HIS STRIPPER, HIS WIFE novel Chapter 49

Chapter 49

Chapter 49

Bianca

10 vouchers

“Okay sir.” I said. There were a lot of things sitting on my tongue right then, but I swallowed every single one of them back down. No matter what had happened between us, no matter how many times his hands had found their way to my waist when they had no business being there, he was still my boss. And there were things I owed him for, things that had nothing to do with the office at all. Especially after everything he had quietly done for my sister.

“Can I leave now? I need to give the accountant lead this file,” I said, holding up the folder like proof that I actually had a reason to escape that office and not just an excuse.

He nodded, didn’t say another word, just sat back down behind that desk like the last five minutes hadn’t happened at all I didn’t waste any time, I turned and walked out before he could change his mind about letting me go.

I dropped the file with the accountant lead, who barely looked up from her screen long enough to grunt a thank you, and on my way back I caught Amanda standing by the printer room, deep in conversation with one of the guys from marketing, laughing at something he said with her head tilted back like it was the funniest thing she heard all week.

“Silly girl.” I bit the inside of my lip as I walked past her. Part of me wanted to grab her by the arm and pull her into the nearest empty room and tell her everything, the kiss in the car, the contract, the way it all started. She would understand it, or at least she would try to, and right now I needed a human being who wasn’t him.

“Girl, you better don’t trip,” she said, catching my eye as I passed, no idea what was actually going on in my head, just teasing me the way she always did whenever I looked like I was somewhere else mentally. I laughed, if only she knew how close to the truth that warning actually was.

During lunch break, I sat alone with a plate of salad I barely touched and let myself think it all the way through, properly, for the first time since Saturday night. I still had close to three thousand dollars saved up, enough to keep me and Emma steady for about three months if it came down to it, maybe a little less with how prices kept climbing every other week.

If it ran out before I found something else, I could always go back to the club. It wasn’t something I was proud of, but it had kept the lights on before and it would do it again if it had to.

What I was not willing to do, no matter how good the money looked on paper, was let a man treat me like I belonged to him just because I happened to work under him. That was the line. I had drawn it a long time ago, long before Adrian and his contracts and his car and his mouth on mine in the dark, and I wasn’t about to let one weekend erase it.

My phone rang right in the middle of all that thinking, my sister.

“Hi Emma,” I said, picking up before the second ring.

“Just checking in. I think I’m about to know who’s been sending me those nice snacks,” she said, and I could already hear the laughter building behind her words.

“Oh really?” I said, playing along, because I had a sinking feeling I already knew exactly who she meant.

“Yes. His assistant came to check in, that strange guy I told you about, the one who always acts like a delivery person?”

“What makes you even sure that’s his assistant?” I asked, knowing full well she was talking about Felix.

“Very great question, bibi.” She laughed properly then. “Today he came in, and on his way out I followed him down to the back, and he took off the uniform and changed into a suit.”

Emma, that is a very risky thing to do,” I said, my chest tightening at the thought of her sneaking around after a grown man she didn’t actually know.

I know I just needed to.”

1/3

23

O

O

|||

O

13:55 Thu, Jul 23 d

Chapter 49

10 vouchers

I rubbed my forehead, already exhausted from imagining the scenario in detail. “Okay, you know what, instead of coming tomorrow like I promised, I’ll come today, and we’ll figure this whole thing out together.”

“Okay, enjoy your day,” she said, and ended the call before I could even get a reply out.

I didn’t go back to the thinking I had been doing before the call, because somewhere in the middle of that conversation, my mind had already made itself up without asking my permission. I stood, smoothed down my blouse, and walked straight back into the office. I sat at my desk, pulled up a blank document, and started typing before I lost whatever nerve had carried me there.

Might as well get this over with quickly, I thought, fingers moving fast across the keys, the words coming easier than I expected once I actually let myself write them.

“I’m coming over,” Amanda said, breezing past my desk with a stack of files balanced on one arm, the words aimed at someone behind me, not at me, but they still made me jump slightly in my seat. I angled my body in front of the screen on instinct, blocking her view just in case she decided to glance my way on her way past.

She didn’t stop walking, didn’t even slow down, but I kept my shoulder up like a wall until she had turned the corner and disappeared from sight completely. If Amanda so much as caught a glimpse of the word resignation on that screen, there was no chance it would stay quiet past lunch.

I finished the letter, read it over once, twice, then a third time just to be sure I hadn’t softened anything I shouldn’t have softened, and walked over to the printer before I could talk myself out of it. The machine hummed and spat the page out slowly, like it wanted me to reconsider. I folded it once, and held it against my chest for a second longer than necessary.

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify