Page 8 of Breaking All The Rules

“Man! That’s so wild! Does that mean that you’re going to get to have hot office sex with him all the time now?”

“No,” I said with a frown, even though she couldn’t see it. “I don’t think we’ll be having any sex. This is a job, Brit, not an episode of whatever that show is you’ve been watching lately.”

She had recently decided to binge-watch a handful of shows on Netflix and had been obsessed with telling me about the different love scenes she watched and how jealous she was that it wasn’t her. She was a hopeless romantic who believed in knights in shining armor and happily ever after, while I was a realist who knew that the knights would soon be fucking their secretary on a desk from Ikea. The so-called “love” scenes she continuously raved about were the things that highly paid romance authors created when all of the realistic stories in life were covered by the evening news.

“Well, I just think that you should be more open-minded. You never know what could happen,” she continued. She was clearly trying to convince me to see her side of the argument,including the pieces I hadaccidentallyzoned out on while applying a clear coat of polish. I wiggled my toes in front of me and smiled. The bright magenta color of the polish made me feel less edgy as I replayed the events of the day over and over in my head.

“We talked briefly at lunch, and he made it very clear that we are to be professional with each other and leave all personal feelings at home. It wasn’t the first time he had said it either,” I assured her. “Trust me, there will be no sex happening between us ever again.”

She sighed dramatically.

“Butifyou guys did have office sex, it could be really hot. You could say all sorts of law stuff to each other, like,you’re out of order.Or you canfile a motion.He mightbadger your witness.”

“Oh my god, Brit! You’re so ridiculous,” I said, laughing and shaking my head as I put the nail polish back on the nightstand. “No one talks like that, for one, and we don’t have witnesses to badger in corporate law.”

“Well, then he can badger something else... if you get my drift.”

I did get her drift—more than I wanted. But entertaining those kinds of thoughts about Ethan wasn’t going to do me any good. He had made himself clear multiple times today about where we stood and how nothing further would happen between us. Continuing to fantasize about him would only lead to more heartache on my end.

“Alright, well, on that note, I’m going to let you get back to another binge session of Law and Order. I’ll talk to you later?” I asked, feeling drained from the day.

“Sounds good. Text me tomorrow and let me know how your second day goes. I’m going to start a bet with myself on when you guys will give in and have another quickie.”

“BYE,” I said loudly, cutting her off before she could continue. I heard laughing on the other end as I pressed the button to end the call.

I walked into the kitchen and pulled a frozen lasagna from the freezer, checking the cooking time before I tossed it back in. It was already late, and I wasn’t in the mood to wait an hour for dinner. Instead, I fixed a bowl of cereal and sat down on the couch, flipping through the channels on the TV while my mind wandered back to Ethan.

Today had been a complete shock for me when I realized who he was. As much as I wanted to move past the fact that I had slept with my boss before knowing that he was my boss, I couldn’t get the memory out of my head of how good it had been. My mind had obsessed over that night for the past two weeks, analyzing every tiny detail.

I had no idea what had come over me when I followed him to the bathroom, but for the first time in my life, I didn’t regret it. How crazy was that to say—I didn’t regret the quickie with the stranger in the linen closet of a packed nightclub. That’s something that most people would think twice about before doing and would likely regret it later. But not me. I would do it again if he were willing to.

I could still feel the way his hands felt on my body. The way his fingers rubbed my clit so perfectly that it sent me into an orgasm within seconds. Maybe it was because I was already so aroused before he touched me, or maybe it was just because it was really that good. It wasn’t like I had previous encounters with him to compare it to.

A large part of me felt disappointed when he made it clear that things between us would stay strictly professional, even though I knew that’s what was best for everyone. I didn’t want to risk losing my job over something silly like this. But I also couldn’t stop wondering what would happen if we gave in andexplored the chemistry I still felt around him. I had no idea if he felt it, too, but there were a few times throughout the day when I would feel his gaze on me, and it seemed to mess with him as much as it did me.

I had spent the better part of the morning trying to figure out how to talk to him about it and explain that I wasn’tthatkind of girl. Before him, I had never had sex with anyone who I hadn’t been dating for at least a few months. I wanted to tell him that he found me on a night when I was completely vulnerable and desperate to escape what I was going through. To explain that having a gorgeous man like himself showing any interest in a girl like me was the sexiest thing I had ever seen. Allowing myself a night of uninhibited passion with a stranger was liberating and gave me the confidence I had been lacking for so long.

When Jeremy and I got together in law school, I never stopped to take a step back and make sure our relationship was what I really wanted. I didn’t bother to question his change in behavior when he was promoted to a partner at his firm or the sudden power shift that seemed to go straight to his head. I also ignored the constant text messages that he would get in the middle of the night. There was so much that I had missed, and part of me wondered if I didn’t care enough to notice. Maybe it was easier to stay in a relationship that I was comfortable with and that didn’t require any work than to walk away and admit that I deserved better.

Five

Ethan

“Hey, Brent,” I answered my phone, holding it between my ear and shoulder as I climbed out of the car. I gathered my things and gave a quick nod to my driver before he sped off, and I made my way toward the office. “I meant to call you yesterday, but the day got away from me. We hired a new attorney to help with some of my clients, and it took longer than expected to get her set up.”

I walked briskly through the main lobby as I headed toward the private elevator in the back. Brent was quiet on the other line, which made me wonder if the call had been disconnected or if he was silent because he was pissed that I hadn’t gotten back to him yesterday regarding the Watson Investments deal we had been discussing. I knew it was a high priority for him and that he was the last client that I needed to piss off right now. Or ever.

“I’ve been looking at every angle, and I agree that it’s best not to present this as a hostile takeover— “

“Cody’s dead,” he interrupted. I stopped in my tracks and ran a hand through my hair. Surely, I had misheard him.

“What?”

“Dead. Died of a heart attack.”

I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose. The elevator dinged beside me as the doors opened.

“Wow,” I muttered, unsure of what to say. I knew that Brent and Cody had a rocky past from what he had told me, but I didn’t know how this news was affecting him. While he acted cold andcalculated when it came to business, the deal with Cody was more than that. It had been personal at one point in his life. “I’m so sorry to hear that.”

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