“What’s there to talk about, Slate?” She crossed her arms over her chest.
“You’ll find out at dinner.”
“I already have plans. I’m meeting Wyatt’s friends tonight. I would much rather do that than spend another moment talking to you.” She walked into her office and shut the door in my face.
Fuck, maybe I was too late.
I didn’t sleep much that night.
I kept wondering if she’d slept over at his place.
Was she fucking him as I sat there on the couch?
Did she prefer him over me?
Did she really hate me?
The next morning, I went to her office again, this time earlier. There was no way she was having lunch with Wyatt two days in a row, so the odds played in my favor. I checked in with her assistant then moved to her office door.
Just like yesterday, Monroe didn’t look happy to see me. “Have you ever heard of a phone?”
“Would you have answered if I called?”
“I’d probably do the exact same thing you did to me,” she said coldly.
I deserved that—big-time. “Have lunch with me.”
“I’ll pass.” She turned back to her computer and ignored me in the doorway.
“Then I’ll just stand here.”
“I’m pretty sure that’s a fire hazard.”
“Then maybe we should have this conversation at lunch—away from your coworkers.”
She turned in her desk chair and gave me a cold look. “You aren’t the boss of me anymore, Slate. You paid for a service and received that service. Now I’m just a regular person like everyone else—and I don’t owe you anything.”
She backhanded me without raising her wrist. “Sweetheart, please.”
She rolled her eyes. “Don’t ever call me that again.”
That stung too. “I’m not going to go away.”
“Security can take care of that.”
“And I can take care of security. I’m not going to disappear, so you may as well cooperate.”
She logged out of her computer and rose from her seat. “Fine.” She grabbed her purse and walked out with me, moving fast in her heels so she could keep distance between us.
We left the building and headed to the deli we’d been before.
She made sure to pay for her own food before she sat down.
I didn’t fight her on it. I sat across from her but ignored my sandwich, knowing I had an enormous task in front of me.
She unwrapped her sandwich and took a bite, unaffected by this conversation. She hadn’t seemed surprised to see me show up at her office, both yesterday and today. She only seemed annoyed. “What is it, Slate?”
I’d worked so hard to get her attention for fifteen minutes, but now that I was there, I didn’t know where to start. I didn’t even know what I wanted. All I knew was I didn’t like the idea of her and Wyatt together.
“Slate?” she pressed, losing her patience. “You’ve pestered me for my attention, and now you have it. So what do you want?”
I forgot how beautiful she was, especially when she was pissed. Her bright eyes burned like smoldering embers, and her full lips were tight with rage. I’d been alone for the last few weeks, and instead of fantasizing about old lovers or porn, I always pictured her. “I’m sorry I was such an asshole to you.”
“It’s fine,” she said quickly. “I got over it.”
“I’m sorry all the same.”
She took another bite of her sandwich. “You warned me this would happen. It’s my fault for not listening to you. I thought you were just wounded, and once that wound finally healed, you would let someone in. But I was wrong…you’re just an asshole. And that’s fine. If that’s who you want to be, then be that person.”
“It’s not who I want to be…” I’d never tried to be anything in particular. I just wanted to cut out the bullshit. I just wanted sex without worrying about betrayal. I wanted a foolproof way to make sure I was never publicly humiliated again.
“Doesn’t seem that way.”
I wanted to ask about Wyatt, but I felt like I had no right. It was none of my business what she did in her personal life. When she asked if I’d been with someone else, I refused to give her an answer.
“If that’s all you wanted, I would rather take my food to go.”
“You hate me that much?” I asked, wounded. She couldn’t even share a meal with me.
“No.” She looked me in the eye, her rage dying away slightly. “That’s how much you hurt me, Slate.”
I felt like she punched me in the gut.
“I thought we had something more than sex. I thought we had a connection. I thought I meant something to you…you certainly meant something to me. But then you dumped me in the coldest way possible—you wouldn’t even take my phone call. It was like the previous month never happened. Obviously, I meant nothing to you. No one would treat someone like that if that weren’t true.”