I Do

“Zoe was…is an opportunist and my brother, God bless his heart, was just too much in love to notice what Zoe Sanders was doing with him. I think that I have been with so many women who only saw me as a quick way to make cash that I am immune to them. But Noah, he was the brains of the family. Polite little thing, you know. He wears his heart on his sleeve and Zoe took that for weakness. I’m just glad that he agreed to a prenuptial agreement.”

“That was smart of him,” she said in a soft voice.

She caught a glance of her phone and gasped.

“I should probably go. We have taken burning the midnight oil to a whole new degree,” she said and he smiled.

“I’m sorry I kept you so late.”

She shook her head as she cleared the take-out boxes from the desk and tossed them into the waste paper basket.

“Don’t be.” She shrugged. “It is good to feel needed and valued in the workplace. I am still getting used to the whole thing.”

“Pure bliss, huh?” he asked as he looked at her.

“Yeah, I guess you could say that.”

He stood up and looked at his desk.

“I feel terrible about leaving the place like this.”

“Don’t be. It is my job to make sure you have a presentable workplace.”

He helped her with organizing the desk despite her fighting him to let her do her job. It took just a few minutes to get the place back to a civilized level.

“See, a task shared goes that much faster,” he said in a soft voice as she grabbed her phone and notepad off the desk.

“Yes, but if you go on helping me then it will not make any sense for you to pay me.”

“I could dock your pay if that will make you feel more comfortable with this situation,” he said as he grabbed his jacket from the hanger before they walked to the door. She smiled and shook her head.

“Well, you do that and I will definitely end up homeless,” she said as he walked towards her.

She turned around to look at him and regretted it immediately. She was leaning against the door and he was standing right in front of her. He was not moving or anything. He was just standing there, looking right into her eyes.

“Thanks for all your help,” he said in a whisper.

“It…it was a pleasure. I was just doing my job anyway.”

She was also whispering and her heart was racing.

“Do you want me to take you home?” he asked and she shook her head.

“No, I drove here…. My car…. Parking lot.”

She was having a hard time talking. It was like somehow, the thing that used to come so naturally just couldn’t happen anymore. Her heart skipped a beat when he leaned in and his arm brushed against her waist. She closed her eyes and just waited for what would come next, even though she knew that it was bad, a very bad idea. It was then that she heard the unmistakable ‘click’ as the door opened. She opened her eyes to find him smiling at her.

“You need to move if we have any chance of getting out of this building tonight,” Ethan said in a soft voice.

Josie forced out a laugh and moved aside so that he could pull the door open and like the gentleman he was, he waited for her to walk out before he followed her out. She was quiet as she picked up her bag from her desk and then began walking towards the elevator.

“It is important that you get enough rest before tomorrow,” Ethan said as they waited for the elevator doors to open. “I mean, considering what time it is, you are probably going to sleep at around what? One thirty? Two?”

She nodded.

“Yeah, maybe.”

The elevator doors opened and he stepped inside.

“Well, come on. This car isn’t leaving without you,” he said smiling, his hand on the elevator doors, preventing them from closing. “I will not be coming in until ten. So, you can take your time and rejuvenate.”

She looked at him and shook her head.

“No, I can still…” she started and he looked at her, one hand in his pocket.

“I am the head of a multi-billion-dollar empire. My assistant cannot and will not be moving around this place all zombied out waiting for her next caffeine fix.”

She smiled.

“Get some rest. I’ll see you later in the day,” he said just as the elevator doors opened.

“Later in the day?” she asked.

“Yeah, it’s past midnight and that means that it is already tomorrow…you know what I mean.”

Josie smiled as they walked out of the elevator. She felt a chill run down her spine when she saw the almost empty parking lot. She was secretly happy that he had walked her to the parking lot because she was deathly afraid of the dark, especially empty parking lots.

“You okay here?” he asked when they got to her old Yaris.

“Yeah, thanks.”

He waited until she got inside and started the engine before he walked to his own car. She noticed another car in the parking lot that looked like it had been waiting for them and she panicked. She locked her doors and reached for her phone to call Ethan.

“Josie,” he said when he picked up.

“There is another car in the lot and whoever it is just started their engine after you did,” she said in a whisper.

“Oh, that’s my security detail,” Ethan said. “Also, you don’t have to whisper. They can’t hear you over the phone.”

Josie felt silly as she pulled out of the parking spot.

“Goodnight, Mr. Beckett.”

“Good morning, Miss Johnson,” he said before he hung up.

Josie did not know why she had a silly grin on her face as she drove home but she did know one thing for sure. She was for the first time noticing just how attractive Ethan was. When she lay in bed that night, she closed her eyes and replayed the events of that night. The way Ethan had moved close to her. He had been so close that she could still smell him on her. At the back of her mind, she knew that her thoughts were less than appropriate but she just could not help herself. Ethan Beckett had that kind of effect on her.

“What the fu*k, Josie?” she wondered as she lay in bed, grabbing locks of her hair.

She could not let herself go there. He was her boss. Not just another guy she met on the street or in a pub. She needed to let the whole situation go. Sooner than later.