Because it wasn’t only my job on the line, but his as well.
“Hey, handsome,” a seductive voice said from behind me. I turned to see Reed leaning against the doorframe, the sheet draped around his thin shoulders and hanging sexily down his long, lean body. “Come here often?”
I snorted a laugh and went over to him, pulling him to my chest. The sheet fell off him, and I skimmed my hands down his naked body.
The right thing to do was hardly ever the easiest.
Walking away from him was going to be damn hard.
***
“Thank you for everything,” I said to Ian and Cole after returning the room key. “If not for your hospitality, we would’ve had to sleep in the car for the past three days.”
“It was a joy having you,” Ian said, shaking my hand. “If you ever find yourself in the area again, please stop by.”
Claire and Josh waved bye to us on their way to the dining room for lunch. Then we grabbed our things and walked outside.
“Kind of bittersweet to be leaving, isn’t it?” Reed asked, looking back at the manor as we moved down the narrow path toward the parking lot. “I know we didn’t stay long, but I’m gonna miss it.”
Me too, I wanted to say. However, it was best not to.
Once at the car, I loaded my laptop bag and briefcase into the back seat as Reed popped the trunk and tossed his bag inside. I got into the passenger seat and buckled my seat belt, staring at the courtyard we had looked at each morning with breakfast. I then shifted a gaze to the walking trail we’d taken yesterday morning where we’d had our first kiss—where everything had changed between us.
Yes. I’d miss it.
As if sensing my solemn mood, Reed didn’t say much as we drove away from the manor and got back onto the main road to leave Ivory Falls. Before leaving, we had checked the route home to make sure it was clear, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t somewhat disappointed when seeing it was in the green, giving us the okay to travel. That disappointment lingered in my chest.
“Things are gonna be really weird between us now, huh?” Reed said, keeping his eyes forward.
“Yes.” No reason to lie. After being balls-deep in someone’s ass, it wasn’t easy to pretend like it never happened.
“Do you think we’ll be able to still work together?” His voice was quieter that time. As if he feared the answer.
I looked over at him, seeing how tightly he was gripping the steering wheel.
“I’m not going to fire you, Reed, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
Though subtle, he exhaled and relaxed a little in the seat. “Quinn is dating one of his coworkers.”
“Is that so?”
“Yep.” Reed swooped his bangs out of his face, more as a nervous tic than necessity it seemed. “Monty isn’t his boss, though, so it’s not against policy or anything.”
Every instinct I had told me to let the subject drop. But I couldn’t. “How do you think they would’ve reacted if it was against policy? Would they have been able to walk away from each other?”
Reed thought a moment, lightly tapping his thumb on the wheel. Then, he cracked a small, yet sad, smile. “Not a chance. Those two can’t keep their hands off each other. Quinn loves his job, but I think he would’ve walked out in an instant if it meant losing Monty.”
“They sound like a sweet couple.”
“Sweet? Pfft.” Reed chuckled. “They act like enemies a lot of the time, and Quinn always calls him a moron. But Monty is his moron, you know? They are polar opposites but somehow make it work. Love is strange.”
It was also painful. After Olivia broke my heart, I’d had trouble giving it to anyone else. It was why I’d filled my life with shallow hookups and worked all the time to keep from having to go home to an empty house.
For a brief moment, I had thought Reed would be the person to change all of that, but there was no way he could be. Not unless I wanted to get fired and lose my six-figure yearly salary.
Five and a half hours later—because we had stopped to grab a late lunch at the halfway mark and stopped once to fill up the gas tank—we arrived in Blue Harbor. Funny how it hadn’t changed in the past four days since we’d left it, but I had.
Reed drove to the office and parked