something off my chest. I don’t want a big deal made of it.”
“Are you pregnant?” Jackson asked.
“What?” I asked.
Lincoln laughed.
“I don’t think that’s funny,” I said.
“Why not?” Liam asked. “You can’t get pregnant.”
“Yeah, I know,” I said.
“Damn, Cole, what’s up?” Lincoln asked. “You’re worked up. Bad day at the office?”
“Something like that,” I said. “I just need to say something.”
“Then say it,” Jackson said.
“No bullshit responses,” I said.
“No way we’re promising that,” Liam said.
I growled. “Fine. Fuck it. I slept with Maya.”
The three stared at me.
“My secretary,” I added.
“Whoa,” Lincoln said.
“God. Damn.” That was Liam’s response.
As far as Jackson went, he just nodded over and over.
“Don’t do that,” I said to him.
“Do what? Feel proud of you?”
“Proud? I messed up.”
“When did you sleep with her?” Lincoln asked.
“A while ago. When I went away…”
“Oh, the cabin thing,” Liam said. “That setting will get you every time.”
“Let me guess,” Jackson said. “You two were alone. You’re used to bossing her around. You see her dressed down. Suddenly your cock is hard and you order her to suck it.”
“Not even close, asshole,” I said. “I shouldn’t have said anything.”
I pushed away from the table.
“Come on, Cole,” Lincoln said. “What do you want us to say? Of course we’re going to bust on you for it.”
“It’s a serious thing,” I said.
“What did she say about it?” Liam asked.
“Nothing. We agreed to let it go. We were drunk and horny.”
“Then what’s wrong?” Jackson asked. “She sounds like a great secretary.”
“I can never do that again,” I said. “I almost feel like firing her just so I don’t have the constant reminder of it.”
“You’re not going to fire her,” Lincoln said. “Just let it go. Everything is cooled off, right?”
“Have her sign something,” Jackson said. “Some kind of NDA. I don’t know.”
“Have her admit to letting me fuck her and now I need her to keep quiet?” I asked.
“That sounds messy,” Liam said.
“I just wanted to tell you guys,” I said.
“Yeah, but you’re all tensed up about it,” Lincoln said. “Was it good? Bad?”
“Yeah,” Jackson said. “Gives us some details here. You fucked your secretary. That’s wild stuff. Even for me.”
If I was outdoing Jackson’s crazy antics then I was definitely heading for serious trouble.
Speaking of trouble…
My eyes gazed around the fancy bar and I noticed a woman sitting alone.
“Can I get you something to eat?”
“No,” she said with a big smile. She was dressed in the clothes from the night before. “I’m going to work my way home, Cole.”
“Right.”
“Let me ask you something. Do you even know my name?”
I grinned. “Do you really want me to answer that?”
“Damn,” she said. “You’re really hung up on someone, huh?”
“Not at all. I’m single. I’m not just out of a breakup or anything either. Last night was-”
“We’re good here,” she said. “I had fun. And we never have to talk to each other again.”
She was a devilish looking woman. Exactly what I needed to keep me company. To clear the air. To cleanse my pallet, so to speak.
As she walked by me, I reached for her hand. “Last night was fun.”
“You’re not going to ask for my number, are you?”
“No. Maybe I’ll see you around again sometime.”
“That’s the spirit,” she said.
She was tall, skinny, black hair, her face different from when I met her because of all the makeup she had been wearing.
All of which didn’t bother me.
She was the opposite of what had been on my mind.
Hence the whole clearing the air feeling.
When she got to the door and opened it, I whistled for her.
She whipped her head back. “Did you fall in love?”
“No,” I said. “Your name is Taryn.”
“Good job, Cole,” she said. “Good luck letting go.”
“Of you? That’s easy.”
“Not me. Whoever it is you can’t stop thinking about.”
Taryn left the apartment and I gritted my teeth.
There was no way one night with Maya was going to fuck up everything I had been working for.
I grabbed my phone and texted her.
Are you at the office yet?
I waited impatiently.
Just as I started to text her again, she replied.
Yes. Working on the Lonelly account. Need anything?
I tapped the edge of my phone to the counter a few times.
We need to talk. In person. Be in my office in thirty minutes.
I hurried to take a shower and collect my thoughts.
When I got to my office exactly thirty minutes later, Maya was waiting.
Doing what she was told to do.
I walked around my desk and turned to look at her.
“Have you told anyone about us?” I asked.
“What?”
“You know what I’m talking