Blind Date with my Billionaire Boss (Blind Date Disasters Book 5) Page 18

  Charlotte leaned in again, her eyes sparkling. “But Maya, he took you on his jet. Don’t you know what that means?” A beat passed as she held eye contact with me. “He’s in love with you.”

  Chapter 21

  Maya

  Easton didn’t contact me on Sunday, but I was grateful for a day to collect my thoughts without any distractions. I went to church and spent some time in prayer once I got home. I did a few chores and listened to an audio book to keep my mind from lingering on any of the worries that came to mind regarding a potential relationship with Easton. So many things were up in the air, but the Lord was in charge, and He would guide me in the right direction.

  When Monday rolled around, my stomach did flip-flops in anticipation of seeing him again. Would he want to go out for dinner again? Or would he distance himself since we’d already spent a lot of time together? It would be perfectly reasonable if he backed off, considering we hadn’t had much of a break. Still, that didn’t mean I wanted him to back off.

  My hormones were all over the place and even though I knew it was sensible to put some space between us, I wanted to run full speed ahead and see him as much as I could. This was why people in love acted like they were on drugs. The dopamine rush was overpowering at times.

  I stopped myself, frustrated that once again, the word, “love” had gone through my mind. I was NOT in love. He was an amazing man, and I liked him a lot. End of story.

  “Good morning,” Deanna said, as I walked down the hallway in the direction of my office. She was standing at the doorway to her office with a cup of coffee in her hand. “How was your weekend?”

  I stopped and greeted her, a smile on my face, the one I hadn’t been able to wipe off since I’d woken up this morning. “It was great. How was it for you?”

  “Boring.” She frowned and then took a sip of coffee. “I just watched TV and cleaned my apartment. Exciting, right?” She grimaced and met my gaze. “What did you do?”

  I hesitated for a moment, but the smile didn’t leave my face. “The same.” And it was true. I’d done chores and watched a lot of television on Sunday afternoon.

  “Well, you must love mundane things because you’re looking extremely perky this morning.”

  I laughed it off and waved, heading to the break room to put my lunch in the refrigerator. After doing that, I went to my office and set my purse down and then turned on my computer, my stomach still doing flip flops. This was ridiculous. I was an adult, not a teenager. I needed to just…focus.

  The rest of the morning crawled by, and every hour or so I checked my phone to see if Easton had sent me a text, but there was nothing.

  At lunchtime, Bruce stood to his feet. “Ready to eat? I brought my lunch today.”

  “Yeah, go ahead without me. I’ll be there in a minute.”

  “Cool.” He left the room, leaving me to finish up before I joined him.

  I looked at my phone for the tenth time, but there were no texts from anyone. Sighing, I leaned my elbows on my desk and thought about the situation. Up until this point, Easton had continuously been the initiator, the one to pursue spending time with me. Maybe he was waiting to see if I would reciprocate.

  I wasn’t the type to pursue a man, but wouldn’t it be wrong to always expect him to make the first move? It would send the message that I wasn’t willing to work at this, and after praying yesterday and sleeping on it, I was one hundred percent ready to invest in a relationship with Easton. There might be some trials ahead and there would definitely be some risk-taking, but I truly felt in my heart that it would be worth it.

  I pulled out my phone and stared at the screen for a long moment, wincing a little. I could do this. Be brave.

  Deanna stuck her head in the doorway. “Hey, you coming to the break room?”

  “Yeah, I’ll be there in a second.”

  She nodded and headed out. I typed a quick message. Dinner tonight? I was about to hit send when I heard Easton’s voice down the hallway. I froze. He was talking to someone—a woman—but I didn’t recognize her voice. I stood and walked to the doorway so I could hear better, but I hung back so no one would see me. The voices disappeared, and after a minute passed, I decided to do a little investigating.

  This was crazy, but I was doing it, anyway. I walked over to his office, but the door was shut. Verity was typing something on her computer, but she smiled when she saw me.

  “Hey, Maya, you just missed him.”

