Bet On It: An Age Gap Billionaire Office Romance(47)

A knock at the door interrupted my inner conflict. "Come in."

The door opened, and Catherine walked through. Disappointment filled me, revealing that I'd hoped it was Analyn. It was pathetic how much I wanted her to come to me and tell me she was tired of fighting. That she wanted to see where this thing between us could go.

Catherine approached my desk and set a folder on top of it. "This is Analyn Watts's performance evaluation."

There was a tone to her voice that had me looking up at her. "Is there a problem?"

She shrugged one shoulder. "That's for you to decide."

I opened the folder and began reviewing the contents. In the basic areas of competency, Analyn's marks were about what I expected. She was doing the work that needed to be done and was doing it well enough. But when I reached the written comment section, my gut clenched at what her supervisor reported.

In essence, it said that Analyn dismissed her team's input and ignored their suggestions, apparently by telling them that she had my support to do whatever she wanted. It was true that I had supported one idea, but not at the exclusion of everyone else's. Clive praised her ideas and enthusiasm but indicated concern at her insistence that her way was the best way and that I’d backed her up on that.

"I'm sorry because I was the one who pushed you to hire her. And it's true she seems to know what she's doing, but she doesn't appear to be a team player. She seems to think that she can do whatever she wants and you're going to back her all the way. I don't know if it's wishful thinking on her part or if perhaps there’s something going on . . ."

My gaze snapped up to Catherine. "What do you mean by that?"

She held her hands up defensively. "Nothing. Like I said, it might just be wishful thinking on her part, but she acts like she's special. That you think she’s special. I don't think her team likes it."

I thought I was angry last night, but compared to the rage that flashed through me, it was no comparison. Analyn had been telling me we couldn't be together because it would hurt her reputation at work, and yet somehow, she was telling her team and behaving as if she had my full backing. It seemed she wanted it both ways.

She wanted to fuck me and act like she was worried about her career, but in fact, she wanted to gain my favor. And she had, hadn’t she? I thought the mythical creature fantasy team was nuts, but I’d let her sway me. I wanted to think it was her enthusiastic and creative pitch that had me agreeing to it, but she’d fucked me right afterward.

"Tell Analyn I want to see her in my office."

"Of course. Right away." Catherine hurried out of my office, and I took the few minutes to work through my anger. She’d made a fool of me. I was a decent looking man. I was a nice man. How was it that I had the worst taste in women?

Analyn walked in, leaving the door open as she made her way to the center of the room.

I stood from behind my desk. “Close the door.” I had things to say that no one else needed to hear.

"I don't think that's a good idea."

"I don't give a fuck what you think. Shut the damn door."

She flinched, and her eyes widened in shock, maybe even fear. For a moment, I felt bad about it, but then I remembered that she was totally screwing me . . . literally and figuratively.

She acquiesced, shutting the door. She remained standing by it, probably wanting to be able to flee. Fine. If she wanted to run, let her go.

"Your performance evaluation has just come in, and I want to know why you think it's okay to use your relationship with me to dismiss and ignore your team.”

“What?”

“You act like you have special consideration from me, but when you and I are alone, you’re adamant that you need to be considered on your own merits?"

Her eyes narrowed, as if she was confused. "What are you talking about?"

I picked up the report off the desk and opened it, quoting from the comments. “Ms. Watts frequently dismisses the ideas of her team, insisting that Mr. Hampton has approved her concept.” I looked at her and had to give her credit. She still looked confused. But I wasn’t buying her innocent act. "For the life of me, I could not figure out why you’d fuck me and then run away, worried about your reputation. But now it's starting to make sense."

She looked at me with horror in her eyes. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"You fuck me because you want the special perks. You want me to support whatever it is you do, like monster fantasy fights. You just don't want anybody in the office to know, so then you act all high and mighty, knowing that I'm going to respect your wishes and do my best to hide your dirty little secret."

She flinched when I referred to our affair as dirty. “That doesn’t make sense.”

I moved closer to her, needing to look into the depths of her deceiving eyes. “I think it does. You know my interest in you. You used it at lunch. You pitched your idea, fucked my brains out, and then, wanting to make sure no one would question my support, you ran off telling me we couldn’t be together.”

She gaped at me. “You really think—"

A thought occurred to me that made me sick to my stomach. "How long have you been fucking Bo Tyler too?"

Her expression turned indignant. "I don't know where you're getting any of this—"