“Good,” I whisper against her mouth. “Because you already said yes. No going back now.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it.”
Lily
“You going to be ready to pitch tonight?” my boss, Ethan, asks, his voice low and monotone with an air of arrogance.
I tear my eyes away from my laptop screen for just a second. “Yes, we are,” I say cheerfully.
He stands in the doorway, half in and half out of the conference room, which is a fitting metaphor for him—or at least what I’ve learned about him during the month I’ve been with this company. He’s always busy, moving from one meeting to the next before the previous one has truly wrapped up yet.
I’ve heard his famous exit line, “Well, I’ll let the team finish up from here. You’re in good hands. I have another engagement to attend to. If you’ll excuse me,” so many times that I have it memorized. I even know the telltale signs that he’s about to say it. He places his pen down on the table, positioning it until it’s aligned in a perfect ninety-degree angle from his body, adjusts his suit jacket even though nothing is ever wrong with it, and then quietly clears his throat as he pushes his chair away from the table.
He nods before exiting the room as hurriedly as he entered it.
Charlie expels a breath beside me.
I chuckle. “Why do you let him make you so nervous?”
“I can’t help it. He’s fucking gorgeous. He just does something to me, you know?”
“No, I don’t know. You barely speak to him unless he directs his question specifically toward you. He’s just a guy, Charlie…and to be honest, he’s a big dick most of the time.”
“Mmm…” She sighs. “You say big and dick, and my mind just thinks crazy stuff. I bet he has a big one, don’t you?”
I huff out a laugh. “You are something else.”
I met Charlie my first week working here. I was staying at a cheap hotel when she told me that she was looking for someone to share her apartment, and I immediately moved in. She is a fantastic roommate and has become a great friend.
She’s extremely attracted to Ethan to the point of idiocy. Ethan owns this successful marketing firm here in New York City. He’s worked with Mr. Troy, Trenton’s father, on advertising campaigns in the past, which is what got my foot in the door to begin with. I’m so fortunate to have landed such a great job at the start of my career.
Charlie is my team partner. She and I work together on campaigns, taking what our clients say they want and planning a campaign to meet their needs. I work on the design end mostly, taking pictures and designing promos around them. Charlie works on the marketing end, pulling all the necessary pieces of our project into place and packaging it.
I look around at the mess of photos and paperwork strewed across the large mahogany table. We’ve taken over one of the available conference rooms for the day as we prepare our pitch. I now see why Ethan had the large frown across his face. It’s a hot mess in here.
I chuckle. “We are going to be ready, right?”
“Of course we are,” she answers confidently.
My phone buzzes, and I shoot a glance down toward the screen. My breath hitches when I see Jax’s name. We’ve spoken a few times since I’ve been in New York, but seeing his name on the screen never fails to make me nervous.
“It’s Jax,” I say in a panicked tone, looking to Charlie.
“Well, answer it!”
I pick up my phone, slide the arrow button to the side, and hold it to my ear. “Hello?” I say, hoping the nerves pounding through my body aren’t evident.
I need to get over it. This is my reality, especially if I want to keep my best friend—and I do.
Our phone conversations over the past month have been a little awkward, if I’m being honest, yet I suppose they will be for a while. This is new territory for us. Jax accepted my relationship with Trenton and was able to keep our friendship going throughout college—well, until I refused to take him back at Christmas, that is. I’m sure it was difficult for Jax to remain friends with me while I was dating, but he did it anyway. I can do it, too—even though he is marrying Stella, which is so much more than just dating. However, the situation is