Page 1 of Open for Negotiation
Chapter 1
Scarlett
What do you wear on the first day back at work after fucking your boss in the front seat of his car?
Should I go all out and make him eat his heart out? Or do I dress as basic as company policy will allow in order to not turn his eyes toward me, because this cannot happen again. That thought plagued me all morning.
I wanted what happened in his car, of course. If I hadn’t, it wouldn’t have happened. I wanted it again as soon as we were done the first time but clearer heads, and a parking garage attendant, prevailed.
We drove back to Fortress, my place of employment and his company, in silence, accompanied only by the soft rhythm of some 90s era alternative rock ballad crooning from the speakers and the smell of sex in the air. I didn’t even give him a chance to say anything to me when he pulled into his marked spot in our company parking lot. I was out of the car before the wheels stopped rolling with a simple, “Thanks for the ride.”
I wasn’t embarrassed. Not at all.
I was scared.
Scared because history tends to repeat itself. Scared he may view me differently on a professional level. Scared this may have ruined something great I have going in this field.
But as scared as I am, and as antsy as I was all weekend long, I can’t wait to see him. Even this morning, I stand in my closet, staring at two different outfits before deciding to just go for it. If I am going to be nervous, the least I can do is look like I’m not. Ultimately, I decide on a short, black-and-white dress with my favorite pair of heels that I save for when I want to kick ass or need a boost of confidence.
But nothing can explain my decision to go without panties today.
I guess it’s the devil on my shoulder reminding me that, while I know it can’t happen again, I want it to… badly.
He didn’t come back into the office Friday after he dropped me off. None of us heard from him at all, outside of the email he sent to the entire staff letting them know we had gotten the resort contract. He even named me personally, saying it was all thanks to me and my portion of the presentation.
He was physically absent, but he was present in my thoughts all weekend long. From dreams about those green eyes and his hands on my hips to lost moments when I’d zone off while cleaning my house, thinking of his grunts in my ear when he came inside of me.
Frankly, it was pissing me off. I am a strong, independent woman who should have learned her lesson by now. Never let unavailable men get under your skin.Nothing can come of it.
My best friend, Eden’s, words play in my head. She’s been in my corner for years and guided me through one hell of a mess I made in college.
The jolt of the elevator coming to a stop, to allow a few people to get off, pulls me back to the here and now. My eyes move skyward and watch the light illuminate each floor number as we begin to rise higher and higher again until we reach the top—floor twenty-five. The home of Fortress, the most well-respected architectural firm in the Southeast… maybe even the country.
Sometimes I think I spend more time in this building than I do in my own apartment.
Honestly, that’s probably very accurate.
It’s early in the morning, so the office isn’t bustling like it will be in an hour or so when the clock strikes eight and the official workweek begins.
I just needed to get here early, get into my cube, and hopefully go unnoticed. The odds of someone knowing what happened between us are slim, but I swear, I can feel the eyes on me. I don’t do well in circumstances like this.
Garrett, my self-proclaimed work husband, is waiting for me by my desk when I round the corner into my department.
"Looks like you have some explaining to do," he says, crossing his arms over his chest.
My mind immediately explodes into a thousand different scenarios, all of them the absolute worst-case variety. Does he know about Max and me? How?
"Um, what are you talking about?" I ask, trying to play it cool.
"Don't pretend like you don't know exactly what I'm talking about, you little sneak." He narrows his eyes at me as I walk by.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
He knows. We couldn't even go a single day without someone finding out. Sometimes I hate this town. Everyone is always in everyone's business... somehow. You'd think being in a large city that wouldn't happen, but nope, it's like a fucking sewing circle.
"Look, Garrett, I don't know what…"
“I was out on Friday and I had to hear from an email when I checked this morning that you scored the resort project?”
