“He’s not a god. He’s just a random guy.” I hit my keyboard with force. Who am I kidding? He’s totally a god.
“And so how did it go from hating his guts to him groping you in your office?”
I continue typing. I can’t even look at her. “He may have been in France.”
“No way,” she says.
“We may have . . . hooked up.”
“Holy hell.” She puts both of her hands in her hair.
“A little bit.”
“Ahh . . . get the fuck out of here,” she cries. “Are you frigging kidding me?”
“I wish I was.”
“What happened?” she whispers as she leans in. “I need all the details.”
There’s a knock at the door. “Yes?” I call.
An employee named Alexander pokes his head around. “Don’t forget we have that meeting in five minutes.”
“Oh.” My face falls. I completely forgot all about it. “Yes, of course. See you in the conference room.”
Alexander closes the door, and I turn to Marley, who is waiting patiently for the details. “I don’t want to talk about it here. Let’s finish work early today and go to a bar for a staff meeting.”
She smiles mischievously. “Yes. We need to discuss Miles Media in great detail.”
Marley sits down at the bench table and puts my glass of wine in front of me. The bar is crowded and bustling with a four-o’clock rush. It seems everyone wants a drink before they head home.
I sip my wine, and Marley stares at me. “And?”
“And what?”
“Don’t you hold out on me, Claire Anderson. I need all the fucking details.”
I drag my hand down my face. “God, Marley,” I whisper. “It was like a movie.”
She listens intently.
“I got to the conference, and he was the opening speaker. I went to walk out, and he said, ‘Claire Anderson, sit back down.’”
Her eyes widen.
“Then we had banter for a few days, and I was still hating him. But surprisingly, he’s witty and funny.”
“I knew he would be,” she interrupts. “Smart guys are always witty.”
“Anyway, one night on the way back from dinner, he kissed me.”
She holds her hands up and dances on her chair.
“He wanted to come back to my room, and I said no and locked him out.”
“You idiot,” she gasps. “Are you fucking crazy? Have you seen the level of hotness of that guy?”
I raise my eyebrows and smirk.
Her mouth falls open. “Don’t tell me.”
“Yep.”
“And?” she gasps.
“Off-the-hook hot,” I whisper.
She grabs my arm and squeezes it hard. “You had sex . . . with Tristan fucking Miles?”
“Shh, keep your voice down,” I whisper as I look around at the people surrounding us. “Yes. A lot of sex. In fact, I fucked his brains out.”
She puts both hands over her mouth in shock. “What the hell, Claire?”
“I know.” I sip my wine. “But then he came into the conference and said that he had to leave unexpectedly and said goodbye to the group and didn’t say goodbye to me.”
She frowns. “What? I’m confused . . .”
“But then I got back to my room, and there were red roses and a card asking me to go to Paris for the weekend with him.”
Her eyes widen. “Fuck, this story is just getting better and better. Did you go?”
“Yes.”
Her eyes nearly pop from their sockets. “And?” she cries.
I shake my head, unable to believe this story myself. “It was incredible. We had the best time.”
“Oh my God, this is . . .” She shakes her head as she tries to reconcile what’s happened.
“But today, he showed up unexpectedly, and I ended it.”
“What?” She screws up her face. “Why?”
“Oh, come on, Marley. We both know it’s not going anywhere.”
She stares at me.
“He’s young and handsome and a player. I’m in bed at nine o clock on Saturday night, dead tired. He doesn’t do long term, and I can’t really do anything else.”
“So?”
“No.” I smile sadly. “He’s beautiful, but he’s at a stage where he is going to want to settle down soon, and I’m not the person. We are at different stages of our life.”
“Why can’t you just fuck him for fun, Claire?” she mutters flatly.
“Because . . .” I think on my answer for a while. “You know, I realized something about myself this weekend.”
“What’s that?”
“I quite liked having someone there, you know. Talking, laughing, having sex.”
She smiles sadly as she listens.
“And I might want to pursue dating again.”
“Why can’t you just date Tristan?”
“Tristan doesn’t date. All he would do is tie me up so I don’t meet anyone else.”