I put down my pen and gazed frankly at him. “Yes. That might be because I didn’t get everything done today that I needed to. Care to speculate as to why that might be the case?”
He grinned. “I love it when you go all British. But hey, it’s not all my fault. You can’t pin this all on me.” He held up his phone. “I have the proof right here.”
I sighed. “Seriously, though, I need to get this done.”
Chandler nodded. “Then here’s an idea. Why don’t I go home and get started on dinner, and when you’re done, you join me?” He smiled. “I’ll even run you a bath or give you a massage when you get there.”
That sounded wonderful.
“You’re on. I should only be another hour.”
Chandler came into the room, walked around to my side of the desk, and bent down to kiss me on the lips. “I’ll be waiting,” he murmured. “There’ll be dinner in the oven, and me naked on the couch. How does that sound?”
I cupped the back of his head and drew him into a deeper kiss. “Perfect,” I whispered against his lips. Then I swatted his butt. “Now get out of here so I can work.”
Chandler laughed. “You got it, boss. Just don’t stay so late that the cleaning staff are pushing you out of here with their brooms.” He left the office, closing the door behind him.
I didn’t mind the distractions. I didn’t mind that I had to stay late. It was all worth it, knowing there was someone waiting for me to get home.
The door opened, and I grinned. “You can’t stay away, can—” I clammed up as Dean Porter entered the room. I frowned. The office had closed half an hour ago, and Fiona had been the last one to leave, apart from Chandler, of course. “Mr. Porter. Is there something I can do for you?”
He smiled. “Yeah, actually, there is. I’m here to discuss my promotion—and my raise, of course.”
I blinked. “And what promotion would that be?”
His smile faded. “The one you’re going to give me so that I don’t tell everyone you’re fucking Chandler.”
Chapter 10
Stu
Fuck.
I did my best to look affronted. “I beg your pardon?”
He sniffed the air. “Damn, your air freshener is good. Chandler’s only just left, and I can’t smell a thing in here. No one would ever guess what you’ve been up to.” He waggled his eyebrows. “That’s assuming you weren’t banging Chandler on the boardroom table.”
Okay, that was a little too close for comfort. Either he was a damn good guesser or he had cameras set up. Then I dismissed that idea. Dean wasn’t that much of a planner. He was just an asshole.
An opportunistic asshole.
“‘What I’ve been up to?’ What, you mean working late?” I gestured to the files in front of me. “And I don’t know what delusional, lewd scenario your mind has concocted, but all that’s going on here is work, as you can see. Now, please explain yourself, because you’re not making any sense.”
Dean grinned. “Hey, not that I blame you for taking advantage. I mean, if one of my employees sent me a dick pic, I’d be up for milking the situation for all it’s got too.”
So he knows about that. Only one way that could happen—Chandler had told him. Worse, he’d shown it to him. But why the fuck would he do that?
“The way I see it,” Dean continued, “you tried a little coercion to get what you wanted. You’ve pretty much got Chandler over a barrel, right? I mean, he could be canned for sure. The way I figure it, all those times when Chandler’s been late leaving the office—yeah, I have noticed—were when you decided to make demands on him, shall we say.” He glanced at my desk, smirking. “Like that time I came back last week, and you had that coughing fit? Yeah, that all makes sense now.” He rotated his tongue inside his cheek, and God, I wanted so badly to smack him in the mouth.
“I don’t know what you think is happening here,” I began, enunciating carefully, “but I fail to see what it has to do with you.”
Dean arched his eyebrows. “I’m pretty sure you don’t want everyone around here finding out what you’ve been up to. I’m sure they’d be very interested to learn Chandler is only holding onto his job because you’re fucking him. Not exactly the right way to run a business, I’d say. Downright unethical, in fact. So here’s what I propose. I get promoted—and no one discovers your dirty little secret. You can screw Chandler on the boardroom table every chance you get.” His eyes gleamed. “Sounds like a win-win situation to me.”
Right then, I was fervently wishing I was better informed about HR policies. Then it hit me. What does Dean know about HR? “Supposing everything you’ve said is true—not that I’m admitting a damn thing—What makes you think anyone would be remotely interested?” I locked gazes with him. “On the other hand, what you’re doing amounts to blackmail, assuming your suppositions have any basis in fact.” Then I reconsidered. It was still blackmail even if his assumptions were a complete fantasy.
Dean cackled. “One. You’ve got no proof this conversation ever took place, and I’d deny it. Two. I’m pretty damn certain a boss coercing an employee into a sexual relationship would do a hell of a lot of damage to the company’s reputation. Now, I’m sure you wanna keep this pleasant, so the way I see it, giving me a promotion is a small price to pay.”
God, he looked smug.
“But hey, you don’t have to make a decision right this second,” Dean said breezily. “I can wait until… tomorrow morning for the good news.” He beamed. “I know you’ll see my way makes sense. Like I said, win-win for everyone. Have a great night.” And with that, he gave me a cheery wave, the bastard, before walking out of the office.
I sagged into my chair. Now what in the hell do I do? I tried to clear my mind and look at the situation logically. Dean’s attempt at blackmail was tenuous at best. Okay, so I’d crossed a line—for that matter, so had Chandler—but neither of us had done anything illegal, for Christ’s sake. Dean had definitely crossed a line, and whatever came out of this mess, he wouldn’t be continuing with the company, that was for certain.
I need to know where I stand. Then I corrected myself. Where we stand. Because Chandler and I were in this together.
I looked up the contact details for HR, and made a note of Hugh Peters’s phone number, hoping he’d be okay to take a call that evening. I wanted this clear in my head before seeing Dean the following day. And that was another thing. He had no proof that Chandler and I were doing anything, except for that dick pic. I needed to know if he’d seen it, because if not, that cast a different light on the whole affair.
For what I had in mind I would definitely need proof.
Right then, however, that could wait. Chandler was expecting me for dinner, and we had talking to do. It would be my job to point out this wasn’t as bad as it sounded. Except part of me knew what his reaction was going to be.
He is going to freak. And I couldn’t blame him in the slightest.
Chandler.