Page 34 of Breaking All The Rules

We stood in the hallway, waiting for the other to go first but neither of us bothered to move. Finally, I said, “Hey, about earlier—”

“Don’t worry about it,” she said, sticking her hand up to stop me.

“I don’t want you to be embarrassed about it.”

“I’m not,” she lied as she laughed nervously. “Okay, I am. But not as much as I thought I would be.” She gave a little shrug as she held her purse down in front of her and kept her head lowered.

“Well, that’s good to know.” I chuckled, feeling relieved that this wasn’t as awkward as it could be. The last thing I wanted to do was make her feel uncomfortable or embarrassed about what happened. Hell, if I had my way, I would have shut the entire office down for the day so I could have pleasured her the way I wanted to under her desk.

“I’m starting to think that you’re a bad influence on me,” she teased as we started walking down the hallway to the mainelevators. I glanced at Kate’s desk and noticed that she was already gone for the day.

“It’s only a bad influence if it has a negative impact,” I said matter-of-factly. “But given how relaxed you look, I would say there was no negative impact.”

“What am I going to do with you?” She sighed playfully, stopping suddenly when we walked into the lobby.

A woman was standing by the wall with her back turned toward us. I didn’t know if anyone had helped her yet, and it seemed unlikely that anyone would be expecting a client this late in the day. I was about to ask if I could help her when she turned around and ran a hand over her swollen stomach, an evil grin on her face as she watched my reaction.

“Cora?” I asked in disbelief. “What are you doing here?”

“I think we need to talk,” she said, rubbing her bump. “Privately.”

Her tone was sharp as her eyes cut to Eva.

Eighteen

Eva

The tension that surrounded us was thick in the air as Ethan glared at the beautiful,verypregnant woman in front of us.

“I should go,” I said quietly, lowering my head and looking away as I started to walk off. Whatever this was, it didn’t look like it needed me to stick around and be involved. I had no idea who she was or what their history was, but the evil glare she was sending my way made me well aware that my presence wasn’t wanted.

“No,” he said sharply, grabbing hold of my elbow to stop me. “You can stay. Cora is leaving.”

“I’m not leaving until we talk.” She put her hand on her hip and narrowed her eyes at him.

“Anything you have to say, you can say to my attorney. We will not be having any private meetings, and it’s absurd that you would think that I would even consider it.”

“Things have changed,” she bit out angrily. “And we need to discuss those changes and your responsibility with them.”

“Cora, as I’ve said—you will speak directly with my lawyer—end of story. I don’t know who let you in, but you don’t work here anymore. Given our situation, you need to leave. Now.”

“Why? Are you fuckinghernow? Is that why you are so eager to get rid of me?” Cora snapped and turned her attention to me. “He might be fun to look at, and he’s a great fuck, but be careful, or you’ll end up in the same sort of mess as me. Knocked up bya man who tries to pay her off, so she’ll go away instead of doing the right thing.”

I felt my stomach drop as I looked at Ethan. His jaw was clenched, face etched in anger. But he didn’t bother to deny it. I looked between the two of them and wondered if there was any truth in what she was saying. I was also curious about their situation and why Ethan had a lawyer involved. Suddenly, I had so many questions but didn’t feel like I was in a position to ask them. If he wanted me to know his business, he would have told me.

It was awkward and uncomfortable standing there, waiting for someone to say something as Cora’s gut-punching words lingered in the air. I wanted to leave, but Ethan’s grip on my elbow told me that he wanted me to stay.Neededme to stay.

After what felt like a few minutes, Cora huffed dramatically before turning around and leaving. I waited until she was in the elevator and the door closed before I turned to look at Ethan.

My words were so jumbled in my head that I couldn’t get a coherent sentence out if I tried. Instead, I just stared at him as I silently bombarded him with a million questions. His eyes softened as he ran a hand through his hair.

“I’m sorry about that,” he started, stalling as he thought about what to say as well. “Cora was a former employee who—”

“Did you sleep with her?” I blurted out, feeling the need to know if she was telling the truth.

He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Yes.”

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