Chapter seven
Alexander’s POV.
I avoided Brandon’s gaze for the rest of the day like he was the sun and I was already scorched.
After leaving his office, I’d practically sprinted back to my desk, heart pounding, cheeks burning, and brain fried from the quiet, pointed tension that had filled that room. I was in no state to deal with the world—much less Mia and Jake, who were still hovering like vultures when I got back.
Jake raised his eyebrows the moment he saw me. “Alive. Impressive.”
Mia leaned forward, eyes wide. “So? Did he yell? Fire you? Throw something?”.
“He didn’t throw anything,” I muttered, sliding into my chair and trying to look like a man who hadn’t just mentally undressed his boss then gotten emotionally undressed in return.
Jake perched on the edge of my desk like a sitcom sidekick. “But he said things, didn’t he?”
I ignored him.
Mia gave me a mock sympathetic look. “You’re never going to survive a week with him.”
“He told me to be ready,” I said.
Jake blinked. “Be ready for what? His wrath or his abs?”
I groaned. “You’re both fired. Leave.”
But they didn’t. Of course they didn’t.
Jake grinned. “Come on, you know you wanna talk about it.”
“I really don’t.”
Mia smirked. “So… was he mad mad? Or sexy mad?”.
“There’s a difference?” I asked, glaring at her.
“Oh, definitely,” she said. “Sexy mad is when he lowers his voice and says your name like it’s the beginning of a threat and a promise.”
I buried my face in my hands. “Why are you like this?”
Jake patted my back. “Because we love you. And because we’ve all seen the way you stare at him when he adjusts his tie.”
“did he fire you or just psychologically torture you for thirty minutes?”.
“Option C,” I said, rubbing my temples. “All of the above.”
Jake whistled. “What happened? Come on, give us the teaaa”. I rolled my eyes.
“He asked if I enjoy working here,” I said, tone flat.
Jake blinked. “Is that a trick question?”
“Apparently.”
Mia sat on the edge of my desk, lowering her voice. “So… did he say anything else? About the things you said?”
I stared at her.
She blinked. “Okay. That’s a yes.”
I groaned and let my head fall forward onto the desk. “I don’t know what’s worse. The fact that he heard me—or the fact that he repeated it. Word for word. ‘Dickface’ included.”
Jake looked horrified and delighted all at once. “No.”
“Oh yes,” I mumbled into the wood grain. “He said, ‘Was that before or after you imagined me shirtless?’”
Silence.
Then Mia gasped. “He knows!”
Jake looked like he was about to pass out laughing. “You’re so dead.”
“You think I don’t know that?” I lifted my head just enough to glare at him. “Do you know what he said when I left?”.
“But come to think of it, he didn’t get mad? The Alpha Brandon I know would have fired anyone without a second thought for trying to seduce or imagine it but he actually didn’t fire you?! Don’t you think that means something?”. Mia grinned, fueling my delusional mind even more.
“Okay, we’re done.” I stood abruptly. “Goodnight.”
They both laughed as I grabbed my bag and made a beeline for the elevator, pretending I wasn’t dying inside. I needed a shower. A drink. A lobotomy. Something.
By the time I got home, I’d managed to go an entire subway ride without thinking about Brandon.
That was a lie. I thought about him the whole time. The way he’d stood so close, the flicker in his eyes like he was holding back a thousand things he wasn’t saying.
I kicked off my shoes, dropped my bag, and flopped onto the couch face-first.
My phone buzzed a second later. I groaned and rolled over to check it.
Kira [8:03 PM]:
Is your boss’s dick that good you forgot your best friend?
I sighed and hit the call.
She answered on the first ring. “Finally! I was starting to think you died under a pile of spreadsheets.”
“Worse,” I muttered. “I agreed to a business trip with my boss. A week. Alone.”
There was a pause. Then her delighted screech hit my eardrum like a bomb. “A WEEK? With BRANDON?”
“Don’t shout,” I groaned.
“Oh, I am shouting. I’m throwing a party. Do you understand what this means?”.
“That I’m going to die in a hotel lobby while trying not to drool over his forearms?”.
She cackled. “Yes! But also… that we are finally moving from the ‘hopeless crush’ phase into the ‘hopeless disaster’ phase. My favorite.”
I sighed and rolled onto my back. “He overheard me, Kira. Saying things. Stupid things. About his face. And shirtlessness. And how maybe his mate rejected him because he’s… you know. Him.”
Her silence was deafening for two seconds. Then she gasped. “You did not.”
“He quoted me. Back to me.”
“Oh my god.” I could practically hear her grinning. “This is better than cable.”
“It’s my life.”
