I scrub a hand through my hair. “Big help, thanks.” I eye a deli across the street and decide to cross over to get a sandwich for lunch.
“You’re welcome!” Mac says brightly, ignoring my sarcasm. “Oh, hey, you know what I just realized? Isn’t it crazy how you and Jamie both hooked up with random guys at a club and then they both happened to be people you actually meet in real life? Isn’t that nuts? Maybe Spencer Cox will end up being the love of your life too!”
“Yeah, I really doubt that will happen,” I say with an eye roll. “But speaking of Jamie—you can’t tell him about this.”
“Why?”
“Because he and Shay know You Know Who,” I say as I cross over with the bustle of other pedestrians.
“They know Voldemort?”
I groan at her ridiculous joke. “No, you idiot. They know my boss. And I promised I wouldn’t tell anyone but I really needed to tell someone, so you’re it.”
“I feel so flattered.”
“You should.”
I disconnect the call as I step inside the deli, spending the rest of my lunch break trying—and failing—not to fantasize about my incredibly attractive new boss and all the dirty things I want to do with him.
Fortunately, the tasks Maya has for me for the rest of the day keep me too busy to fantasize about Spencer. It seems Maya’s been working double time, juggling the PA load for both the Coxes ever since “that crazy bitch”—as Maya puts it—was fired a couple months ago, and now that I’m here she’s more than happy to offload as much extra work as she can.
“I don’t mean to pry, but…” I can’t stop myself from saying after the third time Maya mentions my predecessor.
She glances up from her rapid typing. “But you’re going to hear all the gossip anyway so you may as well get the full scoop from someone in the know.”
I shrug. “Something like that.”
She pushes her chair a bit farther back so she can look at me properly. “Look, I know what they’re all saying about Spence out there.” She gestures vaguely behind her head and I can only assume she means ‘out there’ as in ‘out in the wider world.’ “None of it’s true, though.”
“That’s what I’ve heard. And I’m not saying I don’t believe it…just…how does anyone know for sure?”
She shrugs. “I’ve known Spence for a long time, and I also knew Amelia—anyone who knows both of them has no issue telling who’s lying.”
I frown, thinking about what Spencer mentioned about being closeted. “Knowing someone a long time doesn’t necessarily make you privy to all their secrets.”
“That’s true. But there’s secrets, and then there’s what someone’s like deep down inside. Spencer might be a private person about certain things, but he’s not a user or a predator or anything else that crazy bitch is making him out to be.”
Well that’s interesting. I wonder if Maya knows more about Spencer’s sexuality than he’s aware of...
“Did you two ever…”
Maya’s brows shoot up. “Me and Spence?” She lets out a peal of laughter. “No, definitely not.”
“You make it sound like that was a ridiculous question. You two are both totally hot, you’re not related—what stopped you?”
Her laugh isn’t quite so hysterical this time, more like wryly amused. “Ok, well I guess it wasn’t that ridiculous. Truthfully, when I first started here I was definitely smitten with him—I mean hello! But Spencer never gets involved with people he works with. That’s his number one rule and I’ve never seen him break it. So my little crush went away pretty quickly, and now he’s just one of my best friends.” The amusement in her eyes dies as her expression morphs into one of concern. “You okay, Will? You look like you’re about to be sick.”
“Oh, um, I think that sandwich I had for lunch is doing something funny to my stomach—I’m just going to…”
Without finishing my sentence, I shoot out of my chair and make a hasty beeline for the bathrooms. When I get there, I run the cold water tap for a bit and splash some over my face. I don’t even know why I’m freaking out; Spencer assured me my job is safe. What happened the other night was a completely innocent case of not-realizing-we-were-about-to-become-boss-and-employee and that’s all there is to it. From now on things will be completely professional, I’ll stop fantasizing about fucking him again and just do my job like a normal person. Everything will be fine…
6
Spencer
“Ow…” I let out a groan of agony as I’m once again tackled to the ground, this time by two-hundred pounds of Deacon Stapleton, our hooker and one of the biggest players in our team.
“Jesus, Spence, that’s the third time tonight,” Charlie says as I gingerly pull myself up off the grass. I don’t miss the hint of amusement in his tone.
And Charlie’s not the only one who seems to find my case of the yips amusing. I glare at the rest of my team, who are all standing around grinning. We don’t have enough regular members to make up a full seven-on-seven scrimmage at our practices, but we’re able to make do and run through the plays. Or at least, we usually are.
“Why the hell are you all just standing around grinning like idiots?” I demand. “Skyler! I knocked the ball forward—one of your guys should have picked it up and run it over the try line by now.”
Skyler Mason, our reserve back who usually acts as opposing fly half for these training drills, immediately loses his goofy smile and straightens up all stiff and tall as if he’s been scolded by the principal.
That seems to make everyone laugh even more and I just give an exasperated shake of my head. “Fuck it. Let’s call it a night—back here Thursday.”
“Man, you were off your game tonight,” Sullivan Stapleton—Deacon’s older brother and one of my closest friends—says with a commiserating shake of his head as we’re making our way off the field after practice. “Everything good, Spence?”
I rake a hand through my hair, letting out a frustrated groan. “Everything’s…urgh.”
“Wow, that clarified things,” Sully says wryly.
I let out a sigh of resignation. “Okay. Fine.” I quickly check the area to make sure no one’s within earshot and then lower my voice for good measure. “Let me ask you something—have you ever been in a situation where you’ve…inadvertently slept with an employee?” Sullivan runs his own investment bank, so of all my friends he has the most insight into my world as the head of a company.
His brows shoot into his hairline. “How do you inadvertently sleep with someone?”
“I didn’t know they’d been hired at the time. Technically they only started working for me two days later.”
He rubs a hand over his neatly trimmed dark beard, eyeing me curiously. “Does this have something to do with that Amelia girl? I thought you said that was all BS?”
“That was BS,” I say through gritted teeth. “This is something else. Someone else.”