Page 27 of High Rise Secrets

Me:Ethan knows. If he hasn’t gone to Landry yet, it’s only a matter of time. Can I spend the night over there?

Lia:I’ll leave the front door unlocked. You’ve got a lot to tell me in the morning.

I climb out of bed and walk down the hall to Ethan’s room. I hear his even breathing and quiet snores coming through the door. I feel guilty for leaving like this, but I don’t think I can handle another round of questions from him in the morning, and I know he will come looking for me at my apartment.

I need some time to sort this out. I’m going to need a night with the girls before I can see him again.

Chapter 16

Ethan

Ikick the covers off me and stare at the ceiling. The sun is barely peeking through the blinds, so it’s still early. My mind has been reeling since learning all the new information Addison dumped on me last night. I have so many more questions for her, but I know if I push too much too soon with this, she’s going to pull away. The girl I’ve wanted for years has been right in front of me, and I’ve been too stupid to do anything about it—too scared.

Not anymore.

Even when she first came to work for the company, there was something special about her, but I looked past her. Too wrapped up in taking over the company, too wrapped up in fixing all my dad’s fuck-ups. I didn’t have time for a relationship. Over the years, it just became who I was. If I needed a date, I would find one. Depending on how it went, we might get a hotel for the night, but there was hardly ever a second date.

Addison is the first woman I’ve brought back to my place.That should scare me, but it doesn’t. In fact, it makes me really happy. I love that I’ve been able to share something special with her, even if she doesn’t realize it.

I need to clear my head, but I don’t want to leave her alone in the house. I open the door and tiptoe to the spare bedroom. My dick stands at attention, wanting to slide back into her tight heat. Memories of the way she came for me are burned in my mind. I bite my knuckle to keep from moaning out loud. We need to talk more today before I can even think about that.

I reach for the handle and peek inside the room, expecting to find her curled up in the bed, but instead, the bed is empty. The blankets have been pulled back in place, and there is no sign of her ever being there. I look down the hallway, and the bathroom door is open. Next, I march to the kitchen, but that’s also empty.

Son of a bitch!

I toss on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt and haul ass to the office to see if her car is still there. When I arrive, the entire garage is empty. She must have left my place and picked it up. I pull my phone out of my pocket and try to call her.

It rings twice before she sends me to voicemail. I growl in frustration and dig my fingers through my hair. “You’d better have a good fucking reason for leaving this morning. We weren’t done talking.” I hang up and toss the phone into the passenger seat. I need to go for a fucking run and clear my head.

I drive home, much slower this time, and change into some shorts and a t-shirt. Whenever I need to clear my head or work through a problem, I run. It’s the best way for me to figure shit out. I put on my headphones and take off, letting myself get lost in the motion.

About an hour later, I return, but there’s still no response from Addison. I try calling her, get sent to voicemailagain, and so I text her.

Me:You owe me an explanation as to why you left. You can’t hide forever. We still work together.

I look at the time and decide it’s late enough. I call Landry, who picks up on the second ring.

“Hey, man, what’s up?”

“You’ve got some explaining to do. I know about Magnolia'snightlife,” I say, annoyance lacing my words. “I think we need to meet up and chat.”

He sighs. “I’m watching Aliana while Lia’s out, but when she gets back, we can meet up.”

“Text me when and where, and I’ll be there.”

“Okay. See you soon.” He hangs up.

Fuck. I have so much pent-up energy I contemplate going for another run, but decide throwing myself into work might be more useful. Al Costanza sent me an email with an outline of the services he’s looking for. I read it a few times, making sure I understand everything.

He’s looking for extra security for servers on his company computers and even wants to be able to access a log of when employees access it. That’s all fine and dandy, an easy fix, but the part that’s got me scratching my head is he wants the same thing done to his home computer systems.Why would he need this type of security on home computers?What’s he hiding?

The amount of business and revenue his company would bring is insane, and I know the board would be over the moon with this client. I could basically charge this man anything I want, and I know he has the means to pay but, but what is it going to be worth? Will I be stuck working with him forever? I suppose I could give him a trial run period to see if he likes the services. As much as I hate to admit it, I want to take a look around his computer to see if my suspicions about him are right, even though it’s definitely not ethical.

My phone rings, and Landry’s name lights up the screen. I swipe to answer and put the phone to my ear. “Hey.”

“Let’s meet atGusto’sin an hour. You can buy me a beer.”

“Done. See you then.”