Egotistically Yours by Hayley Faiman

Chapter Thirty-Two

BETHANIE

When a delivery manshowed up at my counter, I was surprised when he said the order was for me. There is a bag and a drink tray. Taking it from him, I thank him and start to go through the items.

“Lunch,” I whisper to myself. Then I look at the drink tray and my smile grows. “Iced coffee.”

Clocking out of my computer, I take my items into the break room, eating and enjoying every single bite as I text Laurent.

Thank you for lunch. This is amazing.

LAURENT: YOU ARE AMAZING. I’LL SEE YOU AFTER WORK.

My heart skips a beat and I stare at the screen. I am still living a dream, even if every single moment isn’t a fairy tale, this is just that for me. The pieces of perfection that I have with him, with our lives, they make up for the moments of imperfection.

Okay. I love you.

LAURENT: I LOVE YOU, BABY.

God, even reading those words coming from him makes me all giddy. It doesn’t take me long to eat my food and my pastry. I feel absolutely amazing, and shockingly well rested, even though I didn’t sleep a lot last night, I slept next to Laurent, and that calmed me in ways that I can’t even describe.

Throwing my trash away, I head toward the day care center. I still have forty-five minutes of my lunch break and I want to feed Tucker and just hold him for a while. Going to lunch with Melody didn’t allow me to spend much time with him during the day yesterday.

Once he’s in my arms, I walk over to the parent lounge, a place that when designing this center, Tennessee made sure existed. A breastfeeding lounge. It’s amazing and comfortable, calming, and serene.

I don’t know how she even thought of it, maybe because she was pregnant with Hanna. Maybe because she knows as a mother just how hard it is to feed your baby while you’re back to work. Whatever the reason, I absolutely love it and I think she’s a genius for it.

When Tucker is fed and ready for his afternoon nap, I take him back to the day care and wish that I could keep him in my arms the rest of the afternoon.

Unfortunately, I don’t think that I’ll be able to type and answer phones with him there all day, so reluctantly, I give him back.

Heading back to my counter, I sink down in my chair and turn my computer back on, clock back in, then get ready for the phones to ring.

I’m not focused on the front door, my attention is elsewhere, probably not really feeling like watching the front door all day again today. Yesterday was enough to last me a lifetime.

I should have been watching the front door.

I should have had my eyes glued to it.

A throat clears from the other side of my counter and slowly I lift my gaze, then I freeze, unable to move. My entire body is completely frozen in surprise and I don’t know what to do. The person realizes I’m in total shock and their lips curve up into a sinister smile

“Afternoon, Bethie,” he purrs.

Pressing my lips together, I look to one side, then the other, and try to find the extra security that Laurent said Landry would be sending down, but I don’t see anyone at all. Nobody is really around to save me, not that they would even realize I need saving.

The man standing in front of me looks like a well-kept businessman, he’s anything but. All I can envision are cum stained panties when I look at his face and I want to burst out laughing, then hide all at the same time.

“Cody,” I murmur. “Can I help you?”

He tilts his head to the side, his gaze searching mine, then a wolf’s smile slowly appears on his face right before he wipes it off. As if I’m not looking directly at him, watching him, and know that he is up to something.

“Melody was with you all day yesterday?” he asks.

I don’t understand why he’s asking me this. She told me she was going to whoever she was sleeping with after lunch with me and it’s not like it’s a secret they screw other people. Tilting my head to the side, I sink my teeth into my bottom lip.

“We had lunch together,” I admit. “After that, I don’t know what she did.”

He watches me for a moment, that wolf’s look clear in his eyes, even if it’s not on his face anymore, he can’t hide it completely, I can see it clearly shining back at me.

Then, he leans forward, as if he’s going to tell me a secret. Except, I don’t lean forward as well, I stay in my place and wait. Wishing that he would just disappear.

If Cody notices I’m not at all into his little drama, whatever it is, he doesn’t say anything. Instead, he continues on his little secret mission, but I’m just not that into what he’s saying. In fact, I want him to just leave. I have no idea why he’s even here.

“Do you have a back room? I think this needs to happen in private.”

I almost tell him to go fuck himself, but then I see that there are people milling around, coming back from lunch and their side-eyeing me talking to this man. Most people only spend a moment at my counter, not any longer.

With a heavy sigh, I stand and lift my hand, motioning for him to come to the back break room with me, against all of my better judgment.

When we’re finally back there, I spin around and cross my arms just beneath my chest. “What is it?” I ask, my patience gone.

He smiles, taking a step toward me. I don’t know why he thinks that he needs to be close, he doesn’t. I take a step backward for each one that he takes forward. Then eventually, I have nowhere to go and my back hits the wall behind me.

“What the fuck,” I whisper.

He lifts his hand, placing his palm beside me on the wall as he leans in, his face far too close to me. All of him far too close to me.

“Melody was at Astor Investment yesterday. I looked at my phone’s tracking and that’s where she was in the afternoon. Do you have any idea why?” he demands, his voice soft as he attempts to make it calm and soothing.

It doesn’t work.

My heart races. It slams against my chest and I wonder if this is what a panic attack feels like. I can’t breathe. I can’t even think. When he leans forward and his lips brush mine, I stop breathing completely.