  I snapped my fingers and laughed like it didn’t matter. “That’s too bad. Guess I’ll have to talk to him later. Do you know when he’ll be back?”

  She shrugged. “I’m guessing it won’t be for a while.” She glanced both ways and then leaned in, lowering her voice. “I think he’s on a date. I don’t like to gossip, but you should have seen the woman he was with. Some hotsy-totsy little thing with long black hair and big blue eyes.” She made a face. “And this one had her nose higher in the air than Lila. Guess he likes his women to have an attitude.” She laughed and shook her head. “Sorry, don’t mean to diminish his choices, but he deserves better. He’s a smart guy, but then again, men are visual creatures, and it’s hard to turn away a woman when she’s as gorgeous as that one.”

  A sick feeling churned in my stomach, and my heart ached. It ached so bad I felt like I needed to sit down, but I resisted the urge. She had to be mistaken. He wouldn’t go on a date with someone when he’d just kissed me on Saturday. Surely, he wouldn’t do that.

  I reflected on our high school days and remembered him dating quite a few girls, and there had been plenty of arguments in the locker room over him. I’d always rolled my eyes because I didn’t like him at the time, but now I felt sympathy for a couple of those girls who’d stormed out in tears. That had been his modus operandi back then. He’d go out with one woman until she’d fully invested, and then he’d check out another. But I had thought he was past all of that.

  I needed to believe the best about him. He deserved my loyalty. He’d proven himself over and over again. Of course, we didn’t have an understanding between us. We were still just friends, which meant he was free to date anyone he wanted.

  “Honey, are you okay?” Verity adjusted her glasses and tilted her head to the side, studying me with concern.

  “Oh, yeah, I’m good,” I said, my voice high-pitched. “I think I’ll go on to the break room now.” I forced a smile. “Nice seeing you.” And then I turned and fled, glancing back a few moments later. She was staring at me with a troubled expression on her face.

  Oh, well. I couldn’t worry about that. I went to my office and picked up my phone. The text I’d written was still there, but I hadn’t sent it yet. I erased it and put my phone in my purse, sighing.

  I’d allowed myself to go bat-crazy and look where it had gotten me?

  Head over heels for a man who just so happened to be my boss.

  Was I insane?

  Yes, I was seriously insane.

  And I was out of my mind jealous over some woman with long black hair and big blue eyes. How had Verity described her? Hotsy-totsy. Good grief.

  A flood of tears welled up, and I pushed them back, not wanting the others in the office to see me crying. This was what I got for allowing my emotions to take over. I wiped the tears and took a deep breath. If this was a precursor to what I’d have to deal with if I dated Easton, I wasn’t sure I could handle it.

  My mother had always told me not to make any major decisions when I was emotional, so I decided to wait and see what Easton said about this woman. Maybe there was a reasonable explanation, and I was allowing myself to get worked up over nothing.

  I searched inwardly, trying to get a handle on what my gut instinct said about the situation, but I came up empty. There was nothing. Nada. Zilch. So, I did what I should have done in the beginning. I prayed.

  After taking a few minutes, I felt a little better, but not much. Maybe that was a sign that I was overwhelmed.

  I headed to the break room and took
my food out of the refrigerator—my leftovers from Saturday—and then heated the meal in the microwave. Almost everyone from the Human Resources Department was in the break room, as well as a few others from different departments.

  Deanna waved a hand frantically, trying to get my attention. “Come sit with us. There’s a little room here.” She pointed to a corner of the table that barely fit a chair.

  The space was so small I would have to squish in between her and Bruce, and I didn’t feel like crowding myself. “That’s okay. I’ll just sit here on the end.”

  “You sure? We can make room.”

  “No, no, I’m fine, but thank you.”

  She nodded and went back to her discussion with the others, and I took my food out of the microwave and sat down at the end of the table, preferring to be alone since I wasn’t in the best mood.

  “Hey, Maya, did you catch a glimpse of the woman talking to Easton?” Paige asked. “We have a bet going. Some of us think it’s Easton’s new girlfriend, but a few others are sure it’s just a professional acquaintance. Want to get in on the action?”

