Chapter 130

I carried my last box into my new apartment. With my signature on the lease, everything was no official. After years of misery in my parents’ house and weeks of couch surfing, I finally had a place of my very own.

Somewhere I could sit in quiet solitude and reflect. Or eat pizza and binge reality television all day without anyone judging me.

After the past few days I’ve had, I’m ready to stuff my face and relax for a while. And the week wasn’t even over yet!

Having to deal with the new rules was bad enough, but now I was also to be Dawn’s assistant, bound to her every beck and call.

But, at least, I now had my own place to retreat to after the end of every long day.

And –

My doorbell chimed, interrupting my thoughts. I left my box on the counter and went to answer the door.

Behind it stood Logan, carrying a bottle of champagne. “May I come in?”

Smiling, I stepped back at once and motioned him inside.

“I parked in a discrete location,” Logan said as he entered. “No one saw me come in. So we should be safe for now, to have a fun evening together.”

I wasn’t a fan of the secrecy. Logan and I were married. I wanted to shout it from the rooftops, not hide in the shadows. But with both of our jobs on the line, I understood the need to keep it quiet.

It still hurt though, all this running around. I wanted to have an actual date with Logan someday. Dinner and a movie or something.

Stop that, Hazel, I told myself. Be grateful you even get this.

“I’ve unpacked a few of the boxes,” I told Logan as I led him into the kitchen. “Enough pots and pans to cook us dinner. I haven’t found the glasses yet. Well, the fancy ones anyway. I found the juice glasses.”

“Champagne in juice glasses it is, then,” Logan said. He grabbed a pair of the small glasses off the counter, flipped them right side up, then began to unseal the champagne. It opened with a pop!

“You didn’t have to bring champagne,” I said, even though I was pleased he had done so. It was a nice gesture.

“We’re celebrating,” Logan said. “Your new place.” With his eyes on the glasses as he poured, his face was lowered and his smile was nearly hidden from me. “And our marriage.”

I blinked, surprised. I hadn’t been expecting him to say something like that.

“We haven’t had time to properly celebrate. I fear, given the tension at work, that I haven’t been able to properly woo you at all.” He handed me one of the juice glasses filled with champagne.

“You’ve been busy,” I said.

“True. But I’m not so busy tonight.” He sipped at his own glass of champagne. Then, after placing his glass aside on the counter, he stepped closer to me. “Maybe dinner can wait a few minutes.”

I lifted a brow at him, as butterflies took flight in my heart. “Oh? Did you have something else planned?”

He plucked by glass from my hand and set it on the counter beside mine. “I’m making it up as I go.”

Hands now free, he lifted them and cupped my face, pressing his palms flat to the edges of my cheeks. His fingers brushed into my hair, just above my ear.

Slowly, gently, he leaned down and pressed his lips to mine.

I sighed in bliss. This kiss wasn’t stolen. We weren’t in any rush with the risk of being caught. We could take our time here.

This. This right here was what had been missing from Logan’s life.

If only Hazel had been anyone other woman than his employee, they wouldn’t need to hide. Unfortunately, things were what they were, and to save them both a lot of trouble, they had to keep to the shadows.

But here in the shadows, Logan could kiss and hold his long-lost wife.

His phone rang and with a sigh, they broke apart.

“Let it go to voicemail,” Hazel suggested, a bit of hope, a bit of disappointment in her eyes.

“It could be important,” Logan said, then watched as disappointment fully wiped the hope from her expression. He’d make it up to her.

Retrieving his phone from his pocket, Logan read the screen: Work.

“Logan…” Hazel said, a tiny plea in her voice.

“It might be an emergency,” Logan said. He couldn’t just ignore a call from work. That would raise more questions than he was willing to answer right now.

Hazel lowered her head.

“Don’t say anything, alright?” Logan told her before answering. “We don’t need people to know where I am.”

Hazel half turned from him. “Of course. Why would you want anyone to know you are with your wife?”

She was clearly displeased, but Logan could handle that after the call. So long as she understood she needed to be quiet right now, everything would proceed smoothly.

Logan answered the call. “This is Logan.”

“Mr. Hatfield, we have a situation here.” The voice belonged to one of the managers working under Logan, a woman named Cameron. A woman who was known to be good friends with Dawn from HR.

“What’s the situation, Cameron?” Logan repeated her name, hoping to alert Hazel that she needed to be extra quiet for both their sakes.

Hazel crossed her arms but didn’t otherwise react.

“I just received work from the Fillman’s Freight contact,” Cameron said. “They are thinking of pulling their accounts away from our company.”

“What? Why?”

Fillman’s Freight wasn’t their company’s highest income source, but it was in the top five. Losing them would be a massive hit to revenue.

“They’ve heard about our recent… scandals,” Cameron said.

“How could they have heard about that?” That had always been an internal issue. Any disgruntled employees, from before Logan got there, were delivered large settlements on the requirement that they stay quiet. Surely one of them didn’t break their non-disclosure paperwork?

Hazel looked at Logan with sudden worry.

“We could have a leak, Sir,” Cameron said.

Logan sighed.

“What is it?” Hazel whispered.

Logan immediately shook his head at her, but it was too late.

“Is someone there with you?” Cameron asked. “I apologize, I didn’t mean to interrupt your evening…”

“It’s fine,” Logan said quickly. Too quickly, maybe.

“Forgive me, Sir, but that voice almost sounded like your secretary…”

“Miss Whitaker and I are working late,” Logan said.

Hazel’s eyes went a little wide as she slapped a hand over her mouth. Maybe she had meant to be quieter than she had been. Maybe she hadn’t intended to sabotage Logan on purpose.

Yet all the same, she was heard and now there would be hell to pay for it.

Whatever hope he’d had of getting out of this call and staying with Hazel went up in smoke. Now, regardless of the necessity for it, he needed to head into the office.

“We’re finishing up here,” Logan said. “I’ll be in as soon as I can.”

“Make it soon, Mr. Hatfield, please. I have a phone conference with our contact at 8.”

Logan checked his watch. That gave him only thirty minutes to get to the office and familiarize himself with the client before the call.

“I’m on my way now.”

“Very good, Sir.”

Logan ended the call.

“You’re going into the office?” Hazel asked, a touch of hurt in her voice.

“Cameron heard us together. If I opt not to go and stay here, she will be extremely suspect.” Logan returned his phone to his pocket. “Not to mention, Fillman’s Freight is thinking of dropping their account.”

Hazel’s brow pulled together. “But I just talked to them this afternoon…”

Logan immediately straightened. “Did you mention HR’s new rules?”