Chance(19)

"That's why I did it."

"Did what?"

"That's why I sent Jordan and her husband to Dallas together." I push my hands against the side of my desk before I rise to my feet. "She needed to feel that too. She's been dragging her heels around here. Giving her the chance to spend a few days alone with her husband will light a fire underneath her again."

He crosses his arms over his chest as a slight grin tugs at the corner of his mouth. "Well played, Rowan. You're learning."

"She deserves it, Clive." I tip my chin towards him. "She's done a lot of good work this year. I saw it as a bonus. We scratch her back, she'll scratch our back."

"You've convinced me." He throws his hands up in mock defeat. "I should have made you the head of Human Resources."

"No." I round my desk. "I like the job I have."

"What's been going on with you?" He motions towards the open door of my office. "If you need someone to talk to, I've got a few minutes."

He means well even if the offer feels misplaced. "I've got nothing going on. I've just been working and hanging out with Ivy."

"I saw her the other day." He rubs his hand over his brow. "She said she was going to set you up with a business associate of Jax."

"A business associate of her husband?" I repeat back hoping it will jog my memory.

"A chef," he offers. "Tyler something. Ivy said you were anxious to meet him."

Ivy would say that. It has nothing to do with my being anxious to meet him and everything to do with her wanting to see if her sixth sense about matching romantic partners is on par. I'd actually completely forgotten about the potential blind date. "He sounds nice."

"We can do a double date thing if you want. Lilly would love it."

It's a suggestion meant to give me the reassurance I need to jump back into the dating world. Clive knows that I've hidden myself away in my office and in my apartment since my last relationship ended. I'm not the type of woman who seeks out a boyfriend just to have a warm body to cling to at night.

"I'll figure it out. I've never dated a chef before and he is gorgeous." I glance down at my smartphone, which is sitting, atop my desk. "I'll get his number from Ivy and I'll see when he's free to have dinner with me."

"You're having dinner with who?" Caleb's deep voice bounces off of the walls of my office. "If you want someone to have dinner with, I'm available."

***

Back in high school if one guy heard me talking about hanging out with another guy, he may have decided that would be the perfect time to swoop in and stake his claim. It's happened to me before. It's never happened with Caleb Foster though. He's actually been excited in the past when I've told him about a new guy I've met. He even arranged for an expensive bottle of champagne to be delivered to my apartment when I had a date with a man last year that I was crazy about. He's never tried to interject himself into my dating life though until this very minute.

"Caleb," Clive turns to face him. "What are you doing here?"

"Clive." Caleb darts his hand into the air. "It's been a long time."

My boss pulls Caleb's hand into a firm shake. "How are things at Foster?"

"They'd be better if Rowan came to work for us," he jokes. "I've been trying to make that happen for years. What's your secret to keeping her here?"

I cough loudly hoping it will be enough of a deterrent to keep Clive from saying anything that will set Caleb off.

"I'll leave you two alone." Clive looks directly at me. "We have a meeting in twenty minutes, Rowan. I need you there. Don't be late."

I smile softly knowing that he's giving me the gift of an escape in the form of an imaginary meeting. I don't confide that often in Clive but I sense that he can read between the lines of what's happening between Caleb and I. He saw how weary I was when I got back to the office last week after seeing Caleb. "I won't be late."

I watch in silence as Clive walks through the doorway into the corridor. I don't have time to react before Caleb takes a step, slams my office door shut and turns to look at me with his hands on his hips.

"What?" I say out of pure exasperation. "What is it?"

"Where's my brother?" He taps his foot against the carpeted floor. "My brother is gone and I want to know where the hell he is."





Chapter 15


"Asher's not gone," I say confidentially as I sit behind my desk. "What makes you think he's gone?"

He follows my lead and lowers himself into one of the chairs in front of my desk. "He hasn't been back to the office since…since I...I've tried to call him several times and he won't pick up."

I glare across the desk at me. "You fired him, Caleb. Why would he want to talk to you?"

Logic often escapes Caleb. He can't see what's directly in front of him because his mind is so twisted around what should be happening as opposed to what is really happening. "He knows that I wasn't serious."

It's another symptom of his over inflated ego. He thinks he can cut people down at their knees and within the next breath, they'll figure out that he's simply doing it to satiate a need within him for control and power. "He doesn't know that. He has no intention of coming back to work with you right now."