“He has a lot on his mind,” I told her. That much was true.
She nodded as though that made sense. “And you?”
“What about me?” I cocked my head to the side, wondering what she was going to say.
“I don’t know. Since the night at the club, it feels like you’ve been ghosting me.”
“Ghosting?”
She shrugged. “Yeah. You know. Blowing me off. Pretending I don’t exist.” Her eyes dropped. “I apologized, but it’s obvious you don’t accept it. And there really isn’t much more that I can do. I’m not going to follow you around like a dog just to get your attention. You clearly have better things to do than spend time with me.” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, I noticed her cringe. “I…uh…I probably shouldn’t have said all that.”
“No. It’s good. We need to air this shit out once and for all.” I leaned back in my chair. “And for the record, I spent the weekend with my grandmother. She fell on Saturday, ended up in the emergency room.”
“Oh, my God.” Addison looked horrified. “Is she all right?”
“She’s fine. Nothing’s broken. But she’s stubborn, so I had to spend the rest of the weekend over there.”
Her eyes appeared glassy. “I’m sorry to hear about your grandmother, but if you had told me, I could’ve helped you.” Her bottom lip quivered. “I would’ve wanted to be there. With you.”
She swallowed repeatedly and I sensed she was fighting tears.
“I thought we had…” Her eyes dropped to her lap. “I thought we were trying to move past this.”
Leaning back, I steepled my hands and rested them on my stomach. “All right. Let’s cut the bullshit, shall we? I need you to be honest with me, Addison.”
Her eyes shot to my face. “Okay.”
“What exactly is it that you want from Mr. Parker and me?” She didn’t say anything, so I continued. “You were quite adamant that you wanted nothing from me here in the office unless it pertained to business. It’s been more than a week since we had that conversation. What is it you’re looking for now? Because try as I might, I can’t read your mind.”
She didn’t look me in the eye when she spoke. “I don’t know what I want.”
“Well, that doesn’t help the situation, now does it?” The snap in my voice was intended. It was obvious she wanted something, but she wasn’t capable of asking for it directly.
“No, it doesn’t,” she confirmed.
I nodded, then leaned forward. If she wasn’t going to help me, I couldn’t help her.
“That’s all for now,” I told her and turned my attention back to my computer.
Very slowly, Addison got to her feet. I could feel her eyes on me, but I didn’t look up. I wasn’t going to acknowledge her. I needed her to figure out what she wanted. Clearly, we weren’t giving it to her, but until she admitted it, until she asked for it, I wouldn’t do anything differently.
She was almost at my doorway when she spun around.
“You know what I want?”
Being that she had questioned me, I turned my attention to her. “No, precious. I don’t. Enlighten me.”
“I…I…” Her shoulders bowed in. “Actually, never mind. It doesn’t even matter.”
“Don’t. Move,” I barked when she spun around to make her exit.
Rarely did I raise my voice. I could generally get a command off without having to, but this woman was testing my self-control.
Addison froze instantly and I could see the tension ease out of her shoulders. This was what she wanted. The girl wanted us to take the reins, to make the decisions for her.
“Turn around.”
She did.
“I’m done with tiptoeing around everyone. Tell me what you want, Addison.” I was no longer making requests. She’d pushed me as far as she could and it was time I truly showed her that what she wanted was right in front of her. She merely had to ask for it.
“I want to please you,” she said softly.
I purposely misunderstood. “You do please me. You’re doing a fine job. Luci brags about you all the time.”
“No.” Her eyes locked on mine. “Not just here in the office. But…yes, here, too. Just not work related.”
I waited. I was not going to prompt her, which I believed was what she was hoping for.
“I thought the three of us shared something. I thought it was more than just sex. But then it got complicated and Mr. Parker started acting weird.” She sounded disappointed. “I had no idea what was going on or what I’d done to pit the two of you against each other.”
“You didn’t,” I denied.
“That’s crap and you know it,” she snapped back at me. “That night at my apartment. In the shower. I knew Mr. Parker was there. I knew that you were dominating me because you wanted to defy him. That wasn’t fair. He did something to upset you, but I was put in the middle of it.”
