Chapter 8

When Beth wakes up the next morning, she doesn’t jump out of bed like she normally would. Instead, she lays there staring at the ceiling. Thoughts and unanswered questions race around her head and refuse to leave. She keeps replaying Adrian asking her to work for him, over and over again. And all she can think is, why?

Why is he interested in her? Why did he have her followed? Can she really work for a guy that thinks it’s okay to do something like that? He’s clearly a type-A control freak. The kind of person she should stay the heck away from.

The money made her want to say yes on the spot, but she knows she owes herself a moment to consider the cons of the situation. There are probably tons. For starters, she knows nothing about him except that she makes rash decisions around him, and that he disables her logic with just a look in her eyes. Her heartbeat is never steady around him, and it always inclines her to do something reckless, impulsive. So in what world is it a good idea for her to work for him?

The cautious side of her brain keeps telling her that her best bet is to decline the offer and save herself from whatever heartache may lie ahead. While the other part is saying that she should be kissing his feet in gratitude for offering her a job where she’ll be earning more than double her current salary.

She doesn’t know what to listen to but she’s certain that accepting his offer means being in his debt and that bothers her. That many zeros would come at a cost. They always do. She’s spent her entire life working hard for every penny she earned just to stay one step ahead of poverty. So the thought of just taking this job offer that she didn’t work for feels so foreign. Although he tried to convince her that he believes she’s qualified for the job, she can’t get herself to believe him. The job offer is just a guise to give her the money he’d offered first.

But then, she really needs the money, not just for her brother’s medical fees but also for the student loans she’s yet to pay off which she can barely afford to take care of with her current job. She sighs and stretches her arms above her head. She reaches over to grab her phone to check her texts but pauses when she sees the time. “Shit. I'm going to be late to work if I don’t get my ass out of bed.”

She jerks out of her bed and hurries to brush her teeth. Half an hour later, she’s ready to leave.

She’s almost out of the house when it occurs to her that she won’t have time to grab a cup of coffee on her way to work like she normally would. She hurries to the kitchen and heats a kettle of coffee, and she mixes in a bit of cream after she’s transferred it into a paper cup. She spares a quick glance at a mirror before dashing out.

****

“So are you going to take it?” Iris asks between mouthfuls.

Beth’s eyes are glued to the table as she plays with her salad. She’d just finished narrating everything that happened yesterday to Iris, right from the interview with Adrian Dane to him offering her a job. She needs to hear her best friend tell her what she already knows. The truth is she has plenty of good reasons to accept the job, yet she finds herself hesitating. “Maybe. I don’t know.” She looks up at Iris. “What do you think?”

“What do I think about working with a man who’s basically walking sex and who’s also loaded with cash?”

Iris gives her a disbelieving look.

Beth can’t help laughing. “Those aren’t good enough reasons to make such a drastic change.”

Iris shrugs. Sometimes she is profound. Sometimes she’s not. She doesn’t much care either way. It’s one of the reasons Beth loves her, and one of the things she admires about her. No matter what else she might be, at the end of the day, Iris is always Iris.

“But accepting the job means I won’t be working with you anymore.”

Iris had been her life raft through her most difficult times. They’ve been inseparable since they were paired together as roommates in college. They’d mapped out their futures so things would remain that way– applying to the same company after college, remaining roommates until they could afford to buy neighbouring matching houses with white picket fences, and, eventually have little boys born within a week of each other.

“Nothing can ever come between us. Not even a six-foot-four billionaire. Besides, we're still roomies.” Iris places her idle hand on Beth’s. “I’ll support whatever decision you make. And I know you could do with the extra cash.”

Beth smiles and squeezes Iris’s hand. While explaining the events of yesterday to Iris, she had to come clean about what she was doing at the bar. And Iris had been completely cool about the whole thing. “You’re amazing.”

“Tell me something I don’t know.” Iris returns her smile and they both resume eating their lunches.

Beth’s phone starts vibrating on the table but she just stares at it, reluctant to pick the call up. She’d ignored a call from her mom this morning. But she’d texted Alex right after to make sure he was okay and that she wasn’t calling because there was an emergency.

“Beth.” Iris raises an eyebrow at her. “Your mom’s calling. Again.” She holds out the phone to Beth.

She shakes her head till Iris puts it back down. “I can’t right now. I’m pretty sure she’s calling because she’s sensed that something’s off.”

