8. Mistake

Lila

The ride to the gala was pretty quiet. Theo stared at his phone the entire trip, while I watched my reflection in the window.

I used to love this event.

My end year gala which also doubled as a fundraiser.

What I loved it even more was that it had my name on every single thing. The invites, the banners, the welcome notes, everything. 

But tonight, I was a guest and even worse, an outsider.

When we arrived and stepped out of the car, the lights were blinding as the cameras flashed. Every tabloid wanted to get a picture  of Theo. It was expected as he was a celebrity.

Theo offered his arm as security ushered us forward, and I took it.

Inside, the ballroom looked exactly the same as I had  left it a few weeks ago. I could walk this place blindfolded and still know where every table was.

Except it didn’t belong to me anymore and I had to watch it from a far.

Theo chose that moment to glance down at me once as if annoyed. “Stay close.”

“Not planning on wandering off,” I murmured. Why had he dragged me with him if he was going to act like I was holding him hostage?

We barely made it five steps inside before the lights dimmed and the host walked onto the stage with a microphone in hand. I had no idea who they were, but I had always changed hosts each year so no one would pick it as a strange thing.

“Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention for a moment before the program begins.”

Everyone’s attention  moved to the stage as we watched Orion step into the spotlight.

I froze.

I had not seen him in the flesh since the night of our engagement. I was not prepared. He had a bounce to his step which no one would have noticed. It was the kind of walk he had when he was excited about something. 

“Good evening,” he began, “Before we proceed, I need to share something with all of you.”

My lungs tightened. Something told me I would not like what he was about to say.

“We are deeply saddened to announce that Lila Sterling passed away this morning.”

For a second, I didn’t hear anything else. Just a roaring rush in my ears and I felt like I was going to pass out.

 Gasps came from every corner of the room, as well as whispers of  she was so young.

I stood perfectly still. I couldn’t even blink. 

Orion continued, “Her condition deteriorated significantly this week. She was declared brain-dead, and continuing life support would have  caused her more  suffering. We made the very difficult decision to let her go peacefully.”

He made my death sound like kindness. 

My throat closed. I had to look away from the stage before I caused a scene, I disentangled myself from Theo as a waiter passed by. I snatched a champagne flute, then another. Theo gave me a look but I ignored him and downed a third.

I needed to just drown everything out till we left the gala and nothing was closer than the alcohol.

“Miss Hale,” he murmured, voice low. “Be careful.”

“I’m fantastic,” I said, smiling in a way that surprised even me. “Never better,” I finished before I walked away from him into the crowd.

The rest of the gala was a blur for me. I wasn’t sure how many glasses I had, who I had spoken to, all I knew is I tried to drown it all out. The condolences directed to Orion for losing the woman he claimed to love and praise for his bravery.

By the time Theo took my arm later in the night, I was too exhausted to pretend.

“Let’s go,” he said quietly. I didn’t fight him on it. 

Outside, the air was cold and it sobered me a bit. Once again we stayed in silence in the car but this time all I could think of was I was getting fired.

It was my first day working under Theo, and I was already certain he regretted every decision he had made involving me.

When the car stopped at the office, he got out first without even checking if I could walk straight in my heels. The gentlemanly act was over.

I followed anyway, because what else was I supposed to do? 

He didn’t wait or speak to me in the elevator. Not until we reached his floor.

That was when he pounced on me.

“What the hell was that back there?” he demanded, stopping so abruptly I almost collided with him.

I blinked, pretending I had no idea what he was talking about. “What was what?”

“The drinking,” he snapped. “Three glasses in ten minutes? Are you trying to get fired on your first day?”

I could have apologised but instead I  folded my arms. “It was a gala. People drink at galas.”

“You could barely stand,” he shot back.

“I can stand just fine.” I retorted. I felt a bit buzzed but I was not gone like he was insinuating. 

“Don’t test me,” he growled. “If you want to keep your job, you will conduct yourself like someone with basic self discipline. I don’t tolerate carelessness in my staff.”

A laugh slipped out, “Noted, sir.” I was  a  mannerless drunk and had no filter, that  had not changed.

His eyes cut to mine, hard and cold. “Are you mocking me?”

“Would I dare sir?”

“Yes,” he said without hesitation, “because you don’t seem to understand who you’re talking to.”

My annoyance flared. Did HE understand who he was talking to?