  My eyebrows flew up. Everyone else knew about this? “I didn’t see her.”

  “She’s gorgeous,” George said. “If he’s not dating her now, he’s about to. And I saw the way she was looking at him too.”

  “I didn’t see her either,” Laurie said, “but my gut is telling me it’s not a date. I think he’s preoccupied with another woman.”

  At least someone had a gut feeling. Apparently, my instincts had deserted me.

  The discussion turned to other things, and I cut my leftover Chicken Saltimbocca into small pieces and ate as quickly as I could. After finishing off the pasta and broccoli I had left, I stared at the plastic bowl of green beans I hadn’t eaten yet and shook my head. I couldn’t eat it. I had no appetite and was starting to feel nauseous. I threw it away and returned to my office.

  The rest of the afternoon was torture. I tried my best not to think about Easton, but he kept coming to mind over and over again until I wanted to scream. By the time four o’clock rolled around, my heart ached, and it felt like someone had punched me in the gut. He’d always texted me before this point in the day, and since there were no texts, I had to assume his thoughts were on other things. Or other people.

  I’d been feeling sick all afternoon, but an hour before it was time to leave, I rushed to the restroom and threw up in one of the toilets. I wet paper towels and wiped my face and tried to power through it, but it was no use. This was bad. It almost felt like I had the flu, but maybe I was just in turmoil over Easton. When I walked out of the restroom, Deanna was about to head in. She touched me on the arm and frowned.

  “Hey, are you okay? You don’t look so good.”

  “I think I might be coming down with something.”

  “Talk to George. He’ll let you go home early.”

  I nodded. “Yeah, I need to leave.”

  After speaking with George, I slipped out of the office and drove home, tears sliding down my face. I might have blown this entire thing out of proportion. Then again, there was also a chance of a new woman in Easton’s life, and I’d allowed myself to fall for him against my better judgment.

  Once I reached my apartment, a call came through on my cellphone, and my heart leapt into my throat. Maybe it was him. But when I checked my cell, it was Charlotte. Not in the mood to talk, I let it go to voicemail. About twenty seconds later, my phone rang, and it was Charlotte again, but I hit the silence button and rushed to the bathroom where I vomited for the second time.

  A heaviness washed over me, and I felt drained and tired and like the only solution to my problems was to go to bed. I knew it was wrong to allow myself to get this upset and worked up over what happened, but I didn’t care anymore. I couldn’t change my feelings, but I could drown them out with sleep. Once my face hit the pillow, everything went black.

  ***

  I woke up to morning light peeking through the curtains, and I glanced over at my clock to find it was six-fifty-nine, and in one more minute, my alarm would go off, alerting me to get up for work. How had I slept that long? I did a quick mental calculation and figured out that I’d slept thirteen hours, but with all that sleep, I felt like an eighteen-wheeler had run me over. I sat up in bed, a wave of nausea hitting me as I turned off my alarm before it went off.

  This was not just about inner turmoil. I was definitely sick. I picked up my cell phone and three missed calls flashed across the screen from Charlotte and four from Easton. There were texts from both of them. The first was from Charlotte. Call me when you get this. And then another. Hey, is everything okay?

  I clicked on the texts from Easton. Heard you weren’t feeling well. Give me a call when you get the chance. A few hours later he’d sent a follow-up text. We need to talk. Please call me.

  Ugh. My head hurt, and I didn’t feel like talking at all. He probably figured out that everyone in the office was gossiping about him and Miss Hotsy-totsy, and he wanted to explain, but I was too sick to talk about it right now. After a night of sleep, I’d come to the conclusion that whatever happened was most likely innocent, but I was more upset with myself than with him. He was a good guy, and he’d told me I was the most beautiful woman he’d ever laid eyes on. If he meant it, he wouldn’t go on a date. It just didn’t make sense.

