his mouth to speak, and then closed it. A minute later he finally answered.
“Aly, you’re important to me. You’re a huge part of why Pierce Homes is so successful. We work closely together, day in and day out. I’m sorry things have been awkward between us lately and kissing you didn’t help.”
Feeling the humiliation creep back in, I lowered my gaze to my lap. I didn’t need to hear over and over how he felt kissing me was a mistake. Once was enough.
“Okay, we’ve been over that. You regret kissing me, I get it,” I said, refusing to look at him.
“You think I regret kissing you?” he asked with a surprised tone in his voice.
My head shot up. “Well, yeah. After what you said this morning, what else was I supposed to think?”
Just then, there was a knock on the door. Paul let out a sharp, “Come in.” I turned around to see who it was, not sure whether to throttle them or thank them for the interruption.
Ethan opened the door and stepped inside. Seeing me there, he smiled. “Hey, Aly,” he said before addressing Paul. I looked over at Paul and saw his face harden. I was so confused.
“Sorry to interrupt, Paul, but I need to talk to you about an issue that just came up for the Glendale project. Do you have a minute?”
Nodding, Paul looked over to me. “We’ll continue this as soon as Ethan and I are finished.” Taking that as my cue to leave, I stood and walked over to the door. As I was about to exit, Ethan took a hold of my hand and gave it a squeeze. Smiling at him, I shut the door behind me.
Grateful for the break from the tension with Paul, I headed out to the break room to get a drink of water. I was also worried about the issue Ethan referred to with the Glendale project. We were getting everything finalized to break ground soon and I hoped it was nothing serious.
I got to the break room and leaned back against the sink as I gulped down my water., I started to wonder just what was going on in my life. One minute, I’m crushing on Paul with no drama. The next, he’s acting weird and kissing me, then apologizing for it. The man was driving me crazy and I didn’t know how much longer I could deal with it.
When I got back to my office, Ethan was at the door of Paul’s office. Hearing me come in, he turned and waved at me.
“I’ll go call him back right now, Paul. I appreciate the help. I’ll let you know what he says,” Ethan said as turned to leave.
He stopped at my chair and ruffled my hair. “You doing okay, Aly?” he asked.
Giving him a shadow of a smile, I nodded. “I’m fine. Everything okay with the Glendale project?”
“Yep. Had a little glitch, but Paul and I figured it out. I’m on my way to fix it now. I’ll talk to you later.” I waved to him and watched him disappear from my office. I suddenly really needed him and was about to call him back when I heard Paul’s voice.
“In my office. Now.”
I rolled my eyes and took a deep breath. He shut the door behind me, then crossed over to sit behind his desk. He nodded for me to take a seat as well. I decided I’d better not be difficult, so I let out a sigh and sat back down.
I didn’t say anything as I waited for him to begin. It was obvious he was extremely annoyed and I was sure he’d enlighten me as to why. Like I didn’t already know.
Finally, he leaned over his desk, giving me an intense look. “I have to know something,” he said.
Not sure what he meant, I raised a brow. “What?”
He pointed to his office door, “You and Baker. You say you’re only friends, but I suspect he feels differently.”
What the hell?
“Number one, I fail to see how any of that is your business and number two, you are crazy. Ethan doesn’t like me more than a friend because that’s just what we are, friends.”
He slammed a fist on his desk. “Dammit, Aly! You are not taking me seriously. And it is my business!”
Startled, I jumped a little in my chair. He never spoke this way to me. How was I supposed to react?
“I’m not the one playing games here. What I do in my private life is