Entangled To The CEO

Rainer’s [POV]

They all laughed, and that’s when I caught sight of Tasha. She stopped in the doorway of the dining hall and then made an abrupt exit.

Luckily, no one else saw her hasty retreat, but it was all I could focus on. There was no doubt she was worrying that laughter was about her.

“Convince me,” Berger said.

“Traffic on the Bay Bridge is crap. Give us some details, or we’re all staying in the city like civilized men.” I shook my head.

“No details before cocktails. Don’t you have a meeting to get to?” Berger laughed and stood up.

“A few days working with the Ice Queen have changed you, man. Now all you talk about is meetings.” Everyone laughed again, but I was relieved when they filed past and I could drop my fake smile.

Tasha would already be waiting in Stan’s office, and I worried about how close she was to her mentor.

“Glad you could join us, Rainer,” Stan said as I rushed through his office door.

Tasha barely glanced up from her reports, but I caught a warming blush on her cheeks. It made me angry.

She was the one who had invited me back to her condo, she had kissed me first, and now she was pretending to be the blushing maiden.

For all I knew, Tasha chewed up and spit out eligible men every day. She was just smart enough to choose her prey outside of work.

I vowed to do the same, starting that very night. It was the only cure I knew for being used by a beautiful woman.

She was beautiful. Tasha wore winter white pants with gold high heels. One bright heel bounced nervously as I sat down next to her. “I see you didn’t bring the reports I sent you.”

“I’m sure my assistant will” Topher slipped through the door, ran the reports over to me, and then disappeared again within seconds.

“Does your assistant even know where the printer is?” Stan asked Tasha. Tasha sent him a sharp look, but the older man just smiled.

He looked back and forth between the two of us and crooked an eyebrow.

I decided the view from his window was impressive enough for another look, and Tasha refused to look up from her neat numbers.

“Well,” Stan said.

“Looks like things are, ah, progressing between the two of you. The GroGreen community garden campaign is already gaining an online following. The only surprise was finding out you two had signed on for the long term. Didn’t know you were both so interested in gardening.”

“I’ll make sure the garden is up and running before I train a replacement. Then it will only be about courtesy contact and trouble-shooting,” Tasha said.

I snorted. Was that what she thought she was doing when she called last night? Just a quick courtesy call to tell me I was a mistake she already regretted, and the problem was solved.

“What about you, Rainer? The selfies I saw from the community center crew showed you looking very happy.” Stan rested his elbows on his desk and pinned me with an unblinking gaze.Têxt belongs to NôvelDrama.Org.

“Are you putting down some roots out there in the East Bay?”

“Everyone needs a hobby, sir,” I said. Stan laughed and dismissed the rest of the conversation.

The meeting ended with Tasha rushing out so fast that both Stan and I felt the breeze. The older man glanced at me and said, “Tasha always was too quick to exit.”

I was still reliving it, Tasha’s hasty dressing, the way her whole demeanor pushed me far out past arm’s length, and how I had ended up alone on her front steps all within minutes of leaving her warm body. It hurt.

The worst of it was I wondered if Tasha thought that was how I acted.

Was she trying to level some sort of female-solidarity revenge on me? If so, she was wrong.

I never rushed out or left things unsaid. I certainly didn’t call late at night just to rip out someone’s already-bruised heart.

Ego. I meant to say ego, but the mistake repeated in my head.

“Is this a bad time?” Tasha asked. She backed out of the door.

“Yes. I mean, no. Don’t go. More reports to look over?” I asked.

Tasha inched back into my office but stayed near the open door.

“I, ah, hope I didn’t call too late last night.”

“Too late for what?” I asked.

“I, I just wanted to make sure that everything is all right. You know, between us. Stan says the board is adamant that we continue as a team.” I sat up and attacked my keyboard.

“Speaking of teamwork, have you seen the photos of us on social media?” Tasha hesitated but finally came around my desk to stand behind me.