  The bigger issue was that I’d lost my mind yesterday and allowed myself to go through trauma when I should have been more circumspect. But then again, who wouldn’t have felt hurt in a situation like that? Maybe this was a wake-up call, and I needed to heed it. Easton had always had the ability to stir up women’s emotions until it seemed as if they were the crazy ones, but I would not allow myself to succumb to that rollercoaster ride.

  Being alone and single was better than that.

  My head hit the pillow, and I kept telling myself I’d get up in a minute, but I fell asleep before that happened. The next thing I knew, my phone dinged with another text and I sat up and looked at the clock. It was eight in the morning. I wiped a hand over my face. There was no way I was going to make it in today. The text was from Easton, but I didn’t click on it yet.

  Eight o’clock was my start time, so I needed to call George right away. I dialed the number, but his phone just rang, so I left a message, informing him that I had the flu and wouldn’t be in to work. I clicked on Easton’s text. Dinner tonight?

  My heart warmed a little, but it was still sore from the incident the previous day with Miss Hotsy-totsy. I was very tempted to ignore his text, but I sensed God’s spirit leading me to believe the best about Easton until I had a reason to think differently. I typed a quick response. Thanks, but I’m not well enough to go out. And by the way, I called in sick this morning.

  He immediately answered. I sent that text yesterday afternoon. You didn’t get it? It must have been delayed. I sent two others. Did you get those?

  That wasn’t the only time I’d received a delayed text, so it didn’t seem strange that it happened. But if I had gotten the first text yesterday, it would have saved me a lot of pain. Granted, there was still the issue of Miss Hotsy-totsy, but at least he hadn’t forgotten about me. We needed to have a conversation about who the woman was, but I was leaning more and more towards believing there was a reasonable explanation.

  I responded as a wave of fatigue washed over me. No, I didn’t get it, but I got the last two texts. Sorry, I know you wanted to talk, but I was exhausted and not feeling well.

  Him: Serves me right. I should have called to invite you to dinner. I was going to, but then I got distracted with preparations.

  Me: That’s okay.

  Him: No, it’s not. I had something special planned for you.

  Me: You did? What was it?

  Him: Once you’re better, we’ll try again.

  Me: Now I’m curious.

  Him: Good. It will provide a little mystery in your life. I want to keep you guessing.

  Despite feeling awful, I laughed out loud at
that. If he even knew just how much he’d kept me guessing.

  Me: I’m pretty sick. Not sure when I’ll be back to work.

  Him: I’ll stop by later today with soup.

  My heart warmed even more, and I desperately wanted to see him, but it would be selfish to let him come over. This was a bad bug, and I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.

  Me: Don’t take this the wrong way, but you should stay away. You don’t want to catch this.

  Him: I’m not worried. Just want to see your beautiful face.

  Okay, the man was stirring up my emotions again. Did this mean everything was okay? Maybe. Maybe not.

  Me: I definitely won’t be wearing makeup. Think you can handle it?

  Him: You’re more beautiful without your makeup.

  Oh, my goodness, my heart. What was he doing to me?

  Me: You can drop off soup but you can’t stay. Don’t want you to get sick.

  There was a long pause and then his response came through.

  Him: We’ll see about that.

  I sent one last text. Call me when you’re on your way. And then I turned over in bed, and closed my eyes, silently thanking the Lord that the situation wasn’t as bad as I’d feared. Perhaps God was teaching me to lean on Him more and not allow external circumstances to affect my peace. I barely finished my prayer before I drifted off, a feeling of deep exhaustion making every muscle in my body feel heavy.

  Chapter 22

  Easton

  Thank goodness, she finally got back to me because I was starting to worry, and I couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t right. It was as if a black cloud hung over me, and I wouldn’t feel better until I saw Maya in person. At least she was willing to allow me to stop by with soup later today so I could check on her.

  It was eight-fifteen, and I was still tired from my morning training. My alarm had gone off at four, and I’d done the training exercises Darren Finley gave me. I’d been doing them ever since my appointment with him, and although discipline wasn’t easy, especially in the early hours of the day, I had to keep at it if I wanted to do well in the race.