There's No Way

Boss

[Camila's POV]

I hadn't even noticed that there was a skylight in the attic until the rays of the sun were beaming right down onto my face, waking me from my blissful slumber. I looked next to me and saw that Shawn was still fast asleep, despite the intruding rays. I smiled as I remembered everything that had taken place last night. I snuggled closer to him and buried my face in his chest, closing my eyes contently as I tried to commit his scent to memory.

"Hi." The word came out more like a muffled whisper as he pressed a kiss to the top of my head.

"Hi," I said shyly in return. "Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you..." I admitted timidly as I realized that it was most likely my intrusive cuddling that woke him up. He lazily ran his fingers through my hair as I felt his heart pound against my ear.

"It's okay, I prefer to be awake with you." I couldn't see him as he said it, but the way his words sounded assured me that he was smiling. I finally lifted my face up to look at him, my chin resting on his sternum. Sure enough, I was met with that beautiful smile. I couldn't help but smile in return as his fingers continued to play with my curls.

"Thank you for yesterday...for everything. I haven't had an enjoyable birthday in years; honestly, I was kind of dreading it this year because of how bad they usually are. But...I don't know. You make me feel special...and like it's okay for me to feel special." My thumb grazed his cheek as I spoke, enjoying the way the subtle scruff scratched against my soft skin.

"Are you happy?" he asked. His question caught me off guard, but I knew the answer.

"The happiest." I leaned in a pressed my lips against his. We both just laid there in silence for a few more moments, enjoying the solitude and peace of the moment.

"My ass hurts," I stated bluntly. Shawn looked at me with wide eyes.

"We had a couple glasses of wine, Mila – but we weren't that drunk." I reached over and grabbed the closest pillow to me, whipping it around and playfully smacking him in the chest with it.

"I meant from sleeping on the floor, dumbass..." I retorted as he let out a snort.

"Yeah, as much as I enjoyed last night I would really prefer to not sleep on this floor again," he chimed in agreement. We got up, haphazardly covering ourselves with the clothes that had been strewn around the room last night before heading back down the ladder and into the main house.

"I'm going to take a shower," I said as I began heading toward the door to the en suite. I looked at Shawn and could tell he wanted to say something, but held back. Instead he just nodded.

"Okay."

I rolled my eyes at his failed attempt at innocence.

"Would you like to join me, Shawn?" I asked, already knowing the answer. As expected he happily nodded before jumping to his feet and following me into the bathroom.

----

Since the events that had transpired on the night of my birthday, distancing myself from Shawn while at work seemed to be more and more difficult. At this point I was fully convinced that at least one of our coworkers knew about our relationship, if not more. I stood up from my chair and glanced over at where Shawn sat. He always looks so cute when he's focused on something. His eyes were glued to his computer screen, his brows furrowed in concentration and his bottom lip gently tugged between his teeth. I had to remind myself multiple times throughout the day that normal people don't just stare at and drool over their coworkers – but again, that was proving to be difficult.

"Camila!" a booming voice echoed behind me. I quickly turned around to see our boss, the VP of the company, poking his head out of his office and motioning for me to come over to him. I took a deep breath before walking over towards his office. I walked in and he shut the door behind me, immediately making me tense up slightly. I sat down in the chair in front of his desk as he paced around briefly before finally settling in the chair behind his desk.

"So you and Mendes...you guys seem to be pretty close. Is that an accurate assumption to make?" he asked with furrowed brows. My breath was caught in my throat as my mind automatically assumed the worst of this situation. We had been found out. We had been found out and he was about to tell me to pack my things and leave – to not even bother coming back. I swallowed down my nerves quickly before answering.

"Yes, we're close."

He nodded as his eyes wandered around his own office as if he were contemplating something. After what seemed like an eternity, he finally spoke again.

"Is he a pretty decent guy?"

I didn't know how to answer his question. I mean, obviously I knew the answer to his question – but in this context, I didn't know how I was intended to answer this question.

"Like...as a coworker or just as a – as a friend?" Using the word 'friend' to describe Shawn seemed so foreign to me now. He was so, so much more than that to me.

"Both," he responded confidently. I took a deep breath as I prepared to answer his question honestly, no matter how much shit it got me into.

"He's one of the greatest people I've ever known, if not the greatest – both at work, as a coworker & outside of work, as a friend." I felt like I was rambling at some points, but I didn't care – I told him exactly how I felt about Shawn. Well, not exactly – I may have left out the whole 'I'm in love with him' detail, but aside from that I was 100% honest about my feelings toward Shawn and how incredible he is as a person. After I finished speaking I just sat there, staring at my boss and desperately trying to read his expression. The silence lingered for a few moment before he finally broke in.

"Camila, if I tell you something – can you promise it won't leave this office? I'm trusting you to have discretion here," he said. I nodded confidently.

"You have my word."

He took a deep breath and fiddled with his tie briefly. "I'm planning on retiring at the end of this month. When I made this decision, there were a few people in my mind who I thought had what it takes to be my replacement...but there's one that keeps sticking out to me. Shawn. Do you think he'd be interested?" he asked. My throat was impossibly dry, but I managed to speak anyway.

"I-I don't know for sure, I guess...but I think it's definitely something worth talking to him about. I mean, I don't know that he'd accept, but I can say that he'd at least be interested." I tried to hide the excitement in my voice, but I'm not sure I was successful. The idea of Shawn becoming Vice President of the company was daunting, but also a dream come true for him, for both of us.

"Alright then, I'll meet with him tomorrow to discuss it. Thank you for your input, Camila. I appreciate your honesty." He nodded as I stood up and began making my way to the exit of his office. It took everything in me not to run up to Shawn and wrap my arms around him squealing in excitement. Instead I just casually walked back to my desk and sat down as if nothing happened. Unfortunately for me, Shawn was making it difficult for me.

What was that about? He didn't find out about us, did he?

No no, just chatting about a potential project he wants me to take on.

How exciting

I mean at least he wasn't firing me, right?

Fair point.

Sure I didn't have to keep this secret for long, but I was notoriously bad at keeping secrets – especially from the one person that I told everything to. How was I supposed to wait until tomorrow. I frantically shook my head, as if trying to erase the conversation from my brain but it was no use. I glanced back at our boss' office. The glass walls provided a full view into the office. The image of Shawn sitting at the desk in there made me smile. He deserved it, he deserved all of this. Not to mention the idea of him in a dress shirt and tie as he bossed me around made me feel...things. I crossed my legs and cleared my throat, taking a sip from the cold water bottle that was sitting on my desk. Seconds later, my phone buzzed.

You know, there's a big difference between the way you clear your throat when you actually need to clear your throat and the way you clear your throat when you're just trying to cover up how hot and bothered you are

Lucky for you I see right through you

You're insatiable

Not that I'm complaining

You could use a little patience, though

My cheeks burned red as I watched his texts pour in, burying my head in my palms as I tried to get my mind focused back on my actual work. I grabbed my phone and typed out a quick reply.

Shut up.

Seconds after clicking 'send', I heard a muffled chuckle from his cubicle. I rolled my eyes and set my phone back down on the desk, returning my focus to my computer screen.