“It’s something.” I bit my tongue to prevent myself from saying this event was basic as hell. The food was overcooked, the theme (Old Hollywood) was nonexistent, and most of the decorations were outdated. The “star” of the event was an Elvis impersonator, and I was finally accepting that Preston would always be the best hotelier this city had ever seen.
“Mr. Kline has been working with me for a full decade now,” he said. “He’s someone you can learn a lot from since you’re so eager to do work all the time.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Miss Lauren.” Mr. Kline extended his hand, as my boss walked away. “How long have you been working at Marriott?”
“Too long already.”
“What’s that?”
“A little over three weeks.”
“Ah,” he said, still shaking my hand, slowly caressing the back of it with his thumb. “Well, if you ever want to learn a few things from someone with some experience, I’m always available. Mr. Greywood has told me that you’re quite ambitious.”
I damn near vomited as I jerked my hand away. “If you think that I’m willing to fuck you to get a leg up in this industry, you’re sadly mistaken,” I said. “I’ve already worked with the best brand in the business, and I’m just here to take notes and see why businesses like yours never catch up.”
“Excuse me?”
“I thought it would take me a year, but it’s only taken three weeks.”
“Well, then.” He narrowed his eyes at me. “I can see exactly why Preston Parker let you go. You don’t know your place. Typical of women in this industry anyway.”
I rolled my eyes.
“Don’t be surprised if Mr. Greywood has a long talk with you Monday.”
“Don’t be surprised if I no longer work there Monday.”
Unable to come up with something else to say, he cleared his throat and walked away.
I pulled up my two weeks’ notice again, redrafting it from the very beginning. I was three paragraphs into my thoughts, when I felt a familiar set of hands wrap around my waist. All of a sudden, I remembered those hands owning me in front of a mirror, holding me against a desk, and pinning me against a glass table.
“I’m really starting to think that you do hate me,” Preston whispered, setting every nerve in my body on fire in seconds. “How else can you explain making me come to some sad shit like this, just to catch a glimpse of you?”
He spun me around, and my words stalled on my lips as I looked him over. Dressed in the immaculate grey suit and sparkling cufflinks he was wearing on the first day we met, he was making every woman on the roof stare in his direction.
His green eyes were rendering me speechless all over again, and my heart was racing a mile a minute.
“I hope you’re not here to say that you’re sorry,” I said. “You’re wasting your time because I don’t forgive you.”
He raised his eyebrow, not saying anything.
“I don’t appreciate the way you talked to me in your office the last time we spoke or the way you tossed me out like it was nothing,” I said. “I also don’t appreciate the fact that you can’t go one day—like one day, without texting and calling me nonstop, like I’m still your assistant.”
“I texted and called you far more when you were my assistant.”
“That’s not the point. You’ve said everything in those hundreds of messages and emails except the two words I highly doubt you’ll ever say. So, as sexy as you are, and as much as I do miss feeling you inside of me and hanging out with Violet—”
“I’m sorry.” He interrupted me, tightening his grip on my waist. “I’m sorry, Tara.”
“For not giving me a chance to tell you my side of the story?”
“For not telling you how much I cared about you sooner.” He looked into my eyes. “I should’ve said it a long time ago.”
“Weeks ago?”
“Years ago,” he said. “The first two months you worked for me.”
“You had a hell of a way of showing it.”
“Come back, and I’ll do it better.”
“You have Taylor now.”
“I have my fifth Taylor now.” He smiled and held me even closer. “I’ll do whatever it takes to get you back. I just want you back.”
“Are you not sorry for kicking me out of your office as well?”
“I am,” he said, looking genuine. “And I’m even sorrier for the past few weeks, since a certain someone has done the one thing that always gets to me. The one thing I more than deserved.”
“Hating you?”
“Ignoring me.” He smiled. “I can’t take it anymore.”
“Well, I’ve moved on to someone else, so you may want to let go of me before he gets back.”
“I’m not even going to entertain that line of conversation,” he said, smirking. “It’s one thing to downgrade your job, but you wouldn’t dare downgrade me.”
“It’s not a downgrade just because he doesn’t have a billion dollars.”
“It’s a downgrade because he doesn’t exist.” He rubbed his hands against my back. “I’m not leaving until you tell me that we can pick up where we left off.”
“And if I say that we can’t?”
“You’d be lying, but I’d just show up at your job Monday and ask you again.”
“I won’t be there Monday,” I said, smiling. “I’ve learned all that I’m going to learn there, and I’m going to pre-date my two weeks’ notice.”
He looked stunned. “Does that mean you’re coming back?”
“Hell no,” I said, feeling his lips brush against mine. “I’ll never work for you again.”
“I’m a much better boss now.”
“No, the hell you’re not.” I laughed. “I only took this job, so I could learn how to be in a different role, so when I have my own company, I’ll have a good understanding of what each C-level executive does. It wasn’t personal, Preston.”
“I know that now,” he said. “What do I have to do to get you back?”
“You can start by kissing me,” I said. “I’ll have to create a short-list and put it on your desk for the rest.”
His lips immediately met mine, and my back hit the roof’s railing as he slipped his tongue between my lips, as he took his time exploring every inch of my mouth. He caressed my sides as he kissed me harder, and I completely forgot that we were in public.
For several minutes, it was just us, and it was like we were in his office all over again.
When he finally tore away from me, I was struggling to catch my breath, and everyone on the roof was staring at us.
Completely unfazed by the attention, Preston smiled and clasped my hand. “I think we need to finish this elsewhere,” he said, leading me right through a crowd of open-mouthed Marriott executives. “We should also compromise on the idea of you working for me again.”
“I just told you that I'd never work for you again.”
“Did you hear the word compromise?”