“You shouldn’t make her worry,” Iris says softly.

“It’s okay. I’m going to visit her this weekend. I’ll explain everything then.” She sucks at lying to her mom and she can’t properly explain to her mom her choice to quit the job that had seemed like a miracle when she got it.

“Oh. I’ve been so preoccupied with my own shit I haven’t asked about your date with the neighbour. What’s his name?” Beth asks, deliberately shifting subjects.

“Connor.” She shrugs and avoids looking at Beth. “It was nice.”

Beth never thought she’d see the day. In all the years Beth has known Iris, she had never seen that look in her eyes.

“You like him.” Beth’s statement comes out like a question because she’s not entirely sure what to think. Despite Iris’s constant speeches about settling down and having children running around a big house, she hardly sticks with a guy long enough to have a second date with him much less be in a relationship.

A small smile creeps on her face. “He’s okay.”

Beth’s jaw drops. She’s stunned into silence.

“Stop looking at me like that.” A blush creeps up Iris’s neck. “He’s just not like the other guys I’ve been with,” she says.

“What do you mean?”

Iris tilts her chin. “He’s charming and funny in this oddly genuine way," she says with a wistful smile on her face.

“Wow.” This is more serious than Beth imagined. She decides to let her friend off the hook. “Keep me posted on that.”

“Oh, I will,” Iris laughs.

****

Beth leans back in her chair and groans audibly.

Writing an article on the man that’s been plaguing her dreams is no easy task but she’s determined to finish the article before handing in her resignation notice. After her conversation with Iris over lunch, she’d pretty much decided to accept the offer but she still has to speak to her mom.

She looks at her watch and notices it’s time to head home. She’ll have to deal with the article next week. She stands, packing up to leave the office.

Her cell phone rings, demanding her attention. She frowns at the unknown number on the screen. She’s always hesitant to pick up calls from unknown numbers. It rings for the third time so she gives in and answers it. Better to handle it than end up with a voice mail she’ll have to deal with later.

“Beth,” a silken male voice says after she says hello. “It’s Adrian.”

Of course he has her number, even though she never gave it to him.

“Hi.” The word sails out on an exhaled breath, and she’d unintentionally added a second syllable. Maybe he’d assume the husk in her voice was because she’d been sleeping. Which made her imagine being in bed. Which made her wonder if he was. She stood and began pacing across the room. “How did you get this number?” she asks even though she knows it’s pointless. They’ve only met twice but somehow he knows everything about her.

“The same way I’ve gotten every other piece of information about you,” he replies in a calm tone.

She says the first thing that pops in her head. “I really don’t have time for your games today.”

His hearty chuckle fills her ears. “Rough day at work?”

Rough day? Is he serious? Of course she’s had a rough day, after everything he dumped on her yesterday.

“Anything I can do to help, sweetheart?”

Sweetheart? She hates that something as simple as Adrian calling her sweetheart makes her heart flip-flop inside of her chest. But it does. Stupid heart. The damn thing doesn’t have a clue. She clears her throat, ignoring her body’s reaction to his sweet sentiments.

“Mr. Dane, w-why did you call me?”

“I wanted to hear your voice.” His voice is low and sensual and despite everything she’s been telling herself, it curls through her like liquid heat.

“Oh,” she says stupidly.

“Also, I want you to have my number. I expect you to use it soon when you’re ready to accept my offer.”

“When?” She rolls her eyes. How presumptuous of him. How is he so sure she’ll take the job?

“Yes, ‘when’, Ms. Parsons,” he says in an amused voice.

“Do you always get what you want?”

“I do. Especially when the desire is mutual.”

“It’s not,” she lies.

“Really?” She hears the interest in his voice. This is a game to him. She’s a game to him. The thought pisses her off, and she’s grateful. Anger can help clear the fog of desire clouding her mind.

“Really.”

His low chuckle rocks through her making her body react in all sorts of dirty ways. “I guess we’ll have to see about that.”

She opens her mouth, then shuts it again because she has absolutely no idea what to say.

“I’ll be expecting your call. Goodnight, Beth.” She can hear the smile in his voice as he ends the call.

What a conceited asshole.

She doesn’t know what Adrian Dane wants from her, but it doesn’t matter because it’s not going anywhere.