Stay For Me - Megan Smith Page 0,29

do that to you.” Her nostrils flare. “You can’t stand to see me with anyone else and yet you can’t stand to be with me! It’s one or the other Cooper, you want me or you don’t. You can’t have both. Either stay with me or let me go!” She turns on her heel and storms from the office.

Still shaking my head, “You’re an asshole, you know that, right? She was leaning over the table to whisper something in my ear so no one would hear what she said. You better go after her.” I kick the stapler that’s on the ground. “And just for the record, I would never ever go after someone that is yours. I’m not that guy.”

I feel like an ass because I am doing that to someone but that someone isn’t him and my situation is different. I glance back at him once more before I walk out.

“Well, fuck!” I hear Cooper yell and then something crashes down.

Layla

I’ve been avoiding Eli all week at work since our kiss on Sunday night. It shouldn’t have happened. I’ve got a boyfriend and Eli is my boss. I don’t even know if Eli has a girlfriend, it’s never come up in any of our conversations and I certainly haven’t seen any girls hanging out in the bar waiting on him. He was at the pier that night clearing his head; maybe he was having problems with his girlfriend? Maybe something happened at Fierce and the stress of not having Cooper there is getting to him? I really don’t know, but what I do know is I can’t get that freaking kiss out of my head.

His soft warm lips meeting mine were something I hadn’t experienced with anyone else. I’ve kissed other boys besides Brian and Eli but nothing that affected me like those few moments.

Brian didn’t call me until Tuesday afternoon claiming he was up to his eyeballs with problems at work. I call bullshit. He got a promotion but not a manager’s position so what kind of problem did he really have to deal with at work? I didn’t argue with him, didn’t tell him how pissed off I was that he couldn’t even call me to cancel, to let me know he was alright, not that I really cared though. I simply said I understood and told him I hope he gets everything handled as soon as possible.

“Layla, can I see you in my office for a minute?” Eli asks in passing.

“Ohh...” Jackie teases me. “What did you do?”

Rolling my eyes, I bump into her shoulder. “What don’t I do around here?”

Jackie starts cracking up before I catch on to what I said. My cheeks burn with embarrassment, I know people are probably talking about us with the way we’re always watching out for each other. “Shut up, you know what I mean.”

“Uh, huh.”

My hands start to sweat as I make my way to Eli’s office. I don’t think I’ve done anything wrong that could have warranted me getting called into his office, maybe he just wants to talk about the other night. I leave Jackie by herself since it’s quiet for a Thursday night, well at least for now.

I knock twice on the door and wait. “Come in.”

I push open the door as Eli is unbuttoning his shirt. “Uh, I can come back.”

“No.” It’s sharp and has me freezing in place. “Sit.”

I do as he says quickly taking a seat in a chair in front of his desk.

“Are you avoiding me?” He gets straight to the point.

So this is what it’s about, I’m not surprised. “No, why would I?”

His shirt comes off and he tosses it in the corner of the room before going into the closet and getting another. My breathing is at a virtual standstill. I watch as his arms come up above his head and the way his back muscles flex. I cross my legs as an ache starts down below.

Get it together, Layla. It’s only muscles, he is human after all. Okay, a male human who is muscled in all the right places. STOP IT, Layla!

“I don’t know? Maybe because of what happened on Sunday?” He offers, putting an arm through his shirt.

I wave him off like it’s no big deal that his kisses were like a drug and just one already had me addicted. “It’s no big deal.”

Eli finishes buttoning his shirt then walks around to the front of his desk and leans against it. “No big deal, huh?”

I shake