“Are you sure you’re okay?” she asked again. “You seem a little out of it. Was he awful?”
“What?” I asked with shock before I realized my guilty conscience was getting the best of me. “No. It was fine. I’ve just got a lot on my mind.”
“Okay,” she said with a smile. “Would you like me to bring you something back?”
“No, thank you. Thanks for offering, though.”
She left me alone. I rubbed a hand over my face. I had gotten lost in the past. Being with him again stirred up some old feelings. It was a time I thought I would never think about again. It was painful. It took me back to a time when I had never felt more naïve. I was silly and youthful. I made mistakes. Going back to those mistakes was not something I wanted to do.
You were supposed to learn from your mistakes, not repeat the damn things.
Those two words still haunted me. “Hey, babe,” I muttered. “Hey, babe. Hey, wife.”
My stomach turned just thinking about my part in that whole disaster. I was ashamed of my behavior, which was why I chose to ignore that part of my life. I was not the same person. I would never be that person again.
Chapter 20
Nash
I tapped my foot, a nervous habit I had been cursed with for as long as I could remember. I tapped my foot when I was anxious. I was reviewing the reports for last week and was concerned. If this business went bust under my watch, I was going to be seriously pissed. There was no explanation for the reduction in revenue. Man hours were down but so was productivity. That was not how this was supposed to go.
I tapped on the keyboard and pulled up more reports. This was something I needed to go over with Saige. Ever since the thing on Tuesday, she’d been avoiding me like the plague. She hadn’t even bitched at me once. There were no dirty looks or insults muttered under her breath. I almost missed the snark.
I was assuming the sex would clear the air between us, but I didn’t expect it to clear the air to the point there was nothing between us at all. I expected to have a minor friendship with an improved working relationship. There was nothing. It was like she didn’t even see me.
I got up from the desk, ready to go find her. She needed to explain what was happening. I did not like what I was seeing. Before I could get out of the office, my cell rang. I saw it was my assistant. “Hello?”
“Nash, we’ve got a problem,” she said.
“Why do you say we?” I snapped. “What you really mean is me. I have a problem.”
“Yes, you do.”
“Well? What is it? What’s wrong.”
“There is a burst pipe in the building, and it is causing major damage on the bottom floor,” she blurted out.
“Carly, I’m not a plumber. I’ve never been a plumber. Why would you call me?”
“Because it’s your building,” she said with frustration. “I thought this was something you would want to know. It’s bad, Nash. Really bad.”
I sighed. “Fine, I’ll be there in twenty minutes. Call a plumber!”
I ended the call and immediately called my driver. I did not have time to be putting out stupid little fires. This was not something I could personally fix. I had building maintenance and an assistant for a reason. If I got there only to find the burst pipe was nothing more than a minor leak, I was going to fire her. She was an alarmist. I hated that trait in anyone.
I was on my way out when Saige stopped me. “Are you leaving?” she asked.
It was the most she’d said to me in days. “Yes. I have a problem at my other building.”
“I need to talk to you,” she said.
“I can’t right now,” I said. “I really need to go.”
“This is important,” she insisted.
“So is the fact my building is flooding, according to my assistant. It will have to wait until Monday.”
She didn’t look happy, but she picked the worst timing to have the conversation. I was certain it was going to be something along the lines of not mixing business with pleasure and what not. That or she was going to tell me she had feelings for me and wanted a relationship. Neither option appealed to me. I had other problems to deal with.