marriage and turn things around. You can't just walk
away."

"But what if I'm not happy?" I
asked.

"Who said anything about
happiness?" she shot back. "You're going to find out that life isn't
all about rainbows and sunny skies. Sometimes it's dark and ugly, and that's
when you find out what you're made of."

"Mom..." I said looking at her
helplessly.

"Eat your dinner," she urged as
she piled eggs and sausages on my plate. "It's going to get cold."

I sat across the table looking at the woman
who had raised me, wondering why I suddenly had no idea who she was, as I went
through the motions of eating. By the time I was done, my stomach felt full,
but my heart ached with emptiness.

The way she felt about my marriage
confused me, and I wasn't about to tell her about the added complication of
Austin Marks. She'd never understand.