I feel the room spin and I know that I’m seconds from passing out. He’s crowding me and all I smell is his scent, nothing else, he’s overpowering my senses, he’s everywhere and I don’t want him near me.

Then I hear him laugh. “Do you think when I tell Laurent that I know he fucked my wife, that he’ll be cool with me having a taste of you?” he asks.

“No,” I wheeze.

“Oh, what? You think that Melody was only there for a friendly chat? I know her and there is one thing she does well and that’s an afternoon fuckfest.”

He pushes off of the wall, stepping backward. “I don’t expect you to bend over right this second. This is fun for me,” he says. “So much fun. I think that I’ll have Laurent hand deliver you to me. That’s what I’ll do,” he mutters.

I open my mouth, but nothing comes out, which doesn’t surprise me because I’m still completely freaked out and my body won’t even work, let alone my mouth and voice. Without another word, Cody turns away from me and I watch him walk out of the room.

Fuck.

FuckityFuck.

Fuck.

I chant those words, that is, until my brain processes what he said and my heart calms down, then it cracks yet again. Melody was in Laurent’s office yesterday after she had lunch with me. She went to him. I hadn’t even spoken to him for a full twenty-four hours and she went to him. Why? And then, why didn’t he tell me?

Why?

What the actual fuck is going on here?

There is too much happening at once. That stranger, Cody, Melody, Laurent. All of it is too much and I want to just run away. I want to run far away and just breathe, think, and hide. But I can’t.

I gave up my apartment.

I gave up my furniture.

I committed to this man, a man who will never commit to me with marriage, a man who is completely fucked up by his mother. A man that I love with everything that I am.

LAURENT

The longest dayof my work life, at least that’s what it seems. I keep checking the time, not wanting to get in the zone and completely miss picking up Bethie from work. I do not want to fuck up on day one, then she’ll never trust me or let me help again.

Deciding to set the alarm on my phone for five, I decided to dig deep into my new client base. I have some serious shit to do and money to make.

Although, I know that money isn’t everything, but when you have employees that need it to survive, it’s pretty damn important. The last thing that I want to do is lay any more people off.

So, focusing on money is what I do. And I know that I cannot afford to lose Cody, at least not yet. Soon though. And that is what I make my new goal. Getting enough clients, enough income and revenue that I can completely and totally ditch the fucking asshole, Cody.

My alarm sounds and I start to close up my office when the door swings open. After lunch, I’d forgotten to lock myself inside again. Fuck.

Zara licks her lips from the doorway and I stare at her wondering what the fuck she is going to attempt to do or say next. I’ve come to discover that I really don’t know her. Not even after a year of working with her, I know absolutely fucking nothing.

“Laurent,” she purrs.

Arching a brow, I watch her and wait for her to get out whatever it is she wants to say. No matter what it is, I’m ready to let her go at any given moment. I’m done with this shit. I don’t know what her game is, but I’m about done playing games—with everyone.

“I know that you’re hesitant, but trust me when I tell you that you have nothing to worry about. Let me take care of you,” she murmurs as she moves toward me.

I almost laugh. Trust. She wants me to trust her? I don’t know a fucking thing about her, especially this version of her. So, if she wants me to trust anything that comes out of her mouth, she’s lost her fucking mind.

“This can be good. We’ll both get what we want, what we need.”

There it is.

Here is the reason she’s all over me.

There is something she wants.

“What’s that, Zara? What do I want, what do I need?” I ask.

Her tongue slides across her bottom lip, then she sinks her teeth into the flesh in an attempt to be sexy—it doesn’t work. There is nothing that I find remotely sexy about Zara. If I ever did, she killed it with this complete personality change.

“You want to be free, Laurent. You need to be dangerous and wild. And I want security.”

“You think that fucking me will give you security?” I ask.

She hums. Then continues to walk toward me. When she drops to her knees in front of me, my entire body freezes. I’m not quite sure what to do. She’s actually on her knees for me. The Laurent of a few months ago may have taken her up on this silent offer, but that’s not who I am now.

Her hands slide up my thighs and stop once she’s reached the top. She squeezes them, then licks her lips as she drags her gaze up my body, stopping on my eyes. Her lips curve up into a smile.

“I do and I’ll give you whatever your heart desires in return.”

“Why the sudden shift in attitude, dress, and boldness?” I ask.

She shrugs a shoulder, her lips staying in their coy smile, but she doesn’t say anything. Instead, she just hums before she speaks.

“You being with that woman, having a family with her, it made me realize that I was just like her and maybe you like that, but I think that you really need dangerous and wild, even if you want the world to think that you’re a perfect little family on the outside. You’d die of boredom Laurent.”

A year ago, I would have said the exact same thing. I would have thought that exact same thing. Being in my boat with Bethie, feeling all of those intense emotions and knowing that I’d fallen in love with her, I did everything that I could to try to make that go away. I would have definitely taken this Zara up on her offer.

But I’m not Laurent Astor from a year ago.

“I need to go to work. Please have your desk packed and cleaned out by the time you leave here today. I do not want to see you in the morning,” I announce.

She stands to her feet, threatens me about ten different ways, then stomps out. Before I leave to pick up Bethie, I call the head of my HR department and let her know what’s just transpired.

A security guard is called in to watch her pack up her desk and I leave, locking my office door behind me, entrusting the guard to get her the fuck out of my building.