Chapter 19

There was absolute silence in the office. Even the music stopped.

I stood and smoothed my skirt, trying to hold up my head. There was nothing I could do. I had indeed agreed, and picking a fight with Jessica in front of everyone wouldn't have been smart.

Still, I didn't expect Charles to make such a thing of it, to expose his private affairs to the employees.

As I walked through the cubicles, I heard Stan whisper, "Not as clean-cut as we thought, eh? Guess you'll need a new nickname." He gave me a wink.

The rest of the office erupted in a hiss of whispering and giggles. I turned and looked back, and they stopped for a split second until I turned around again.

There wasn't anything I could do, so I thought I'd go with it. As I the doors of the elevator closed I glanced back out and waved. A small "Get 'em girl!" responded, and then the doors closed.

"I can't believe you would do this to him," Jessica said into the tense atmosphere of the elevator. "You've undermined his authority in front of everyone."

"I've done no such thing," I said. "If anyone's reputation is damaged, it's mine, and if you hadn't shown up it wouldn't have been a big deal. "

"You think it's damaging to be associated with the head of the company? Most people would kill to be in your position."

I hold out my hands. "Listen, Jessica, we are going to be in each other's orbit, so please stop thinking my every move is motivated by maliciousness. I really don't intend anything the way you're thinking."

"Right," Jessica snapped, making it clear she didn't believe me.

"I intentionally tried to get out of your space in the office. Shouldn't you be happy about that?"

"And yet you've maneuvered your way into everything you wanted. Whatever, Elena."

I could see it was pointless. We rode the rest of the way in silence until the doors opened.

Knowing Amy could see us, she held the doors for me in a gesture of courtesy that made me simmer inside.

"I'd rather we never had to see you again," she whispered as I went by.

I ignored her and went through the office. I said hello to Amy, who gave me friendly wave, and gestured for me to proceed into the office.

Charles sat, cold, regal, and beautiful at his desk. He was scowling at me.

"You were going to break our bargain," he growled.

I slammed the door and stalked over to his desk. His head jerked back, surprised by my anger.

"What?"

"How could you? You heard me talk about journalistic truth and integrity and then intentionally put me in the department that is the exact antithesis of that!"

He shrugged. "I want you to lose our bet, so of course I gave you the hardest department I could think of."

"That was cruel."

"Was it?" He looked genuinely surprised by this. "I call it playing to win."

"Has it ever occurred to you that you don't have to win if it's going to negatively affect the people around you?"

"No."

"No? Surely even Alphas are taught that sometimes they need to do things they don't like for the good of the pack."

"Alphas instinctively know best."

"Says who?"

Charles looked legitimately confused. "Says everyone. It's part of the rules of our society."

"Well, maybe the rules need to change."

Charles looked at me, baffled, then shook his head as if to clear his mind of what I was saying.

"It's so odd, I never would have guessed all those high school years, sitting with you in complete silence, that you were a dangerous radical."

"I'm not. I'm just pushing back on some stupid, outdated rules."

"Outdated? Look around you, Elena. They seem to be working just fine."

"Are they? Then why are neither of us getting what we want right now."

This momentarily silenced Charles. Then he gestured to the more informal sitting area in his office. "Please, have a seat, Elena."

He got up and moved over the chairs and couch, relaxing into one. His scent flowed over me, full of deep, rich, vetiver.

It softened my anger.

I went over to the couch and perched on the edge. Charles had taken out his phone.

"You say neither of us are getting what we want? Then how about I let you pick. Chinese or Mexican."

I hesitated. His blue eyes were softer, had seemed to mellow slightly.

"Chinese."

"Great. Here, you pick what you want." He leaned toward me, holding out his phone, and as I leaned closer, he inhaled deeply.

I could see the pupils of his eyes widen and he smiled slightly. "Your scent has such a good effect on me, Elena. It makes me almost feel like listening to your political nonsense."

"Political non..." I checked myself, took a breath, and ignored his comment, focusing instead on the take-out menu on his phone.

He took back his phone, made his selections, and ordered. Then he got up and poured me and himself sparking water from his minifridge.

When he came back, his shoulders were relaxed, his eyes soft, and he was almost smiling.

Maybe my scent did have an impact after all.

"So obviously it's not going well down on the 10th floor," he said, smiling as if it were a joke.

"I'm reserving my judgment,"

I wanted to tell him about the half dozen employees that seemed to be totally wasting his money plagiarizing other people's work and using their time to shop for concert tickets, but I knew this would make things even more difficult for me if word got around I'd snitched.

"What time are you off? I need you to have dinner with me after my workout. Say around 8:30? I'm pretty sure you'll be done by then. My car can come get you."

"Hold on. I have some on-site research to do and then my first topic selection meeting. I'm busy until at least 9 p.m. and maybe later."

He was frowning in a way that reminded me of a confused child that was denied ice cream for the first time.

"What's wrong?" I laughed. "No one ever said no to dinner before?"

His eyes darted around, searching for a memory. "Not since I was of age," he finally said. "And I always set the time."

"Well, if you want to have dinner with me then you're going to have to wait."

He smiled, his eyes narrowing. "Trying to pull a power move, eh? I admire that."

"I'm not!" I threw up my hands in frustration. "I'm just not letting you dictate my life!"

"Well, that's weird," he said, smiling as a knock came on the door. He got up and answered it, speaking in a low voice to the delivery man and taking the bags of food.

I got up to help, filling our glasses with more sparkling water and clearing a space on the coffee table. I saw him notice and smile.

We opened the cartons and looked over our feast. The smell was delicious and my stomach growled.

"This looks incredible. Thank you."

He looked pleased by my thanks, and reacheed playfully with his chopsticks to steal my food. I batted him away, but then offered the container for him to pull from.

"What are you all hot and bothered to get done instead of enjoying some free food with me?" he asked after a few mouthfuls.

"I'm following up a lead at an orphanage that appears to have some dramatic problems. I don't know if they're underfunded or what, but the kids seem to be suffering."

Charles scoffed. "Does Sal know about this?"

"I'm going to pitch it at our meeting this evening."

"Good luck with that."

I didn't like his sarcastic tone. "What do you mean?"

"Sal isn't going to approve that. Not in a million years."

"But it's potentially scandalous as well as potentially meaningful. If things are going badly there, then kids are being affected."

Charles grinned, raised an eyebrow, and shoveled noodles into his mouth.

"I'll bet you."

"What?"

"I'll bet you. If Sal rejects it, you must be here at 12:30 for lunch and then dinner at 8:30 for an entire month."

"You'll call Sally and tell her to reject it."

He put up his hands in a gesture of innocence. "I promise I won't. You know why? Because I don't need to. I know I'll win."