Yet, that was the only time in which she was somewhat open with me. She was extremely guarded in regular conversation, as if she were carefully measuring each of her words. Anytime she was on the verge of saying something remotely personal, she cut herself off and completely shut down. Of course, I hadn’t been that open with her either, but I’d always thought that women were more eager to share parts of themselves.

I opened the drawer at the bottom of my desk and pulled out the basic background file I’d asked Corey to make for me: Divorced four years ago. Marital tax records for fourteen years. Two daughters—Ashley Gracen and Caroline Gracen. Over one hundred thousand dollars in debt. Independent voting record. Parking ticket from last Saturday.

Normally, I would ask him to run a complete background check—to run her name through every single database he could hack into, but I decided against it. For the first time, I wanted to see if I could find out everything about a woman on my own for a change.

“Ohhh goddd...Ohhh goddd...I’m....I’m going to cum...I—I’m...” Claire rocked against me a few more times and collapsed into my arms, breathing heavily.

Both of our chests rose and fell together, and we lay intertwined on the floor of my office for several minutes.

She’s definitely the best I’ve ever had...

She rolled off me and I slowly sat up.

I moved her skirt back over her hips and snapped the clasps back together. I slid her shirt back over her arms and started re-fastening the buttons.

Once I reached the last button, I ran my fingers across her silver necklace. I was starting to keep count; she had at least ten different ones that all featured the same white and red flags.

“You sure you don’t want to eat with me?” I zipped my pants. “I don’t think it’s considered lunch if everyone has gone home for the day.”

She smiled. “It definitely is, so no. Thank you for the offer though.”

“Okay. I’ll go pay for the Chinese food, and when I get back I’ll walk you down to the garage.”

As soon as I stepped outside my office, I saw Mr. Barnes and ten other staff members lying face up on the floor.

“What the...”

“Oh! Mr. Statham!” Mr. Barnes stood up and shook my hand. “I didn’t realize you would be here so late today.”

“What are you all doing?”

“We’re following the advice of chapter seven in our Zen book. It says that sometimes it’s good to get energy from those who have been successful. So, we’re doing our Zen exercises right in front of your office. We’re trying to get some of your aura to rub off on us.”

I am never hiring another motivational speaker...“That sounds... really interesting. Do you need anything from me?”

“No, not unless you want to join us. It might work even better if the source of inspiration is in our circle.”

“Maybe next time.” I tried not to laugh. “I have some work to finish.”

“Understandable.” He lay back down on the floor and shut his eyes.

I walked out into the hallway and paid for the Chinese food, trying not to step on any of the crazed associates on my way back to the office.

“Okay. I’m ready.” Claire walked past me and I grabbed her by the waist.

“We can’t leave right now.”

“What? Why not?”

“Because your coworkers are out there doing Zen rituals. They’re trying to soak up my aura or something. Would you like to go out there and join them?”

“Are you kidding me?” She walked over to the door and peered through the blinds. “Idiots...Wait, does that mean that they could hear us?” She paled.

“Doubt it. The office is soundproof... I guess you have no choice but to eat with me today. I ordered for two.”

“Of course you did.” She took a brown bag from me.

As usual, we slipped into a state of silence, a familiar comforting silence. Even though it was enjoyable, I felt like we needed to break that routine today. We needed to be able to talk in person.

I cleared my throat. “Why aren’t you taking the Zen book as seriously as they are?”

“I only read books with substance.”

“I had to put it down after five pages myself.” I laughed. “I have no idea what that guy was talking about.”

“Then why did you pay him two million dollars?”

“Politics. Plus it’s a good tax write off.”

“Oh. Here I was thinking that you actually cared about boosting employee morale. How inspiring.”

“Careful, Claire. I’m easily aroused by sarcasm.” I watched her face turn bright red. “Are you currently reading any books with substance?”

“In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. My daughters are reading it for English class so I decided to read it with them.”

I felt a pang in my chest. “Family book club? Do you all have family meetings and things like that too?”

“Yeah.” She sliced her eggroll. “We have family meetings every other Tuesday and I try to take them on a trip every summer.”

“Why?”

“It’s just something my mom used to do for me when I was growing up and I want them to experience it too. I mean, the trips aren’t extravagant or anything—mostly road-trips, but they’re usually really fun. Did your family do trips?”

My “family” didn’t do anything...

I shook my head. “No, not really. Where are you taking them this summer?”

“I want to take them on a cruise in June, but it’ll probably have to wait until August.”

“Because of your job?”

“No, because I’m not rich and I actually have to save money to do the things I want.” She smiled. “Plus, I’m trying to put a plan together to pay off my student loans, my mortgage, and—Sorry. I know you don’t care about this stuff. I should—”

“How much do you have left to pay off?”

“I can’t go there...I’m embarrassed to say it aloud.”

“Don’t be. Tell me.”

She sighed. “I owe fifty four thousand dollars in student loans and one hundred thousand dollars on my house...I was being optimistic when I said I’d be able to pay it off. I’ll probably be sixty by then.”

“Will you still be working here with me?”

“Ha! Please!” She laughed and walked over to the door.

I followed her and saw that her team was now doing meditative yoga on top of yellow mats. Mr. Barnes appeared to be reading off a list of exercises.

“How long do you think they’ll be out there?” She sighed.

“Probably another hour or so.” I walked over to my desk and grabbed my jacket. “Come on, I’ll walk you down to the garage.”

“What! Are you crazy? We’re just going to walk out there and pray that they won’t see us? That they won’t think us being together after-hours is suspicious?”

I laughed. “Of course not. I have a private elevator.”

“Are you serious?! You knew that the entire time?”

Chapter 10

Claire

“Claire, is there a directors’ meeting today?”

“No. I don’t think so.” I texted Jonathan back.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m one hundred percent sure. We’re only working with the beta team today.”

There definitely was a directors’ meeting today, but I didn’t want to tell him that. The last time we were together in his office, he’d mentioned wanting to have sex in the conference room right after a meeting.

I thought that was way too risky and way too bold. I was still trying to get over the ‘relaxation room’ incident and I didn’t want to do anything that could get us caught by my coworkers.

“Claire, could you help me set up for our meeting today?” Mr. Barnes handed me a box of poster boards. “We’re going to keep things simple today and use these.”

I wasn’t sure if it was because I’d been spending so much time with him on our latest campaigns, or if constant sex with Jonathan made me more tolerant of people, but Mr. Barnes was becoming less annoying by the day. He was still overly enthusiastic and in need of severe “diversity training,” but for the first time in all my years at Statham Industries, I was learning to appreciate him.