His Coworker Could Walk In. I Had to Ask.

Three years together. One hundred eightyseven guest access requests filed with my boyfriend's building. One hundred fiftytwo approved. Twentythree denied. Twelve never answered.

I didn't have his door code. My fingerprint wasn't in his lock. Every time I stayed over, I had to give notice first and wait downstairs for him to come get me.

He called it boundaries. I respected that for three years. Today was our threeyear anniversary.

Request number one hundred eightyseven went out while I was already walking to his building. Five forty in the afternoon. Status still pending. I had my phone out to call him.

Then the elevator opened, and Mabel Voss, his coworker, stepped out, walked down the hall to his apartment, and pressed her thumb to his lock. It opened. She turned and saw me.

She stopped for half a second. "What are you doing here?

Sebastian said tonight wasn't good." I asked how she had fingerprint access. "Oh, they put me in last year," she said. "I come by to feed the cat all the time." He never told me he had a cat.

He told me he was allergic. He used that to turn me down three separate times when I asked if we could get one.

Later I scrolled back through Mabel's socials and found out the cat was a birthday present. From her. I deleted every message where I had asked permission to come over.

One hundred eightyseven of them. Not one left. Sebastian, your boundary only ever went around one person. She had been living inside your line the whole time.

Back then I still didn't know. That door had never been left open for me. Not from the first day. Chapter 1 "Thea, close the door." Sebastian stood in the entryway.

He looked at the cat first, the one that had bolted under the couch, and then at me. Mabel already had her house slippers on.

There was a men's pair on the shoe rack in the same style. Nobody buys a matching set for a guest. I shut the door.

At my feet sat a pair of disposable hotel slippers, still sealed in plastic. Sebastian's voice stayed flat. "You came early.

Why didn't you tell me?" "I texted you." "I was in a meeting. I didn't have my phone." He handed his suit jacket to Mabel while he said it.

She took it without missing a beat, hung it in the coat closet, then pulled a sparkling water out of the fridge like she had done it a hundred times.

The cat pushed his head out from under the couch. Mabel crouched and put out her hand. "Maple. Mommy's home." Something in Sebastian's face eased. "Don't spoil him.

He shredded the curtain again." I stayed where I was. My nails dug slowly into my palm. So his name was Maple.

So this apartment had Mabel's fingerprint, Mabel's slippers, Mabel's glass in the cabinet, and a cat that waited by the door for her.

And in one hundred fiftytwo visits, I still brought my own toothbrush. Mabel scooped up the cat and seemed to remember I existed. "Thea, don't take it the wrong way.

Sebastian works so much. I just come by once in a while for Maple." "How often is once in a while?" Her hand paused on the cat's back. "Three, four times a week?

Sometimes it runs late and I take the guest room." Sebastian's brows drew together. "Is there a point to this?" "Yes." I turned to him. "Three years, Sebastian.

I have to ask permission to come to your apartment. She walks in whenever she wants and sleeps here.

Does that sound fair to you?" He went to the kitchen island and poured himself a glass of water. "Mae takes care of Maple. She needs access." "And me?" "You don't." Two words.

Clean and final. A laugh got out of me. Short and ugly. "I'm your girlfriend, and I don't need to be able to get into your place?" "Thea.

Being my girlfriend isn't a reason to cross a line." He set the glass down and tapped the counter twice with one fingertip.

He does that when his patience is gone. "I've said this more times than I can count. I don't like my private space disturbed.

You showing up today, that by itself isn't okay." "Mabel isn't disturbing it." "She's different from you." I looked down.

The disposable slippers were still sealed in their plastic. "I know," I said. "She has a fingerprint.

I have hotel slippers." Chapter 2 Mabel dropped her eyes and softened her voice, like she was doing me a kindness. "Sebastian, don't say it like that. Thea's going to feel terrible.

Look, I'll take my print off the lock. The front desk can let me in from now on." She said it. She didn't move an inch.

And he stopped her, exactly the way she must have known he would. "No. Maple's attached to you.

There's no reason to change what works because she's upset." Maple jumped down out of her arms, went around me, and settled at Sebastian's feet like he had done it every night of his life.

Sebastian bent and rubbed the cat's head. Three years ago I saw an orange tabby outside a pet store. A return. Nobody wanted him. I asked Sebastian three times.

