Page 34 of Bastard-in-Chief
Sophie keeps her eyes on her desk for a second before those blue depths look up at me. “Good morning Mr. Sutton.” At my raised eyebrow she blushes, glancing around the lobby to make sure we’re alone. “I don’t...Am I supposed to pretend I don’t know you? We never talked about...” She looks around again, fingers twisted together. No one else is here.
“I have no idea, Sunshine. I’m as lost as you.” Before I can say anything else, Julian appears from the stairwell, a mug of coffee in each hand.
“Sir. Let me set this down and I’ll call the elevator for you right away.” He crosses the lobby to set a mug next to Sophie’s elbow. “Here you go, Soph.”
I have to suppress my urge to pull him away from my Sunshine. I want to be the one to bring her coffee, to call her by a nickname. She likes it with just a smidge of cream and sugar, which I learned yesterday morning when we surfaced from the bed long enough to refuel.
“Thank you Julian.”
Do I dare say anything? I can’t without giving away how I feel, so I content myself with drinking her in. The green and white polka dot dress she’s wearing nips in at her waist, a white cardigan hangs over the back of her chair. Her blonde hair is curled and lays over her shoulders, catching in the morning sunlight. She looks happy and beautiful, the same as always. Maybe a smidge more relaxed than normal. I’m the one who’s a nervous mess at the sight of her.
Instead of pulling her to me for a kiss, I walk over to the elevator banks and wait for the doors to open. I need a plan.
“Is there anything else you need, sir?” Mercedes pushes to her feet after going over the week’s schedule with me.
“No, that will be all.” I pause. “Actually, I do have one more thing. I believe I will have a guest coming with me to the Seattle event on Friday night. Can you make the arrangements?”
“Of course, sir.” With that she leaves me to stare uselessly at my computer screen. I have emails to answer, meetings to prepare for, and code to write, but my mind is on one thing.
Me: Are you free Friday night? I have an event to go to and I’d enjoy your company.
I stare at my phone, willing her to answer, but all I get is silence. Finally, after five minutes of waiting, I push it aside and get to work. I can’t even be mad, since Sophie’s lack of answer proves she’s not looking at her personal phone during office hours.
I manage to stay distracted until lunchtime. But when Mercedes sends me a message to let me know that she’s leaving for her lunch break and that my lunch will be delivered in five minutes, the temptation is more than I can bear. Normally, when a delivery comes for me and Mercedes isn’t here to pick it up, I wouldn’t even notice who was responsible for walking it up to my office. But not today.
“This is Sophie, how can I help you?” Her voice is enough to make my dick twitch in my slacks.
“Sunshine.” I growl out.
“Yes sir, what can I do for you?” Is she teasing me? I swear, I can hear it in her tone.
“Mercedes ordered lunch for me. Will you bring it up to my office when it arrives?”
There’s a long pause. “I was just about to step away from the desk for my lunch break. I’ll have Tina bring it up when it arrives.”
Sophie hangs up the phone before I can speak, leaving me fuming. I’m a jumble of indignation that she doesn’t want to see me, and insecurity that I’ve done something to upset her.
Me: I need to talk to you, Sunshine.
There’s a timid knock on my office door ten minutes later. Pushing back from my giant desk, I cross my office to open the door. The other girl from the front desk, not-Sophie, is standing on the other side, a brown paper bag in her hand. Her eyes go wide at the sight of me.
“What do you want?” I snap.
“H-here you go Mr. Sutton. There’s silverware in the bag.” She shoves the bag at me, whirling away when I take it and hurrying to the elevator doors. Annoyed that I won’t get to see Sophie again, I slam the door a little harder than necessary and take the bag to my desk. No longer hungry, I leave it and go back to the never-ending list of emails and crises vying for my attention.
I’m in the middle of typing out a curt response to yet another request for an interview for yet another tech-startup magazine, when there’s another knock on my door.
“What now?” I growl out as I fling the door open.
A narrow-eyed Sophie is waiting for me on the other side. “Hello to you, too. I just came to tell you I can’t go with you on Friday night.”
She turns away before I can react, but I snag the back of her elbow to stop her and pull her into my office, shutting the door behind us.
“I’m sorry.” I lean in close, letting the scent of her drift through me. “I didn’t mean to growl at you.”
Sophie cocks a hip, her arms crossed over her delicious chest. “You mean, you didn’t intend to yell at me. But yelling at Tina is okay?” She shakes her head. “Do your grumpy boss thing—you’re the CEO, right? I can’t go with you on Friday. That’s all I came to say.”
Instead of grabbing her by the hips and bending her over my desk like I want to, I content myself with rubbing my hands over her upper arms. “I’ll try not to frighten the staff in the future. Why can’t you come? Do you not want to see me again?”