Maybe it was the alcohol. Maybe it was the awful night I had just had. Maybe it was the way he kept speaking to me like I was something less. 

“Then maybe,” I said sweetly, “maybe you should spank me to remind me of my place.” My alcohol-muddled brain had taken the lead.

His nostrils flared. “Watch yourself!”

There. A spark!

Something inside me snapped. Something  that wanted us to be reckless and impulsive. I didn’t think of the consequences of what I was about to do. I just moved.

I grabbed Theo’s collar and kissed him. It was not a soft kiss. It was a forceful, shut up kiss.

Theo froze. His hands came up as if he was about to push me away, but then something changed and  he kissed me back.

His mouth crashed into mine as one hand gripped the back of my neck, the other slamming against the wall beside my head as if bracing himself.

The kiss deepened, messy and punishing. Heat shot through me so fast my legs went weak.

Theo then grabbed my waist and spun me around. My back hit the wall beside his office door. There was no gentleness in how he handled me.

 His body pressed into mine, keeping me pinned as his mouth dragged along my jaw, then my throat. His breath was hot against my skin.

“This,” he whispered against my pulse, “is exactly why I don’t hire people like you.”

I would’ve been offended if my brain were still working.

But it wasn’t.

His teeth grazed my neck, and a sound escaped me and he swallowed it with another punishing kiss.

He pushed open his office door without looking, never breaking contact with me. We stumbled inside, still locked together, and the door slammed shut behind us.

Theo didn’t bother turning on the lights, the city glow from the windows was enough to light the whole room. 

Before I could catch my breath, he grabbed my wrist, spun me, and pushed me toward his desk. Papers scattered to the floor  as my  hip hit the edge of the wood, and I let out a small gasp.

Theo didn’t pause.

His hands gripped my waist and he bent me forward over the desk in one go. My palms hit the polished surface, my breath catching in my throat.

I felt him lean over me, his chest pressed to my back, his mouth brushing my ear.

“So tell me,” he said, voice low and dangerously calm. “Is this what you wanted in the first place?”

A shiver went straight down my spine. I lifted my head slightly, just enough to glance back at him. “Would it matter?”

His fingers slid down my sides, gripping my hips harder, pulling them back against him and I felt the hard tent in his trousers. He wanted this just as much but for different reasons than mine.

“You kiss your boss on your first day of work,” he said, lips grazing my jaw as he bent over me again, “and then you ask if it matters?”

I opened my mouth, but he didn’t let me answer.

His hand pressed lightly between my shoulder blades, keeping me bent over the desk, and the other slipped down to pull my dress higher. 

“The real question,” he muttered against my neck, “is whether you can handle what you started.”

He shoved my dress over my hips and the cool air against my skin was nothing compared to the heat of his body closing in again.

When he dragged his fingertips along the inside of my thigh, I bit my lip to suppress a moan.

He noticed. Of course, he noticed.

His grip on my hips tightened. “That’s what I thought.”.

I heard the sound of his belt unbuckling and the way it echoed in the room made me shiver again. 

If I had known this was how the day would end I would have shaved like Eve had suggested, but Theo was a man.

It was not the right time for my mind to think  of all the possible things that what we were doing meant to Theo. An office fling? him firing me? but none of that mattered, not with the way he hooked two fingers around the edge of my underwear and pulled it down. He wanted me to beg. I could feel it in the way his movements were slowed. But I wasn’t going to. I was in control. I needed to be in control. 

I twisted to look at him, “Is this your standard welcome?” I asked, the words came out with a bite to them, even as my legs nearly buckled at the next hot drag of his palm.

“Only for very special hires,” he replied.. There was a hitch to his voice. He wasn’t as collected as he pretended. I pressed back and his hands closed around my thighs, suddenly, I felt him.

The first push made me bite my lip but when I was well adjusted,  I lost count of the seconds.

Every movement from him was full of anger, anger at me, at the night, at himself. Maybe all of it.

But he wasn’t stopping.

And I wasn’t asking him to. When it was over, the world snapped back into focus for both of us.

Theo stepped back  like the  distance could erase what just happened.

“That,” he said quietly, “cannot happen again.”

I slid off the desk, smoothing my dress with shaking fingers. “Then maybe don’t kiss me back next time.”

His jaw clenched. He didn’t argue or look at me either.

“You’re going home,” he said, voice clipped. “I’ll call you a car.”

I nodded and I let myself out.