“Did they use the keywords and tags I suggested?”

“Yes, see?” We both froze as the first photo appeared on my computer screen. It was a shot I had taken just before lunch, Mr. Reynolds on one side of me and Tasha on the other.

Her cheek was pressed to mine, our smiles just inches apart. The next one was from the preschool teacher with her class coloring our Popsicle stick row markers.

In the background, Tasha leaned on the classroom counter and smiled as I said something in her ear.

There was even one when I had bent down to retrieve the rosebud that Tasha had dropped. The look on her face, her soft smile, hit me hard in the chest.

Why hadn’t she looked at me like that later in the night? Had I screwed everything up that badly?

“Rainer?” I stood up, accidentally cornering Tasha behind my desk.

“Yes, I think we need to talk, but this time I get to start”

“Rainer?” A light but sharp voice called from my still-open office door.

I turned around and felt as if the room kept spinning. Ellison Ramsey didn’t even pause in the doorway.

She breezed across my office in her haute couture, trailing the expensive perfume that was specially made just for her.

That scent used to make my mouth water, but now it choked me. Before I could move, Ellison came around my desk and kissed me firmly on the mouth.

“Rainer, darling, you look as wonderful as always. Oh, I didn’t see you there.” Tasha drew her shoulders back and held out her hand.

“Tasha Nichols, Rainer’s co-worker. And you are?”

“Running late.” Ellison dismissed Tasha and turned to me.

“I know it’s last minute, but I’d love to take you out for lunch.”

“Not today” I stopped as Ellison danced her fingers up my chest and then cupped my cheek.

“You always made time for me in the past,” she said with a hot little smile. Tasha slipped around me and headed for the door.

I would have thought she was fine, that she was made of ice if she hadn’t bumped into the chair on her way by.

She glanced up, embarrassed that I had seen, but I saw more than that.

Her expression was bewildered, hurt, and angry. Tasha did feel something for me! Enough to be jealous of the sudden appearance of an ex-girlfriend.

“This is Ellison Ramsey,” I called out, stopping Tasha.

“She dumped me flat years ago, back when I didn’t know the difference between a single malt scotch and a blend.”

“He was helpless, but a fast learner,” Ellison said. She fingered the collar of my shirt and tickled my ear.

“Nice to meet you, Ms. Ramsey.” Tasha recognized Ellison, as everyone did.

She was at the pinnacle of high society in San Francisco and ran the circle that most junior executives dreamed of joining.

“So, you’re just another one of Rainer’s co-workers?” Ellison asked Tasha.

“I’m the leader of the project he just joined. I made him rich,” Tasha said.

The two women eyed each other, and I didn’t know whether to find a front-row seat or run. I was shocked, not at Ellison, she was always high-handed and catty, but Tasha surprised me.

She didn’t shrink under Ellison’s withering stare. She seemed to find it funny. Tasha’s whole demeanor was self-confidence.

This was her territory, she was in charge, and no one was able to diminish that. Ellison turned her back on Tasha.

“That’s what I came to talk to you about, Rainer, darling.”

“Getting rich?” I asked.

“I thought all you had to do was snap your fingers.” I should have stopped Tasha as she finally turned to leave, but Ellison’s words worried me.

My ex-girlfriend sauntered over and shut the office door firmly behind Tasha. Then she turned and practically pounced.

“That was always the problem, wasn’t it? I was rich, and you were jealous of my money. That’s why you made me so jealous with all your little flirtations.” I tried to make it back to my desk, but Ellison slipped her hands up my collar and caught them tightly behind my neck.

“Wait, that’s it, isn’t it? You broke up with me because I didn’t have as much money as you?” Ellison nodded.

“I didn’t want a man who would resent me. But, oh, Rainer, how I wanted you. Now that you’re rich too, there’s no problem.”

“Are you saying you want to get back together?” I asked.

“No,” Ellison said. She licked her smiling lips.

“I want us to get married.”