the text I got from Genevieve yesterday, neither of them are too single at the moment.” Soraya giggled. “Oh, they have directed me to tell you that you may not tell Avery’s brother.”
The rest of the evening was filled with easy conversation. Soraya explained her colorful history with Genevieve and Avery. I, then, shared my history of Avery as told by her proud and protective brother, Derrick. It didn’t take long to figure out that we knew very different sides of the two women that linked us together.
Soraya cracked up when I told her about the time Avery brought Genevieve to what she called the ‘smallest town in the world’ to visit Derrick. We took them to Lake Michigan for a day without realizing it was a beer bash weekend.
“They weren’t ready to experience a beer bash.” Soraya wiped tears from her eyes as I finished.
“How’s working with Anderson?” My fork dropped onto the plate when the subject turned to Anderson. The bite of chicken carbonara felt like it expanded with every chew.
“Is it that bad already?”
I stared down at my plate. Then, I searched for anything in the kitchen to look at besides Soraya.
She picked up her wineglass and sat back in her seat. “Oh. Okay. Huh. I didn’t see that coming.”
“There’s nothing to see… coming.” I tried to sound as casual as possible. “It’s fine working with Anderson.”
“You like him.”
“I don’t like him. I acknowledge he is a very good looking man with great hands. Anderson is smart and probably extremely capable at his job. There is nothing to see coming.” There is nothing to see coming? What the hell is even wrong with you, Jurnee? Oh yeah, you are setting up the next date when you get home.
Soraya set her wineglass down on the table and clapped. “Are you sitting here fighting with yourself over this? I’m sorry to tell you, but it looks like it’s written all over your face.” I looked at her, and her wide grin made me smile. “You like Anderson.”
“I mean there is no denying that he is a handsome guy, but he has the ability to teeter in-between being somewhat nice to being a complete–”
“Cocky bastard?” Soraya interrupted.
I leaned back in my chair. “Yes! That’s exactly it. I was going to say asshole, but, yes, it’s definitely a cocky bastard vibe.”
“Careful, I was calling Graham an asshole when I met him, and he ended up sweeping me off my feet.”
It was me that laughed this time. “First, Anderson is completely out of my league. Second, I’m a nice person. And, third, I’m from Michigan.”
“One, what does that mean, out of your league? Second, every asshole needs a nice person to balance them out. Finally, you were from Michigan, now you’re inking a business deal that will have you relocating to the City. Nice try.”
“Time to change the subject,” I said as Soraya drained the second bottle of wine between our glasses. “How did they find out about a BDSM cruise? More importantly, how am I not going to tell Derrick about his sister?”
7
Anderson
“Good morning,” The sing-song greeting from my assistant, Martin, made me roll my eyes as I walked passed his desk into my office.
I slumped into my desk chair, leaned my head back, and closed my eyes. Thirty-five minutes didn’t seem like enough time to get myself together before I met with one Ms. Jurnee Messer. Martin sat in the seat across from my desk and waited for our morning meeting to go over my day.
“Did you survive me being away on my vacation?”
I scanned my email messages, ignoring him. The finalized contracts for all four major projects I’d been working on were flagged as filed in my digital cabinet by Martin.
“Nothing new?”
I picked up the morning coffee Martin readied in one of my favorite Yetis. “Thank you for this. And, yes. I survived your week of vacation with no disasters. I missed having a morning coffee on my desk.”
“Good to hear, Boss. If you don’t have anything immediate, I’ve blocked the small conference room in Graham’s wing for your meeting. She brought–”
I shot up in my chair, spilling the coffee in my hand. “Jurnee is here already?”
“Yes, she got here thirty minutes ago.” Martin grinned knowingly as he blotted the folders with a tissue from the Kleenex box that sat on the table. “She said she was nervous she’d be late depending on the subway train. She literally called it the subway train. I like her a lot. Did