Page 100 of Over the Limit

“Paolo.”

My boss glances up from his seat behind his desk and meets my eyes before looking back down at his work like I didn’t speak at all.

An impromptu trip to our main office in the UK was the last thing I’d expected to be doing today, but after a day of stressing about this, and Paolo not returning my calls, I knew this was the place I needed to be.

But now that I’m face-to-face with him, the courage I’d worked up on the way here has waned.

Big time.

Despite that fact though, I step into his office and shut the door at my back. “We need to talk about it.”

“You lied to me,” he says and then lifts his head to finally meet my eyes. The disappointment in them guts me.

But I didn’t lie to him.

I didn’t say a freaking word, and I shouldn’t have to. There is no rule that says I have to tell my boss who I’m dating or if I broke up with someone. None whatsoever. In fact, I think that’s a broad overstep of his purview. I understand that I need to keep things on the down-low, but this is . . . this is just wrong.

“It shouldn’t matter who I date, Paolo. My job isn’t affected by it.”

“You knew I put my neck on the line for you on this. I explained the why behind it, and the gala has turned into the biggest event we’ve ever had and now—”

“And now, nothing.”

“Nothing except the supposition of impropriety.”

“Paolo.” I open my mouth and then close it and then sigh heavily. “This isn’t fair. I mean . . . if I were a male, would we be having this same conversation?” I lift an eyebrow. “I don’t think so. I didn’t lie to you. And who I spend my time with is my business. I kept my relationship with Rossi on the down-low for years. Even our breakup didn’t make any tabloids, did it? So, I’ll continue to be wise and circumspect.”

“There’s a lot on the line here.”

“As you’ve mentioned numerous times before and so I’m more than aware of it.”

He clasps his hands on his desk and leans back in his chair. His stare is like a laser. “This better not become a problem.”

“It won’t.”

“Says the woman whose ex and new man are on the same goddamn team. The same garage where rumors leak daily about the tension between the two drivers, even though no one can figure out why. The tension that just might cause one of them to lose a contract.”

Am I that out of touch, that I’m used to Rossi’s rumors from the past, that in la-la land with Lachlan that I didn’t know this?

“No one knows about me and Lachlan besides you,” I say softly. “So any rumors about tension between the two of them aren’t over me.”

He snorts. “I never pegged you for being that naïve, Blair.”

His rebuke stings and I struggle to bite back my response, but I manage to.

“Then there’s Monica Chamalet making demands of you when we both know she’s the private advisor over at Gravitas. A team who is looking actively at both of the drivers you’re affiliated with for next year.”

“One doesn’t have anything to do with the other.”

“No? You may think that. I may think that. But from the outside looking in, if it’s ever found out, it looks like you’re trying to cave to her demands to get your new boyfriend a big ol’ contract. And that is exactly why we don’t allow our employees to date drivers.”

“That’s an unfair statement.”

“It might be. It might not be. But fair or unfair, all that matters is perception, and we both know that people are obsessed with these drivers and scandal definitely sells better. Did you ever think of that?”

No.

Yes.