Page 47 of The Damaged Billionaire's Obsession
And then it all stopped. For almost a week now, I’ve heard nothing and I miss hearing from him.
“Actually, do you mind if I take a quick look now?” Jordan asks.
“Oh, not at all, please.” I stand so he can come around and sit at my desk. He adjusts the chair and desktop due to his height, then sits.
He whistles. “This is good. Wait till Sajid sees this. He’ll be in heaven. How are you this efficient, Bonnie?”
“I don’t know.” I shrug. “I might just snatch your place as boss if you’re not careful enough,” I joke, and Jordan laughs.
“Please, do,” he says, leaving my desk and going across the office to sit in the sitting area, which has two small armchairs.
He massages his temples. Jordan has never been in my office for longer than five minutes, so I wonder why he’s suddenly hanging around.
“Headache? I’ve got an aspirin in the drawer,” I offer.
“I’m just a bit tired, that’s all. We’ve been in the eye of the storm a bit over the past few days.”
“Has it always been this busy here?” I ask, and he gives me a small smile. It truly is chaotic most of the time; the onlinegaming industry is tough, and although Acercraft crushes most of its competition, it comes at a price.
“Busy would be an understatement. But we love it,” Jordan says.
Employees work endlessly to make it happen, as well as the senior executives. I often see Jordan and Michael completely exhausted. Only Ethan appears to not be fazed by the never-ending client meetings, game product development sessions, and the creation and updating of programs.
It’s like Ethan is not even human; I’ve never met a man so absorbed in his work. It makes me think about whether he has something other than work to wake up for. Does he even enjoy anything outside of his job? My mind goes to the photos in his office.
“How come Ethan never hits burnout?” I blurt and immediately want to kick myself for asking. I wish I would just stop obsessing. There’s nothing interesting about the man.
Except I’m lying. I’m so freaking intrigued by everything about him.
Why he has a melt down with clutter.
Why his office is always dark.
Why he won’t get laser eye surgery.
Why he seems to know my thoughts.
Why he’s so rude sometimes.
Jordan thinks for a moment. “Oh, he is stressed, which is why we’re a bit screwed at the moment because he usually keeps his head above water. He only gets stressed about launching a new product.”
I’ve been trying not to think much about why he avoids seeing me in person because it’s clear that he does despite being so friendly in his emails and messages.
I understand that what happened in his office and me touching him and trying to provoke him into kissing me was outof line, but he started it, encroaching on my personal space and whispering into my ear. He probably regrets what happened, as I do, but I’m not treating him like a leper because of it.
And it really felt like we were turning a corner these past few weeks until he went cold again.
“Sometimes, he takes a while to warm up to people. I don’t know why he puts up a firewall, but once you’re in, you’ll love him,” Jordan reassures me.
Why is Jordan telling me this? “It’s fine, Jordan. I don’t want or need to be in his circle beyond him being my employer. We don’t need to be friends.”
“You might need to,” he argues.
“Why is that?”
“This is off record, but you’re getting Dreadlite.”
“Dread–what! Isn’t that a partner’s job? I’m only a staff trainee.” I can’t believe my ears. “Are you sure? I mean, it would be a dream come true for me, but I didn’t even think I’d be allowed to be on the team and—"