Kylie stares at me with her mouth open. Braxton looks pissed.
“I know that sounds crazy, but he can’t date anyone, either,” I say. “And I was with Aidan at the time, and we agreed I could keep dating him, so it seemed like I was getting the better deal. But now that I’m not with Aidan, neither of us are dating other people.”
“Why the fuck would you agree to that?” Kylie asks.
“Because that’s how I got him to agree to my rules,” I say. “And because I know he’ll be the one to give in first. He can’t date either, and that includes no sex. I figured I could forego dating for a while just to see him squirm. Plus it keeps him on good behavior at work.”
“So what are these other rules?” Kylie asks.
“No sleeping together,” I say, ticking them off on my fingers. “He can’t hit on me in front of my coworkers, and he can’t have me alone in his office with the door closed unless he has a work-related reason. Also, no dating. We can share meals as colleagues, but no dates.”
“How often does that happen?” Kylie asks. “The sharing meals thing.”
“I don’t know,” I say. “We have lunch together pretty regularly, I guess, but that’s always for work. And sometimes he orders in dinner for us in his office.”
“So, neither of you are dating other people,” Kylie says.
“Right.”
“But you have lunch and dinner with Ronan regularly.”
“I suppose.”
“Which means you’re kind of dating Ronan,” Kylie says. “By default.”
“No,” I say, holding up a finger. “I’m not dating Ronan. That’s in the rules.”
“You thought of everything, didn’t you?” Kylie says.
I take another chip and smile. “More or less.”
“Except you’re basically dating him,” she says.
“I am not.”
“What did you do for dinner tonight?” she asks.
I open my mouth, then snap it closed again. Shit. “I had dinner at work.”
“With Ronan?” she asks.
“Yes, but only because we had sales reports to review, and he was busy all day,” I say. “It was six, and we were both hungry.”
“So, you were sitting in his office, innocently reviewing sales reports,” Kylie says, her tone amused. “Then you looked at the clock and realized it was late, so you grabbed some food and finished your little meeting?”
“Something like that,” I say.
“Or did he order dinner and invite you to his office to eat with him?” she asks.
“Why are you picking this apart?” I ask.
“Because it matters,” she says. “He’s luring you in and you don’t even realize it. Or you want him to, and you’re trying to play innocent because you know I’ll tell you that you’re being insane.”
“I’m not being insane, and he’s not luring me,” I say. “God, he’s not some creeper hiding candy under his coat. I saw him this morning and asked him to go over the sales reports with me. He didn’t have time until later, so I agreed to meet with him over dinner.”
“So it was a date,” she says.
I glance at Braxton, but he just looks amused. “Thanks for not being any help.”
“What?” he asks. “I’m not getting involved. You never want my opinion anyway.”
“I’m not dating him,” I say.
“You’re so dating him,” Kylie says. “This is like, office dating. He has you right where he wants you.”
I’m about to say he doesn’t want me at all, but there’s no way I can say that with a straight face. Not with as many times as he’s told me he wants to fuck me on top of his desk. “I’m in control of this situation.”
“Sure, you are,” Kylie says.
I lean back in my seat and cross my legs. I don’t care what Kylie says, I am in control. Ronan might not agree, but I have him right where I want him.
Don’t I?
12: Selene
The wheels on my rolling luggage keep getting stuck as I walk into the airport. I’m already flustered, and my stupid suitcase isn’t helping. I completely forgot I was scheduled to go to a conference in Denver this week. I got a reminder email to check in for my flight last night and had to scramble to pack. How I managed to miss putting a three-day out-of-town conference on my calendar, I have no idea, but I’ve been frazzled ever since I realized I forgot.
I try to get my boarding pass, but of course the kiosk isn’t working. It tells me to see a ticketing agent. I stand in line for a while, hoping this isn’t going to make me late for my flight. I wonder if anyone else from work is on the same flight with me. I think several other people from the office should be going. I would have chatted with them about it yesterday, if I’d had any idea this was coming up today. I wonder why no one else mentioned it.