Evie I’VE EXPERIENCED ALL kinds of pranks and hijinks at work. Working in a cubicle fortress brings out the pranksters in coworkers. I’ve found my phone wrapped in plastic wrap, and my cubicle toilet - papered into oblivion. Someone even left their pet tarantula on my desk to say good morning to me once. It was safely in its carrier, but that coworker got the screeches and terrified screams from me he sought. He also got his ass r eported to our manager. I hate spiders. With a passion. I’d also been surprised by work news often enough — surprise rounds of layoffs, a sudden change in management.
Not a lot took me by surprise. But walking across the tenth floor to see Lochlan’s face grinning at me straight - up haunted me. What was he grinning about? Had he set a tarantula loose in the building? He probably was the kind of person to have a tarantula. So I approached with caution, uncomfortable at the sight of his smile. When was the last time he had smiled at me? Had he ever? Tasha said good morning to me as I got to my chair. I didn’t see a tarantula. Nothing else could be as bad as that, at least. “Good morning,” Lochlan said, and an actual chill went up my spine. “Good morning,” I said, but the words came out like an accusation. Because they were. He knew it. He cackled in response. “What are you up to?” I asked. At that, Tasha’s head lifted. “I’m not up to anything. It appears you are the one up to something,” he said. “What does that mean?” “It means maybe you should read the tabloids more often.” Tasha snorted. “Get back to work, Lochlan.” “That must mean you haven’t seen the news, either, because I know you wouldn’t say that if you had.” “Oh, well, now you have my attention.” Tasha turned her chair to face Lochlan, and I stood right in between them, clueless and kind of wanting to stay that way. This couldn’t be good. What kind of devilish evil could make Lochlan smile like that? “Take a look,” he said, and turned to grab his cell phone. He turned the screen toward us, and my mouth fell open at what I saw. I snatched it out of his hands so I could see better — a headline reading Rex Claremont Brings Unknown Woman to His Home in Seattle . The photo was of the moment Rex had guided me through the front doors of his condo. His arm looked to be around my shoulders. I was turned toward the camera. My face clear as damn day. Great. “Anything you want to tell us?” Lochlan asked, while Tasha started snickering.
“I didn’t peg either of you for tabloid readers.” I threw my purse under my desk and flopped down in my chair. “Oh, don’t let Lochlan fool you. He thinks he’s all fancy, but that’s all he reads,” Tasha said. “Lochie, you’re never going to hit it big if you can’t get your nose out of trashy magazines.” “You don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said to her. “You just saw a picture of our newest coworker practically making out with our CEO while going into his home. You don’t think that’s worth seeing?” “Come on, now. They were not making out. I’m saying that the fact that you saw it points to your less - thanacademic interests.” “I think you’re getting sidetracked here.” Then he turned to me. “She’s having an affair with the CEO of this company.” My mouth dropped open, which wasn’t the right response. I should have had something ready for this moment, but I had nothing. I didn’t even have an affair to cling to in this awkward moment. That might have made it better. I only had a strange, nebulous si tuation with my boss that wasn’t easy to explain to myself, much less to anyone else. “Lochlan, you’re just jealous that Andrew isn’t putting his arm around you like that and guiding you into his penthouse,” Tasha sniped. I could see Lochlan rearing up to respond, but before he could, the elevator doors opened and Rex st epped out. Rather than responding, Lochlan almost shit himself. He snatched his phone back out of my hands so desperately that he dropped his phone. It clatt ered on the floor and skid under his desk, landing right in front of Rex, who stared at it for a moment, frowning down at the screen. I wondered if the tabloid photo had stayed on the screen through all of that. Without a word to any of us, he grunted and stormed past us, through the glass door, and back to his office. “Oh, no,” Tasha said, speaking the same words that were in my mind. He’d seen it. He’d totally seen it. I hopped up and chased after him, which was probably the wrong thing to do. If Lochlan and Tasha didn’t suspect we were together from that photo, they certainly would now. Rex hadn’t wanted people at work to know. Now they would. All I knew was that I needed to talk to him.
When I got to his office, he was in the corner, taking off his suit jacket and hanging it inside of a cabinet. I don’t know what I expected. Maybe a smile. Maybe a frown. Some kind of acknowledgment that we were in this together and had each other’s backs. I didn’t get any of that. “Have you finished creating labels for the gala mailing?” he asked, his voice cool and oddly flat. “No, but it’s the first thing on my list this morning.” I st epped out of the doorway, closer to him. “Lochlan found that photo online. I’m sure he was just needling me, like he always does. He won’t tell anyone else here.” Rex flicked his eyes to me, closed his cabinet, and then crossed slowly to stand in front of his desk. “I gave you those labels two days ago. Please finish them as quickly as possible. Make it your priority.” I wanted to ask him if this was really his response, but I had no idea if we were on those kinds of terms yet. I’d thought we were. I’d thought there was something beyond a fake relationship in our kiss the other day. I’d felt something, at least. I’d felt more than something. Apparently, I’d been the only one. “Yes, sir,” I said, and maybe a little snark crawled into my tone, but only because I didn’t understand this coldness from him. “Evangeline,” he said, “I asked you to do your work. That’s all. That’s what we’re here for.” I stared at him while he flipped through papers on his desk, not looking at me or looking up at all. This man was not my boyfriend. He would never be more than my boss. I had only kissed him as part of our act. I couldn’t forget that. My heart sank, and I hated myself for it. So I turned and abruptly left his office, closing the door behind me, and went to finish making labels.