my sins even though I didn’t do anything wrong. But I did leave out some of the things Kathleen had said, because that would just be hurtful. I wrote back. Send her in.
The door opened, and she stepped inside, in skintight jeans and a long-sleeved blouse. Her blond hair was curled in the front. She came empty-handed, without a resignation letter in sight. Her heels clapped lightly against the floor as she approached my desk. Then she took a seat.
I just stared.
She cleared her throat. “Now that we’ve had some time to cool off, I thought we could talk.”
“About?”
“I was hoping you would give me another chance—”
“No.” I wasn’t firing her just because I was angry. I was firing her because she’d made an advance that made me uncomfortable, and according to workplace policies, that was sexual harassment. I shouldn’t have to work with someone who made me uncomfortable, especially when I owned the damn place.
“I really love working here, Deacon. I promise nothing like that will ever happen again—”
“My decision is final. Give Theresa your resignation by the end of the day.”
Her eyes fell in disappointment. “Deacon, that night, it seemed like—”
“I was hard because Cleo sent me a dirty video, alright?” I snapped. “Not that it’s any of your fucking business. She sent it to me at the conference, I got a glimpse of the thumbnail, and I couldn’t stop thinking about it. On the way to the room, I was excited because I was finally about to watch it. And that’s another reason I want you to leave, because I shouldn’t have to have a conversation this personal with a colleague.”
Now she looked embarrassed.
“It was never you, Kathleen. It’s always been Cleo. And even if your assumption had been right, you put me in a position to cheat on my partner. Lots of people are attracted to people outside their relationship. Doesn’t mean they’ll act on it. You put me in a situation that compromises my integrity. Maybe you don’t know me that well—because my reputation is the most important thing to me. Without it, I’m nothing.”
She kept looking at the floor, finally out of steam on her arguments.
“Drop off your resignation and leave. I’ll tell everyone you were offered a position elsewhere…unless you want to continue to piss me off and change my mind.”
She got to her feet and sighed. “Well, I appreciate the opportunity, Deacon.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Dr. Hamilton.” She was no friend of mine.
As if that was the final blow, she winced. “Dr. Hamilton…”
I asked Tucker to get a drink with me after work.
I was in a bad mood. Wanted to get rid of it before I came home to Cleo. I’d only been back for a week, and I still missed her like I’d been gone just yesterday.
Having Patricia really was nice, because I would never have time to stop off anywhere without her. My driver dropped me off, and I grabbed a beer at the bar before I joined him at the table.
“What did you want to talk about?” He blurted out the question before I even fell into the chair.
I got comfortable and twisted off the cap.
He narrowed his eyes. “Deacon?”
“What?”
“What happened?”
“Nothing happened. I just had a shitty day at work.”
“Oh…” He nodded slowly then stared at his beer.
His demeanor was totally off, but I couldn’t figure out why. “Everything alright?”
“Yeah,” he said quickly. “What happened at work?”
“I fired one of my researchers.”
“Whoa…why?”
“She came on to me in Sweden.”
“She what?” he asked incredulously. “Is she hot?”
I glared at him.
“Sorry,” he said quickly. “Instinct, you know? But is that really a fireable offense?”
“She’s come on to me a couple times…”
“Got it. How did Cleo feel about it?”
“She was pretty angry. Not at me, but at her.”
“I can imagine.”
“It’s unfortunate because she’s a brilliant physician with a lot of potential…but she let sex get in the way.” She seemed to care more about fucking me than getting things done. It was beneath her.
“I mean, sex is arguably the most important thing in the world.”
Maybe if it was with the right person, like what I had with Cleo. Once I shook off this anger, I’d go home and try to sneak into the bedroom with her so I could get some action. I loved having Derek around, but man, he was a cockblock.
“Well, if she’s gone and Cleo is fine with it, then it’s time to let it go.”
“Yeah.” I drank from my beer. “I almost didn’t tell Cleo about it, but then