Mid Life Love (Mid Life Love #1)(44)

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.

I carried the posters into the conference room and saw that Jonathan was sitting alone at the table.

“Good afternoon, Miss Gracen. I hope I’m not too early for the directors’ meeting today.”

“Not at all.” Mr. Barnes came in after me. “You’re right on time. We’re going to start in about ten minutes.”

Shit...

Jonathan smiled and leaned back in his chair. “Mr. Barnes, just out of curiosity, was this meeting planned or did you spontaneously decide to have it a few minutes ago?”

“Oh no, it’s been planned for about three months now. We always meet on Thursdays whenever we get a memo about a new product.”

“Thanks for telling me that.” Jonathan gave me one of his lusty smiles. “I’ll have to keep that in mind from now on.”

I turned away from him and started setting up the poster boards for the brainstorming session. I could feel him watching me—making my body react against my will. As other people began to fill the room, I took a seat at the end of the table. Far away from him.

I thought he would text me during the meeting, so I kept checking my phone, but it never vibrated. In fact, he never even looked my way.

When the meeting was over, he began chatting with Mr. Barnes so I plotted my escape. I said goodbye to a few directors, gathered up the poster boards, and left the room.

I didn’t want to take the elevators—Jonathan could definitely get to me in there, so I walked down ten flights of steps to get back to my office.

I unlocked the door and hit the lights, exhaling. Then I turned around and saw him sitting at my desk, grinning.

I don’t have to explain myself to you...

I set the box of posters on my cabinet and started organizing my files, acting like he wasn’t in the room. As I was alphabetizing my associates’ letters, I felt him wrapping his arms around me.