Page 64 of Best Kept Vows

Jane came into my office before I had time to even pull out my laptop from my bag. “We have a meeting.”

“Yes.” I looked at my watch. “Marek isjoining us.”

Jane closed the door and settled on a client chair. “No, he’s not. He has a call with a customer.”

I’d been avoiding being alone with Jane ever since she got drunk and propositioned me. I reported the incident to Stacy Thunes, our head of HR, and she agreed that a formal warning was appropriate, given it was the first time anything like this had happened.

She assured me that if it happened again, we’d be in our rights to let Jane go. Until now, I hadn’t wanted to do that. Clingy, she may be, but she was a damn good COO, which was irrelevant now that we were selling the company.

I had talked to Jane and addressed her behavior—she’d been flippant.

“Jane, this is a workplace,” I reminded her.

She sighed. “What is it with men like you? When you come on to a woman, it’s fine, but if a woman even insinuates interest, it’s inappropriate?”

That told me this wasn’t the first time she’d pulled this nonsense. Now, I wondered why it had been so easy to get her over to Boone Metals from her high-profile company.

“Jane, this is not a discussion. I’m telling you that if you behave in that manner again, we’re going to have a major issue.”

“Fine.” She let out an exasperated breath. “Can we get to work now?”

That was weeks ago, and since then, Jane hadbehaved—but that had been because I had endeavored never to be alone with her.

“So, how are things?” she purred.

“Things are fine. Should we get to the agenda points? Or…you know what, let’s cancel this meeting and book one when Marek is free.”

“You know, last night I was downtown, and guess what I saw?”

I raised an eyebrow.

She played with her phone. “You have mail!”

I opened my email and saw a picture of Lia with a man in a bar. She was laughing, and the man was gazing at her. My heart felt like it had just been dropped from a terrible height.

I put my phone down. “What’s the point of this?”

She gave me an exaggerated eye roll. “While you’re pretending to be Mr. Husband Of The Year, your wife is hanging out with men at restaurants. And I saw them both go into a building together.”

“What the hell do you think you’re doing following my wife around?” I demanded. This invasion of privacy made me sick—not as ill as thinking Lia was having an affair, though.

Is that why she wanted to move out?

No! No!I knew Lia. She’d never do that to me. But then, who the fuck was this guy, and why was she laughing with him?

“I wasn’tfollowingher. I came acrossthem, and then maybe I just walked to see where they’d go.”

“That’sfollowing, Jane.” This was creepy as hell. This woman was nuts.

She let out a long, exasperated breath. “Sebastian, you don’t have to do this anymore.”

“Do what?” I asked, baffled.

“Your wife is stepping out on you, so you don’t have to be so noble anymore.” Her features softened with tenderness, and I freaked the fuck out.

I sent a quick message to Stacy on the company chat and asked her to come to my office ASAP. She said she’d be there in five minutes.

“Jane, we had a conversation, you remember, a few months ago when you propositioned me?”