“It’s my entertainment,” she said cheerfully. “What did he do after that? Growl at you?”.
I stared at the ceiling. “No. Worse. He got quiet. And then said—in my face—‘For someone who finds me so unbearable, you spend an awful lot of time thinking about me shirtless.’”
Kira made a choking noise. “Oh my, that’s so hot! Sounds like fanfiction waiting to happen.”
“Kira.”
“I’m serious, think about this. The tense hotel hallway moment. You brushing hands while reaching for the same folder. He comes out of the shower with a towel low on his hips—”
I threw a pillow at the air. “I’m going to die.”
“You’re going to combust.”
“I’m going to do nothing. I’m going to behave like the consummate professional I am.”
“You just called your boss a dickface.”
“Okay, but that was before the trip.”
“And He’s awful!”
“Hot and awful. Which, let’s be honest, is exactly your type.”
“No…”. I lied. Kira was still laughing when I heard a low voice in the background—deep, amused, and unmistakably male.
“Are you talking to Alexander again?”
I heard a rustle, then Kira’s voice, sing-song and smug. “Yes, baby. It’s Alexander.”
There was a pause. Then her husband’s voice came back, louder this time, like he was closer to the phone. “Hi, Alexander.”
“Hey, Dominic”. I responded.
“Is Brandon making things difficult for you?”.
“Well, not in the way you think, baby. It’s more like making him hard”. Kira laughed.
Dominic chuckled, a dark, amused sound that made my spine straighten even through the phone. “Ah. Complicated, then.”
“Understatement of the year,” I muttered, rubbing my temples. “I’m either in the middle of a breakdown or a bad fanfiction.”
“Why not both?” Kira chimed cheerfully.
Dominic hummed thoughtfully. “Do you want him?”
My eyes widened. “What?”
“You want Brandon?” he asked again, slow and deliberate, like he was offering me a weapon or a kingdom. “Because if you do… say the word.”
I stared at the ceiling in horror. “Dominic, I—”
“I’m serious,” he cut in, calm and terrifying in that very mafia way of his. “You’re my wife’s best friend. She talks about you like you’re her second husband. So for her, I’m willing to make Brandon yours.”
“I don’t need a mafia-sanctioned mate,” I said weakly.
“I can arrange a fake scandal. Or a real one. I know people.”
“Stop threatening my boss,” I begged. “Please. I need this job.”
Kira was wheezing now. “Dominic, be nice. Alexander’s still in denial.”
Dominic sighed. “Fine. But if he keeps looking at you like you’re dinner, and he doesn’t make a move—”
“Dominic,” I said firmly.
He made a soft tch sound. “Coward.”
“I am,” I agreed. I laughed, Dominic was out of his world, he was probably the first person that threatened Brandon to his face— not that I was there but I heard rumors. Kira used to work for him and Dominic kind of became obsessed with her after their first meeting.
“The offer still stands though, Incase you change your mind”. Dominic's voice came again.
Kira was wheezing with laughter now. “He’s not kidding. He once threatened to bring down the whole company because Brandon made a snide remark about my lunch break.”
“That was one time,” her husband muttered.
“You hacked the security system and flooded his inbox with 700 photos of sea cucumbers.”
I blinked. “Wait. That was him?”.
Kira giggled. “Yup. I used to work at your company, remember? Before I got hunted down by my mafia husband and swept into a world of crime, power, and really inappropriate threats.”
“Emphasis on hunted,” her husband said dryly. “You kept running.”
“I didn’t think your ‘I’ll burn the building down for you’ love language was romantic at the time,” she shot back, before turning her attention back to me. “Anyway. You have my full support in your sexual tension-fueled journey with Brandon. And if you ever need backup, my husband has actual goons.”
“I don’t need goons!” I groaned. “I need a new job. Or a therapist. Or a time machine so I can punch past-me in the face before I agreed to this trip.”
“You need a tight shirt and a shared hotel room,” she countered. “And maybe some courage. Like, say something flirty. Accidentally touch his hand. Trip and fall into his lap. The classics.”
I groaned again. “This is insane. You’re insane. Your husband is definitely insane.”
“He says thank you.”
“I didn’t say it was a compliment.”
“Still taking it as one.”
I rubbed my face with both hands. “You two are unhinged.”
“And you’re in denial,” Kira sing-songed. “Call me the second anything remotely shirtless happens. I mean it.”
“I’m going to block you.”
“You won’t.”
She was right. I wouldn’t.
I hung up eventually, after another twenty minutes of teasing and very questionable advice that included “accidentally” walking in on him changing and pretending to forget my pajamas or getting myself drunk and walking into his bedroom. Naked!