He said no every time. I thought that was a hard limit for him. Turns out limits depend on who's asking. I took the tie out of my bag and set it on the kitchen island.

It was our threeyear anniversary. I had come early to surprise him. Mabel glanced at the box and laughed. "That looks so familiar.

Sebastian, don't you have one like that already?" He opened the box and gave it about a second. "Yeah.

You gave me something close last month." Mabel turned to me, apologetic. "My mistake.

I figured he would've told you." Sebastian put the lid back on and pushed the box across the counter to me. "Return it.

No sense wasting the money." "Do you know what today is?" He turned his wrist and checked the time. "Thursday." Mabel's phone went off.

She took the call and came back with her face all pinched. "The vet says Maple's due for his booster, and I've got something tonight." Sebastian picked up his car keys. "I'll take you." He made it all the way to the entryway before he looked back at me. "You should head home too.

Next time, wait for me to confirm before you leave." I left the tie on the counter. "Sebastian." I kept my voice level. "What if I wanted access here too?" Two seconds of nothing. "Thea.

Don't test me like that." The door shut in my face. The next afternoon he texted me. Him: [My tone was bad last night. But showing up out of nowhere was also a problem.

Let's both own our part and leave it there.] I looked at it for a long time and sent back one word. Okay. An address came through right after. Him: [Team dinner tonight.

You've been saying you want to meet my coworkers. Six o'clock.] In three years he had never once brought me to a work thing. I thought the fight had changed something.

I went home after work and put on a dress. The private dining room was already full when I got there. There was one empty chair next to Sebastian.

I had barely started toward it when Mabel came in carrying a cake. "Sorry, sorry. Maple's meds ran long." Someone waved her over. "Mrs.

Ashford, we saved you a seat." Mabel went pink. "Don't call me that. Ms. Rowan is right here." The room went quiet for a beat. A dozen people looked at me at once.

Sebastian didn't explain anything. He pulled out the chair beside him for her. "Sit." I stood at the end of the table and looked at the seat that had looked like mine.

A coworker jumped in to smooth it over. "Ms. Rowan, sit down here. Good chance to meet Mr. Shaw. Mr. Ashford says your two firms are on the same joint bid?" Mr.

Shaw looked up and gave me a small nod. Nathaniel Shaw. I hadn't heard that name in three years. He was the one who offered to testify for me back then.

Then he went abroad, and we lost touch. I took the very last seat. From down there I had a clear view. The empty chair beside Sebastian wasn't empty anymore. Mabel filled it.

He hadn't brought me here to tell anyone I was his. Chapter 3 Our two firms were on the same joint bid, and he needed me to know the attorney handling contract review. That was all.

Once the food came out, every topic circled back to the project. Sebastian ate with his head down and turned once in a while to answer something Mabel said.

The plate in front of me stayed empty. Almost every dish on that table had been cooked in peanut oil. I'm severely allergic. There's an EpiPen in my bag at all times.

Mabel picked the restaurant. Our first year together, I ate peanut butter by accident and ended up in the ER.

He sat with me until three in the morning and typed the allergy into his phone himself. I thought he'd at least remember that much.

He just looked up at me. "Why aren't you eating?" "There's nothing here I can eat." "Don't be picky." Mabel waved the server over before I could say anything else. "Could we add a plain side of steamed vegetables, no peanuts?

Thea's allergic to peanuts. Sebastian, did you forget?" His hand stopped for half a second. "It's been a busy stretch." He didn't apologize.

Mabel was the one who reached over and comforted me. "He can't even remember his own birthday. Don't take it personally.

Ten years I've known him, and he still forgets my allergies sometimes." Someone down the table laughed. "Oh, come on.

Last time you reacted to mango, he sent back the whole fruit delivery from the vendor." Another voice picked it up. "His memory's fine.

He just remembers what matters." The air went out of the room. The guy who said it heard himself. He took a very fast drink. Sebastian finally frowned.

Not at them. "Thea, don't sulk. They're joking." He said it lightly, like my humiliation was just a badly timed lapse in manners.

One corner of my mouth pulled up. "Did you have me come tonight because you needed to talk business?" He wiped his hands. "What else?" "Do your coworkers know we're dating?" His eyes went a shade darker. "It was one joke.

You have to make an issue of it in front of everybody?" "Personal relationships don't belong in a work setting. You're a partner on this bid.

