“Now are you glad I made you do it?”
“Yes,” she says, looking deep into my eyes. “I’m glad about everything.”
20: Selene
My phone lights up, and I take a deep breath before answering. It’s Kylie. I shouldn’t be nervous to talk to my best friend, but I know she’s going to give me an earful about Ronan. I’m probably a wimp for telling her over the phone instead of in person, but I just want to get it over with.
“Hey, Ky.”
“Hey, babe,” she says. “Got your message. What’s up?”
Might as well get right to the point. “I have a confession.”
“You’re sleeping with Ronan, aren’t you?”
I open my mouth but nothing coherent comes out right away. “How did you know?”
“What?” she asks, her voice almost a squeal. “I was kidding! You are?”
I groan and cover my eyes with my hand. “Yes.”
“Hold on a second here, Ms. Taylor,” she says. “Do you mean you slept with him, as in it happened once? Or you are sleeping with him, as in this is now a regular occurrence.”
“The second one.”
“Oh my god,” she says.
I take a deep breath. “I know. He’s my boss. He blew me off once before. I know you’re going to think I’m crazy, or stupid, but this isn’t like that. Yes, when he first showed up at my office, he probably just wanted to get in my pants. But I feel like there’s something more. A lot more, Ky.”
“I don’t think you’re stupid,” she says. “Crazy remains to be seen. But, really? So it’s official now? Dating, the whole thing?”
“Yeah,” I say. “We’re … together.”
“All right,” Kylie says. “So do we get to meet him again soon? The night of your birthday thing wasn’t exactly the best introduction.”
“Yeah, I want you guys to meet him,” I say. “But you have to make Braxton behave.”
“Since when do you think I can make Braxton do anything?”
“I don’t know,” I say. “Promise him something kinky if he’s nice to Ronan.”
Kylie laughs. “That might actually work.”
“Gross, now I’m getting a mental picture.”
“You said it, not me,” she says. “So, you’re sure about this?”
“Honestly?” I say. “Not really. This could turn out to be a huge mistake. But he’s kind of amazing.”
“Wow,” she says, her voice soft. “Okay, babe, I’ll trust you on this. Just be careful.”
“I know, Ky,” I say. “I will.”
***
I look down at the long list of unanswered emails. I’m still playing catch up after our impromptu skydiving trip last week. Every time I think about how it felt to jump out of that plane, I get a renewed rush of exhilaration. I never would have done something like that on my own. My mind was racing with excuses the entire time, but it was incredible. The whole world was stretched out below us, tiny and insignificant. And when we jumped—oh my god. It was fun and terrifying and thrilling all at once.
The sex when we got back to Ronan’s place wasn’t bad either.
I’m still a bit tense at work. We aren’t exactly hiding our relationship, but we’re not being completely open about it either. That’s at my insistence. He still swears it won’t matter—that any gossip will blow over quickly. But I’m not so sure. I’m pretty certain Sarah knows. She gives me odd looks whenever I come out of his office—even if nothing was going on behind his closed door besides a meeting. Which is usually the case.
Not always. But usually.
I really need some coffee, so I head to the break room. The stuff in the cafe downstairs is better, but I don’t want to take the time. There’s usually a line. I turn the corner and hear voices coming from the small kitchenette.
“Like it isn’t obvious?”
I recognize Kelly’s voice. She’s in Marketing.
“Come on,” someone else says. “There’s no way she’s with him.”
I peek around the door and see Kelly talking with Lydia, who’s also on the marketing team, and Justin from Sales. Something makes me hesitate—are they talking about me?
“There’s totally something going on between them,” Kelly says.
“Selene?” Justin says. “I don’t know.”
Fuck. They are talking about me.
“Oh yeah, he’s definitely sleeping with her,” Lydia says. “Shelley Johnson said she saw Selene come out of his office the other day with sex hair.”
“In the office?” Kelly says, her eyes lighting up like it’s the best thing she’s ever heard. “Oh my god, that’s crazy.”
“I know,” Lydia says. “You’d think Selene would know better.”
“Well, come on,” Kelly says. “It’s Ronan Maddox. Who could resist him? Not me.”
“I hope your husband doesn’t know that,” Lydia says with a laugh.
Kelly laughs right back. “Seriously, that guy is so hot, he’s definitely on my list.”