22
Chapter Twenty Two
“I have to leave soon, you know.”
“I know.”
Amanda’s lips spread into a smile when despite agreeing with her, Lucas made no move to let her go. They’d spent the entire evening in each others’ arms. Save for the short while it took Lucas to change the boat's course so they ended back at the marina.
She had just woken up from a nap to find him still holding her, eyes on her face. It was past nine o’clock, time for her to retrieve her car from the parking lot and head back to her apartment.
His fingers pushed back strands of her curly hair. “I wish you’d spend the night.”
“Me too,” she whispered.
She never wanted to leave, but she had to. The next day was Monday, and they both had work. Together. She still wasn’t sure how she was going to deal with that. Would this affect their working together? She had never had to worry about that with Samuel. For one, what she had with her ex-fiancé was a normal, public relationship. No suppressed sexual tension or desires that threatened her career. Working together was something they’d done long before they slept together.
Lucas managed to make her feel like herself when everything around her seemed to be crumbling. She didn’t want to push him away. But could she do that without blurring the professional line between them?
Even if she decided to keep this up, how could she manage it without exposing their relationship to others? By sneaking around his place, and him around hers?
She didn’t realise she was frowning until his thumb smoothed over her forehead. “What are you thinking so hard about?”
She smiled. “My parking fees. I was only going to leave the car at the lot for an hour or so. It’s been about six hours now.”
“And here I was, thinking you were contemplating on whether you could still get to work on time if you spent the night here.” His brow arched. “It’s possible. I do it daily.”
“You just want to watch me do the walk of shame across the docks at five o’clock in the morning,” she accused.
He winked. “Maybe.”
She reached down for the heavy arm he had resting on her middle and placed it on the bed. “Not today.”
She sat up and climbed out of bed. She searched the area for her panties, which had eventually come off at some point, and then picked her jeans from the bottom of the bed. Soon, she was fully dressed and ready to go. Lucas finally climbed out of bed and put on his clothes too.
“Let’s go get your car. I’ll drive you home,” he said, leading the way out of the bedroom into the living area.
“That’s not necessary,” she claimed, shoving her feet into her flats.
“The night is still young. I don’t want to say goodnight yet.”
It was all so sweet, but…
He reached for her and drew her into his arms, hugging her tight. “Just let me, please.”
How could she say no when he asked like that?
“Okay,” she whispered.
When Amanda woke up the next morning, she was in high spirits.
She didn’t bother trying to figure out what was so good about the morning. She was sure it was all an after-effect of all the amazing sex she had the previous day.
Going to sleep the previous night, she had almost been sure that she would regret everything in the morning. That she would scold herself over and over for biting into the forbidden fruit.
The logical part of her mind wasn’t all gone. She hadn’t forgotten that pursuing a sexual relationship with Lucas could have devastating effects. But for the first time since she found out he was her new CEO, she was seriously considering the possibility of having something going on with him. Thinking of the different ways they could maintain their personal relationship without ending up on the cover of a tabloid.
Her first activity for the day was a meeting with textile technologists together with the head designer. Now that she had decided to work on the proposed project, it was about time to get down to business. By the end of the meeting, which lasted four hours, she had a long list of fabrics they needed to develop or source. All extravagant as hell. However, not even that was able to dampen her great mood.
After lunch, she went back to her office. An hour later, she was wondering why she hadn’t come across Lucas even once throughout the day. Was he in his office? Did he have meetings?
When Cara walked into her office at around half past three, she asked, “Is the CEO in?”
“At lunch, Janelle mentioned he was visiting the warehouse this afternoon. Why? Do you want me to set up a meeting?”
Amanda shook her head. “No, it’s fine.” She noticed that Cara was carrying her tablet, fingers drumming nervously on the case. “What is it?”
“A few minutes ago, Nancy posted something about you on her Twitter. It’s going viral.”
The mention of that name was enough to dampen Amanda’s good mood. Nancy used to be Samuel’s assistant. Also partner in crime and present girlfriend.
Amanda’s fingers closed into a fist. “What did she say?”
“She claims that Sam was going to break up with you before the wedding. That you made up the story about him targeting your fortune as revenge after finding out he was cheating. And a bunch of other nonsense.”
Amanda pressed her fingertips to her temple. The duo—ex-fiancé and side chick—had remained silent about the issue until now. What did Nancy want to gain by coming out with lies against her? Amanda was so done with them. Why couldn’t they leave her alone?
Cara continued, “I’ve already talked with William in PR, and scheduled a meeting with him in ten minutes so you can decide how to tackle this.”
Amanda waved her hand in dismissal. “There’s no need.”
Cara’s eyes bulged. “What?”
“I’m not going to skirt around this issue or engage that bitch in a back and forth when I know she’s lying. I won’t let her drag me back when I’ve fought so hard to leave their bullshit behind.”
Cara frowned. “Are you just going to let her get away with it, then? People are already buying her story, and—”
“Of course I won’t,” Amanda interrupted her. “I’m going to end this debate once and for all.”
“How?”
“Send me that clip.”
Cara frowned. “That clip? Amanda—”
“She doesn’t know I have it, and that’s why she has the nerve to make stinky accusations. Send it to me, Cara. I’ll silence her once and for all.”