Don't let personal feelings affect how people judge your professional work." My fingertips went cold. I stood and picked up my bag. Mabel stood up with me. "Don't leave.

I'll make them apologize to you." "That's not necessary." I looked at Sebastian and kept my voice level. "Mr. Ashford is right.

Personal relationships shouldn't affect work." A muscle jumped between his brows. For the first time, I didn't wait for him to walk me out. I pushed the door open myself.

It was still swinging shut when I heard a coworker lower his voice behind me. "Mr. Ashford, is she really your girlfriend?" A short pause.

Then his answer, perfectly calm. "It's not settled yet. Don't say things like that in front of Mae." Turns out he really does keep work and personal life separate.

The next afternoon, before the bid runthrough, the project assistant came running at me with the new runofshow, eyes huge. "Ms.

Rowan, why did the lead presenter's name change?" I took it from her and looked. Where my name should have been for the main presentation, the sheet said Mabel Voss.

That residential scheme, from the first concept to three hundredplus drawings, was six months of my team's life. Mabel had sat in on two meetings.

I walked into the conference room with the runofshow still in my fist. "Sebastian. Explain this." He was bent over the projector, fixing the alignment for her.

He heard me and barely lifted his eyes. "Lastminute change. Mae presents, you handle the Q and A." "She's marketing director.

She's a stronger speaker than you are." Up on the screen was an elevation drawing I had spent half a year on. She stood in front of it like it had always been hers.

Chapter 4 I set the runofshow on the table. "The core concept, the floor plans, the models. All mine. Mabel has never once checked a dimension on those drawings.

What makes her the lead presenter?" Mabel closed her laptop and said, gently, "I'm not trying to take credit for your work. Sebastian said you haven't been doing well lately.

He was worried you'd lose control in the room." "When have I ever lost control?" Sebastian took the question. "Last night.

You interrogated me about our personal relationship in front of the entire team.

It affected the working atmosphere." He pulled out a chair and gestured at it. "Thea, I know it bothers you that Mae and I are close. But this is a thirty million dollar project.

I can't spend it managing your feelings." His tone never moved.

Every word of it said I wasn't a professional. "So you handed my work to her." "I'm having her present it." "And the credit?" I flipped to the last page of the runofshow.

Lead Designer. That said Mabel Voss too. Nobody in the room said anything. A couple of my team members put their heads down so they wouldn't have to look at me.

Sebastian rubbed his forehead. "The client responds better to Mae. Her name helps us win.

Once we take the contract, your bonus and your share won't be short." Mabel handed me a cup of tea. "Don't be upset.

After we win, I'll mention you at the celebration." I didn't take it. "The first draft of this scheme. Have you read it?" Mabel had nothing.

Sebastian's patience ran all the way out, and his voice went cold. "As of today, you're off the presentation team. Turn the rest of the materials over to Mae.

You don't need to attend the followup meetings." My chest went tight. "What gives you the right to remove me?" "I'm the project lead." "The copyright is mine." "The contract is clear.

Design work produced during the project belongs to the joint team." He knew me too well. He knew that when I signed on to work with him, I never read that contract line by line.

He handed it to me and said one thing. "You won't lose out on this." So I signed.

Mabel came around the table to me, voice soft as ever. "Thea, don't hold everyone up over relationship problems, okay?

Sebastian's doing this for the project." I pulled the projector cable out of the port. The screen went black. Sebastian caught my wrist. Not hard.

Not something I could pull out of, either. "Don't make a scene. Plug it back in." "When this project is done, I'll make it up to you." "Mae needs this one to get her footing.

You already have two awards. You don't need this." I looked straight at him. "She needs it, so I should hand it over.

Is that it?" He didn't answer the question. "Why are you comparing yourself to her?" All at once I didn't want to argue. My wrist went slack, and his hand opened.

I held the cable out to Mabel. "Fine. You present." Sebastian's face eased. "I'll come by after work. We'll talk more then." "Don't." I turned and walked out of the conference room.

The elevator doors were closing when the project assistant came running after me and pushed a folder into my hands. "Ms. Rowan, these are old files Mr. Ashford told me to clear out.

They were going in the shredder. I thought some of it might be yours." I opened the folder. On top was the complaint record from that emergingdesigner competition three years ago.

The person named in the complaint was Mabel Voss. The signature on the complaint was mine.

And clipped to the last page of the ruling was an internal memo, signed by Sebastian Ashford himself