Page 22 of The Physical Attraction Seminar
“Can’t what?” he argues while pulling out his phone from the pocket of his dress pants. “Walter, why don’t you make yourself useful and head on down to HR and let them know they need to hire a new mail boy?”
“I-It’s Wallace.” The college-aged boy stumbles over his words. “My name is Wallace, sir.”
“You got it, Wally.” Without lookingup from his phone, Harrison acknowledges him with a quick thumbs up. “Tell HR I sent you.”
The boy scrambles out of my office, the door slamming shut behind him. Reid instantly snaps his gaze to me, his eyebrows furrowing in disapproval. “She’s an employee.”
“She wasn’t on Thursday night when we met.”
“Wait,” Harrison interjects. “Is she the reason you hung up on me?”
“We crashed into each other while I was walking to get drinks with Graham, and I asked her to have dinner with me because hers splattered all over the sidewalk.”
“I’m sure your hopeless romantic heart is having a field day with that one,” Harrison goads.
I roll my eyes, to which Reid blows a laugh from his nose. The three of us are fraternal triplets, but Reid and Harrison look almost identical to each other. Their hair is a few shades lighter than mine, and they have similar beards and haircuts, whereas I’m clean-shaven and prefer to keep my hair longer.
“You told her about the non-fraternization policy, right?” Reid says after a beat of silence. “No one can do anything about what the two of you did before she was hired—although I still think you’re an idiot for still hiring her after the fact, that’s a story for another time. The last thing you want is the board to get wind of it. They’re already annoyed about Dad and Uncle Steve retiring early and you taking on the business so young. You can’t give them a reason to come breathing down your neck and making something out of nothing.”
“I haven’t talked to her about it yet,” I mumble with asigh. I purposely stacked my morning with back-to-back meetings to avoid having the conversation. On Friday, during our interview, which wasn’t really an interview, the non-fraternization agreement slipped my mind.
The two of us established that we needed to maintain a professional atmosphere while at work, but I completely forgot about the old-school policy until HR sent over her onboarding packet.
Once Lyla signs the document, she and I will not be allowed to have any sort of romantic relationship outside of work, or she will be fired on the spot.
“Barrett…” Reid shakes his head, scrubbing a hand down his face with a sigh. “When do you plan on telling her?”
“I have a meeting with Aspen at one, and I’ll fill Lyla in on everything right after.”
“Aspen?” Reid’s voice raises an octave, and he sits up straighter in his chair.
Harrison and I exchange a shared look while breaking into slow, knowing smiles. Despite being a notorious grump, Reid has a soft spot for the tall, pretty finance executive who rents office space on the twenty-eighth floor of our building, a fact that even Harrison, who’s been living two thousand miles away, is well aware of.
“No one can find out.” He rolls his eyes, attempting to change the subject while slipping back down into his chair.
I bounce my gaze between my brothers, silently conveying my confidence through my eyes. “They won’t. I’ll make sure of it.”
NINE
LYLA
I optedfor a late lunch with Camila at a cafe across the street to get some fresh air and free myself from the shackles of endless orientation videos.
It’s only once I’m settled back at my desk that I hear the faint sound of Barrett saying goodbyes to end his one o’clock call. Before I can overthink it, I pop up from my chair and take a steadying breath, smoothing my palms down my long, black pencil skirt before positioning myself in front of the large double doors of his office.
I’m sure he can see me since one door is half open, but I still tap my knuckles on the glass to grab his attention.
“Come in.”
In the three times I’ve seen him, Barrett has been dressed in a perfectly tailored navy-blue suit with a white, triangle-fold pocket square over his heart. The buttons of his suit jacket are always undone, revealing a white dress shirt that I vaguely remember putting on before going to the bathroom at his house the other night.
Over the weekend, curiosity got the best of me, and I went on a deep dive and read a few articles about him. Well, maybe more than a few. If I’m being honest, it was more like every article on the first five pages of Google and all Reddit threads mentioning his name. You know, just something light.
Much to my dismay, my search turned out to be uneventful. The only articles I found discussed the latest business events in the industry, only name-dropping Barrett as Banks Brothers Enterprises’ newest CEO whenever it called for it. There were no snark pages or scandalous articles to feed the public’s curiosity about his past relationships. Nor a peep about his personal life outside of work. According to the internet, Barrett Banks is all business all the time.
“Miss Hayward,” he greets me as I walk into his office for the first time.
It’s spacious, with a massive mahogany desk in the center that’s nearly identical to the one he had in his home office. Across from it, there are two large, high-backed leather chairs for guests. And to the right, there’s a wall with his framed degrees and certificates of achievement. Just below it, there’s a black wire mesh credenza that’s cluttered with awards and personal mementos.
