The Words We Leave Unspoken(28)

My phone vibrates in my purse and I shift everything around until I find it and see Charley’s name on the screen.

I say, “Hello,” just in time.

“Whatcha doing?” she asks. Though she knows exactly what I’m doing. She was there when I made this appointment.

“Sitting on the beach, sipping a mai tai. You?”

“I really wish I could be there with you. I can’t stand the thought of you sitting there alone.”

“I’m fine. Really. You can’t miss work every time I have a treatment.”

“I know. You need to tell John, Gwen. This is getting out of control, all this sneaking around. Just tell him.”

I let out a breath that I’ve been holding since she mentioned John’s name.

“I know. I will, I promise. I just haven’t had the right moment.” Tears blur my eyes. Why is this so damn hard?

“There’s never going to be the right moment. Jesus, Gwen. If you don’t tell him soon, then I will.”

“No,” I say in a rush. There is no way that she can tell John. I just need more time. “Charley, you can’t. It should be me. I’ll tell him.”

“Do it, Gwen. He should be sitting there with you right now, holding your hand.”

Tears are now spilling down my cheeks and I can’t speak, my emotions are balled up deep in my throat and one word will give them away.

Charley’s voice is only a whisper. “Everything’s going to be okay.”

I am nodding even though she can’t see me. And we stay on the phone until my treatment is through, each of us quiet as I listen to Charley work on the other end of the line, but her quiet presence is exactly what I need.





Chapter 18





Charley


I hang up the phone and look around to ensure that no one can see the emotion written across my face. I want so badly to be there for Gwen. It’s killing me. I have picked up the phone so many times to call John and tell him the truth, but I can’t betray Gwen that way. She needs me right now, and I’m going to be everything that she needs me to be just as she has done for me all these years. But, dammit, I wish she would tell him the truth.

I stare across the room at Grey’s closed office door. I want to go to him. I am wound so tightly with all these emotions, I just need to lose myself in him, to feel free for just a few minutes. But we’re at work, in the middle of the day, and I know the risk involved.

I jump when his office door opens abruptly. He steps out looking every bit the uber sexy businessman in a pastel purple dress shirt and charcoal dress slacks. He moves toward my desk and I notice that he has removed his tie since this morning, and the top two buttons of his shirt are undone with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. His dark hair is a mess as if he has been running his fingers through it. His expression is intense as he approaches me and I can understand why the other assistants are so intimidated by him.

“Charley, can you make ten copies of this on letterhead?” he asks as he lays a sheet of paper in front of me, avoiding my eyes. I find myself biting down on the end of my pen, completely tied up in knots at the sight of him.

He walks back toward his office before I can respond and shuts the door. I go to the copy room and make the ten copies that he has requested. When I reach his office door, I knock lightly and step inside, close the door behind me and discreetly push the lock in place. I toss the copies on his desk and he looks up at me, his eyes meeting mine.

“Here are your copies,” I say, swallowing the knot in my throat.

“Thanks,” he says, running his hands through his hair.

I walk around his desk and push his chair back.

“What are you doing, Charley?” he asks, more annoyed than amused. “I’m in the middle of this proposal.”

I kneel down in front of him and undo his belt and the button and zipper of his pants. He doesn’t say anything. He only watches my face and lifts his hips when I tug at his pants and boxers. As I slip them down his thighs, he moves to the edge of his chair. I grip his length in my hand until he’s ready and then take him slowly to the back of my throat, moving to the sound of his moans as I feel his fingers in my hair, guiding me. Just as I feel him start to lose control, he pulls himself out of my mouth and lifts me to his lap where I straddle him, my dress riding up around my waist. He moves the thin strap of my panties aside and lowers my hips until he’s inside me. I moan at the feel of him and bury my face in his neck where I lick and kiss his skin, stifling the noise that I dare to make.

In a strained whisper, Grey says, “God, Charley you’re so wet. What are you doing to me?” He guides my hips faster and faster until I melt around him, trembling in relief, relishing in the dizzy void that has taken over my thoughts. All tension from before is drained from my body. Seconds later I feel him empty into me, gripping me tightly as if he can’t get close enough though our thighs are skin to skin, our bodies joined as one.

We stay like this while our breath evens out and then I stand and pull my dress back down over my hips and quickly walk to the small, adjoined washroom. I use the restroom and remove all traces of Grey, fix my tousled hair with my fingers and stare at my flushed face in the small mirror.

What am I doing? I ask myself. My emotions are all over the place, though my body is still behaving in the only way it knows.